Lyndsay Kibilosky is the digital media specialist at The Mint Museum of Art, located in Charlotte, NC. Lyndsay shares her experiences The Mint and her transition from graphic design into web content development. Some important tips are discussed regarding what people interested in going into the field can do now to go into it.
While Lyndsay has only been with the museum slightly over a year she shares all the projects going on with the website. Some of the points of interest in the conversation reflect the current challenges the museum faces in her department. Some of the challenges are how long it takes to get a project off the ground and operating, issues of third-party vendors, creating political correct social media, and being understaffed for all the work she has to do. Please check her out and all the interesting things The Mint Museum of Art is working on!
Developing your skills over a broad range of areas seems to be really good advice for those of us entering the museum profession. Lyndsay mentions her foray into graphic design in her past studies that then benefited her in her current role. We can never quite see the whole puzzle – just our little piece – we need to keep that thought in our back pocket to remind us to absorb as much as we can from related fields as one never knows where it will fit in!
It was great to hear a discussion that included how to bring in students and teens to the museum. The NexGen program is really interesting.The opinions of this highly-connected audience would be incredibly valuable around what meaningful engagement with a museum looks like to them and what they expect to help them make connections with art.
It’s interesting/nice that so many of the people interviewed this semester, including Lyndsay, have mentioned both analyzing data and knowing your audience. This (in addition to our readings and discussions this semester) really drives home the need for strategic data collection and regular user testing.
Like Lyndsey, I too started out in graphic design and somehow found my way into the museum field. I’d like to see how the Smartify app works for them–but it sounds like they’ve done their research and asked other museums if it was working for them. Interesting, too, how they are going to add to it on a quarterly basis and not overload themselves by trying to get it done all at once. I’m also intrigued by the NexGen program and would like to see some data on it and whether its working, if so what exactly is working well, not working, etc.
I enjoyed hearing about Lyndsay’s journey from the design field to museum work – it’s nice to see how a seemingly different background can inform a museum career, translating related experiences to make a well-rounded professional. Hopefully the expanding needs in her role will help push the creation of another position and provide the capacity to engage as much as she’d like!
Another great interview! Lyndsay’s discussion of her collaboration with the other departments really resonated with me. At LIM, there is great collaboration between Education and Curatorial, but there is a strong disconnect between us and administrative departments. It seems that their focus is strictly their needs and goals with almost a complete disregard for the needs of the collections and programming which are the museum’s bread and butter. This causes a lot of frustration. As the Digital Media Specialist, it seems Lyndsay can be the bridge between all the different departments and can connect them onto the same goal path.
Robin, I loved Lyndsay’s points about some of the difficulties she encountered when creating digital activations…particularly the issue of time and how long it can take to actually get a project from ideation to execution. Part of that, I think, is that she is “a one man show” as she states that has to balance and create all aspects of her project on her own…which can be both thrilling and daunting, I’m sure.
When Lyndsay explained that they do try to keep up with comments, it reminded me just how time consuming some of the more participatory aspects of social media can be. Especially since she is running a “one woman show” (as Robin states), she has a lot of decisions to make about what to prioritize. While it can really help to build a relationship with the audience, I think it’s important for museums to evaluate whether these time consuming tasks are effective.
it saddens me that she doesn’t have the resources needed to create more dynamic programming. She really is just maintaining what has already been set up before she took the position. Maybe soon she will be able to push more through the red tape. It really catches me off guard that a museum with the funds that they have can not staff enough people to help with the work load.