Program for June 4, 2020

Our speaker was Marcos Stafne, Executive Director for the Montshire Museum in Norwich.

Marcos Stafne & Visitor to the Museum

Photo from the Montshire Museum Web Page

Marcos Stafne, executive director, has been at the Montshire Museum since 2015. Marcos mentioned that he’s to Rotary in the past. Everything in the time of pandemic has shifted in the work Montshire is doing; March 13 was the last day they were open.

The Montshire abides by State of VT rules. On June 1, Gov. Scott said museums could open at 25% capacity. The Museum is multi-faceted: Montshire has 120+ acres, camping space, and can operate under retail guidelines. The Museum store has been open for the past three weeks with curbside delivery.

Opening differently after a long closure with all sorts of new policies has been very complicated. The goal is to be as safe as possible.

Marcos shared his screen:

All employees have been working continuously, mainly on digital offerings. They created a “Montshire at Home” page featuring different weekly feeds to support what families and teachers are trying to achieve by continuing teaching remotely. They highlight something different each week, like Bubbles, Air, Skeletons, etc. The presentation includes various media clips (“components”) to demonstrate phenomena, to show experiments, etc. Each is 3-6 minutes long and targets children 8 years old and younger. They are trying to give access to some sort of STEM activities for families and that teachers can assign.

Marcos said, “We have transitioned from a physical museum to being a digital teaching company.”

Here are the TENTATIVE highlights of the re-opening plan. Lebanon Rotary is the first outside group to be afforded this insight. They cannot re-open in the same space doing the same things.

Pandemic Strategic goals

Create and maintain a safe and supportive environment for employees and volunteers
Maintain Montshire initiatives during closure and reopening
Create a safe, engaging and flexible learning environment for Montshire visitors that is economically viable and fulfills our mission

The Visitor Experience will shift: EVERYONE WILL BE A FIRST-TIME VISITOR

In time of relative stability	In a time of Uncertainty and change
Possibility of visitors of all ages	Visitors must remain together a group, mostly family groups
No special equipment needed	Masks to be required indoors for 3+ years
Open 10-5, 7 d/wk.	Limited days and admission times, reservations and prepayment recommended
Mixed visitor use of exhibits and programs	Social distancing throughout the visit
Familiarity with museum	New floorplan, foot traffic patterns, rules
Lots of touchable objects	Limited touchable objects
Low-medium focus on personal safety/cleanliness concerns	High personal safety/cleanliness concerns

PROGRAMS

Indoors will be solely a “portal” to outdoors to begin with – indoor coming later.
Focus on outdoor and low touch experiences

Robert Shannahan Sculptures – prehistoric mammals
Trails – 3 miles
Water experiences -
Outdoor exhibits that don’t require high touch

Outdoor programming TBD – people are still reluctant to attend outdoor lectures
2 concurrent camps (community room & classroom for rainy day back-up spaces) – used to do 8 camps in the summer.

We cannot predict the future; these plans are for the summer. We hope by the fall to be able to move some exhibits indoors. We are working with the other 3 major science museums in Vermont on the safest ways to open. We forecast continued instability until January; winter may offer additional relative stability. From April forward, we may be back to some form of new normal.

Our public service right now is to provide relief for families in the safest way possible. We think we can make it work economically with these plans by using our reserves plus some assistance from state/Federal pandemic relief funds.

NEW VISITOR EXPECTATIONS

Masks required indoors
Stay together and social distance
One visitor group per exhibit
No eating inside building
No person item storage

Phased openings currently planned

Last week of June: by invitation only
July 1-5: members only
July 8: open to the public

Hours, costs, etc.”

10-4.
Timed ticketing
$14 admission
Online ticketing will happen for EVERY cultural attraction; cash = very low volume
No groups, rentals, etc.
106 people per session (this is 25% of full capacity as required)

The initial opening of the museum will be a “corridor” experience designed to get visitors through the building to the outdoor attractions.

“4 Science Vermont” is the name of the new consortium of the 4 major science meetings in Vermont.

In the interim, Montshire has done 3 programs ; newest one is on COVID 19 and rural health equity. Check their web site.

QUESTIONS:

Bill Secord: my daughter is a homeschooler who’s often visited Montshire during the day. Are the kids “coming in” to the museum virtually?

Marcos reiterated what he said about the museums weekly digital programs. Montshire reaches digitally throughout both NH and VT; we’d like to continue our reach in the future. Should school go back into session (unknown until the end of June) there may be no field trips at all. Bus regulations for students will be dropping from 25 students to 11 passengers with sanitization happening in-between every trip.

Steve Whitman: In the past, my grandkids have never gone all the way through the museum because of so many inside attractions. How will people be satisfied with involvement in the new way?

Marcos: Traditionally in the summer starting in June, our water is on and 80% of the visitors go outside. That’s where we are putting our effort. VINS also has this ability. VINS is opening June 15.

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Biographical Information re: Marcos Stafne (From the Montshire Museum's webpage)

Stafne comes to the Montshire in 2015 with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field of museums. He had served as Vice President of Programs and Visitor Experience at the Brooklyn Children's Museum, where he oversaw education, collections, visitor services, and the planning and implementation of traveling and new exhibitions.

He has served as the Director of Education & Visitor Experience for the Rubin Museum of Art and the Director of Public Programs & Traveling Exhibitions at the New York Hall of Science.

He has published in the Journal of Museums and Social Issues, the Museum Education Journal, and contributes to a science blog for the Huffington Post. He holds a Ph.D. in Urban Education from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a M.A. in Theatre from Hunter College where he studied museum theatre for science and historical education.

“Cultivating and maintaining a creative community is essential for the sustainability of our future,” comments Stafne. “The Montshire has a nationally noted reputation for providing opportunities for all audiences to flex their curiosity, experience the wonder of science, and feel encouraged to try out new ideas. I am excited to guide the next phase of the Montshire’s future as we enhance and expand indoor and outdoor experiences on over 100 acres along the beautiful Connecticut River. The warmth and friendliness of the Upper Valley is palpable, and I can’t wait to get to know the community in a deeper way—especially as we grow our work with schools in New Hampshire and Vermont.”