In a recent article in The Atlantic, James Fallows argues that one characteristic that

makes growing American communities different from failing ones is unique and quirky teaching
institutions.1 I would like to propose celebrating [big anniversary] by having [Museum] offer a
series of hands-on one-day workshops in subjects that few other institutions can teach. The
program would be modelled on the successful courses in traditional skills taught at the Weald
and Downland Museum, an open air museum in England.2
Possible workshops could include (but are not limited to) classes on felting a hat, mowing with a
scythe, cooking over an open fireplace, fencing with a cutlass, or navigation and telling time
without modern gadgets. The emphasis would be on experiences that allow people to engage
all five senses, including smell, taste and touch. These tangible, experiential classes would allow
us to engage a wide variety of people. The theme of the workshops would be the [big
anniversary], expressed either as crafts and foodstuffs produced in batches of [anniversary
number], or in investigations of how this particular skill or craft has changed from [period on
which the museum concentrates] to the present.
Goals: The goal of the program would be to have a total of [number] people participate in 10
unique workshops, one every weekend of the peak season.
A corresponding goal would be to generate 10 blog posts with related photos, social media
notes and videos reporting on the workshops activities.
Over the longer term, the goal would be to leverage the publicity from the workshops to bring
more people to [Museum] who might not otherwise have considered making the trip.
Dates: In this hypothetical scenario, the workshops would occur each weekend of the peak
season, and the social media would go online within a few days after each workshop. Planning
would begin at the end of the previous season.
Steps: The project would require a series of steps.
1.
Determine the Parameters. A veteran political campaign organizer once told me When
youre planning a big project, there are four things you can never have enough of. There is
never enough money, never enough time, never enough people, and never enough skills. The
art is to use them as efficiently as possible. This initial stage of the project would answer the
following questions. What is our budget? How much time do we have to complete the project?
How much staff time can be spared for it and in what specialties? What possible teachable skills
do we currently have among the [Museum] staff and associated aboriginal partners? Are there
any diverse communities we havent attempted to tap for their expertise before? How might
1

James Fallows, Ten Signs a City Will Succeed, The Atlantic, March 2016. Retrieved from
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/03/eleven-signs-a-city-will-succeed/426885/
2

Adult Learning and Courses, Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, Retrieved from
http://www.wealddown.co.uk/learn/adult-learning/ on June 15, 2016.

we include them? Also, what is the legislation and [Museum] policy that applies to this project?
For instance, are there policies regarding the hiring of temporary contractors, or visitor safety
policies that we need to know about? Also, what projects similar to this one have worked or
failed in the past and why? These investigations would be a great way to introduce myself to
the [Museum] staff.
2.
Determine a timeline. Once I know the resources available, I would be able to assemble
a team and work on dividing responsibilities and producing Gant charts to determine who
needs to produce which deliverables when.
3.
Seek course proposals. I would ask craftspeople from [Museum], and also people from a
variety of communities who may not have had as much to do with the fortress in the past to
propose workshops in traditional skills they know how to teach. Among the questions each
proposal would need to answer would be what tools and resources are needed to teach it,
what safety considerations there may be, whether the class can also be adapted into a
childrens version, what teaching experience the instructor has, etc.
4.
Choose course proposals. I would convene the team from Step 2 to pick the best
proposals, seeking to balance out the classes to appeal to a wide variety of tastes and abilities.
In some cases, when unique proposals come from new quarters, we might ask for revisions
before making a final decision.
5.
Historical mentorship. This is where my role as historian comes in. I would help the
instructors find research on the historical background of their project, and make suggestions
about the form their craft or activity could take to make it more authentically true to [the
period].
6.
Marketing. At the same time, I would work to supply information about the classes to
[Museums] marketing staff, so that they could spread the word as widely as possible.
7.
Carrying out the workshops themselves would be step seven of the process. During and
after each one, we would survey the participants and the instructor to find out what they
enjoyed and what we can improve.
8.
More marketing. Using images and video from the workshops, and the results of the
surveys, we can create blog reports. Even if a workshop is a complete failure, we can write a
post that says, essentially, We tried to build a [period thing], but it caught fire and fell over.
Heres what we learned about traditional [thing] building and teamwork!
9.
Finally, I would start plans for a series of even better workshops the following year,
based on the lessons we learned from the team debriefings.

How Will We Know if We Succeed?

Positive reviews

Media coverage

Increased attendance the following year