2005

Project: Traveling Exhibits At Museums of Science (TEAMS)

Authors: Charles Trautmann, Mark St. John, and David Goudy

With assistance of: Dawn Huntwork, Becky Carroll, and Members of the TEAMS collaborative

Type: Monograph

Publication: October 2005

Teaming Up: Ten Years of the TEAMS Exhibition Collaborative (pdf, 66 pages)

Abstract

This monograph has been created by the TEAMS (Traveling Exhibits At Museums of Science) Collaborative, a group of seven small U.S. science centers, to share experiences, observations, and lessons learned with the broader science museum field. Our intention is to help others who might be interested in forming a collaborative to learn about some key structures, most of which have to do with setting up relationships between collaborative members, rather than more technical matters. We hope that this will provide a vision for others as to how collaboration among science centers can work.

The monograph looks at intellectual issues related to the design of collaboratives, as well as policy implications related to the costs and benefits of a collaborative as an investment in museum capacity. In addition, we touch on a broad spectrum of practical day-to-day issues related to exhibition collaboratives, ranging from photo documentation to bylaws adopted by the group.

The TEAMS monograph reflects our experiences during the past ten years, from before the first grant proposal through the first year of our third four-year grant from the National Science Foundation. The experiences reported were elicited and recorded largely by Inverness Research Associates, the independent evaluators who have been part of the TEAMS Collaborative since its inception.

Intended Audience

Science Center Exhibit Designers, Science-Technology-Engineering-Math (STEM) Education Leaders, Funders, and general public.

Disclaimer

Any and all errors are claimed by the authors of this document, Inverness Research, Inc.

Distribution Policy

Inverness Research Inc. grants permission to print and distribute copies.