Facilities – Creative Minds Out Loud

Episode 73: Hands-on Learning, Creating for Kids and Caregivers

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Discovery Museum is a hands-on museum that blends science, nature, and play, inspiring families to explore and learn together. Neil Gordon, CEO, discusses how universal design and User/Experts informed their recent expansion to a 16,000sf accessible building. He also shares their efforts to integrate parents into the exhibit experience. He says that in the museum’s new exhibits for children ages 0-3, the parental education that’s incorporated is as important as the child’s play.

Neil Gordon. Photo by Mitchell Green. In his nearly ten years as CEO, Neil Gordon has steered the Discovery Museum through a period of tremendous growth and change. Prior to joining the museum in 2009, Gordon served for 14 years as the Executive VP and COO for the Boston Children’s Museum. He is also past chairman of the board of the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM), a past board member of the New England Museum Association (NEMA), and a board member of the Massachusetts Institute for the Teaching of Science (MITS).
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Episode 71: Green is Good

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John Majercak is President of the Center for EcoTechnology, a nonprofit organization providing advice and resources for people and businesses to help them save energy and reduce waste. He shares ways cultural organizations can be more energy and cost efficient.

John Majercak has overall responsibility for leading the Center for EcoTechnology including strategic planning, program development, program and operations management, fundraising and communications.

He has worked for the Center for EcoTechnology for more than 25 years in a variety of positions and brings a positive vision, strong background in environmental science, broad experience, and a highly successful track record to the President position.
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Episode 44: How to Responsibly Close a Museum

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Todd Smith, the Interim Executive Director at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, discusses the difficult process of closing a museum and the importance of a deaccession plan that supports the collection as well as the public good.

Todd Smith uses his experience in education, corporate strategy, and nonprofit leadership to help organizations navigate pathways for ongoing public service. Focusing on sustainable outcomes, Smith assists organizations in evaluating goals in the context of real world economics and creating action plans with clearly defined financial targets.

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Episode 42: Oops, We Didn’t Do a Feasibility Study

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Jeffry George, Executive Artistic Director of the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, shares the pitfalls of NOT having a feasibility study in place before building a new facility.

Jeffrey George Jeffry George, Executive Artistic Director Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT), has thirty plus years of administrative and management experience in numerous AEA theatres throughout the U.S. He most recently directed the world premiere of The Empaths, Sex with Strangers, Alabama Story, Cock, Thrill Me and co-directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream at WHAT, and Suppressed Desires for the “Then and Now Festival” in Provincetown, A Centennial Celebration of the Provincetown Players.
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Episode 39: A Performance Center with a View

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Tony Beadle, Executive Director of Rockport Music, shares the trajectory of his organization from a 5-week chamber music festival to a year-round arts presenter now with its own signature performing arts center.

Tony Beadle joined Rockport Music as Executive Director in February 2010. Under his leadership, he managed the transition of the organization from 5-week Rockport Chamber Music Festival to developing and managing a year-round arts presenter of over 125 concerts and presentations each year. Additionally, he successfully transitioned the organization to its new home, the seaside Shalin Liu Performance Center and brought it to an international reputation. The season has expanded beyond classical music to include jazz, folk, pop, and world music, as well as HD broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera, England’s National Theatre, and the Bolshoi Ballet.
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