ABSTRACT

Partnerships are crucial for museums to reach new audiences, expand their approach, and simply survive in these uncertain times. While practices for effective partnerships between large museums and other institutions are well-documented, the needs of small museums pursuing partnership are less studied. To understand the specific needs of partners, we conducted semi-structured interviews with nine small non-academical informal learning environments (SNAILEs) that focused on their current partnerships and their past experiences with partnerships. Many of the effective partnerships were found to be between similar-sized organizations, while ineffective partnerships predominantly were between a smaller and a larger organization. In analyzing these interviews, we noticed 3 emergent themes about best practices for partnerships. First, if a small institution with a larger organization, it is crucial for shared alignment in goals. Second, SNAILEs need flexibility in funding in order to realize their end of a partnership. Finally, while many SNAILEs find MOUs helpful, they should be written in a way that can be adaptive to their shifting needs. Implementing these practices can be helpful for larger organizations that hope to engage in partnership with SNAILEs.

摘要

合作伙伴关系对于博物馆吸引新观众、扩展他们的方法以及在这些不确定的时期生存至关重要。虽然大型博物馆和其他机构之间建立有效合作伙伴关系的做法有据可查，但小型博物馆寻求合作伙伴关系的需求却鲜有研究。为了解合作伙伴的具体需求，我们对九个小型非学术非正式学习环境 (SNAILE) 进行了半结构化访谈，重点关注他们当前的合作伙伴关系和他们过去的合作伙伴关系经验。许多有效的伙伴关系被发现是在类似规模的组织之间，而无效的伙伴关系主要是在较小和较大的组织之间。在分析这些采访时，我们注意到 3 个关于合作伙伴关系最佳实践的新兴主题。第一的，如果一个小机构拥有一个更大的组织，那么目标的共同一致性至关重要。其次，SNAILE 需要在资金方面具有灵活性，以实现合作伙伴关系的终结。最后，虽然许多 SNAILE 发现 MOU 很有帮助，但它们的编写方式应该能够适应他们不断变化的需求。实施这些实践对于希望与 SNAILE 建立合作伙伴关系的大型组织很有帮助。