Collaborative Approach to Exhibition Making

Making exhibitions takes creativity, collaboration, and a well-supported process. A Collaborative Approach to Exhibition Making is a practical and succinct guide for everyone managing or working on collaborative teams doing this creative work. It covers new and essential processes for creating exhibitions, moving from idea generation all the way through project opening in an approachable and supportive format.

Emily Saich and Joey Noelle Scott share their perspective along with tried-and-tested tools to help collaborative teams build trust, generate ideas, communicate effectively, and develop shared understanding. They dive into planning projects, understanding budgets and schedules, facilitating creative design and development, managing feedback, selecting contractors, and closing out a project. Whether you’re leading the creation of a new exhibition or engaged in any part of the exhibit making process, you’ll find useful and insightful methods to support a collaborative approach.

Emily Saich is director of Exhibition Projects at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where she leads project strategy for major exhibitions and guides collaborative teams through design and creation of visitor-centered experiences. She has over twenty years of experience managing the planning, development, design, prototyping, and fabrication of exhibitions and innovative visitor experiences for museums and cultural organizations.

Joey Noelle Scott is manager of Exhibition Project Delivery at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where she leads project teams that create innovative exhibitions to inspire conservation of the ocean. Leveraging a twenty-year background in both science education and project management, she’s developed forward-looking and adaptable processes for facilitation and creative development within the exhibitions field.