EcoTarium

Purpose: Supporting Lifelong Learning Providing changing exhibits to attract new and repeat visitors is a challenge for small and medium-sized museums. There is a dearth of high-quality traveling exhibits to match the size and financial limits of smaller institutions, and in-house development requires a considerable investment in time and resources. Consequently, in September 2003, the staff at the EcoTarium initiated the Environmental Exhibit Collaborative-a joint effort with several environmental science museums in the region to develop a portfolio of innovative traveling exhibits related to the New England environment. In December 2003 the collaborative received a grant from Jane's Trust to develop five exhibits over the next four years. This funding will allow the collaborative to conduct visitor research to determine the most compelling topics and approaches for the exhibits to be developed and to explore various marketing ideas; conduct visitor research to assess the effectiveness of the traveling exhibits in attracting an audience; and develop and implement marketing materials and strategies for use by members of the collaborative and other museums that might rent the exhibits in the future.