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Revolutionary Roundtables
Revolutionary Roundtables is a five-part, half-day workshop series designed to help museum and historic site professionals strengthen interpretation, visitor experience, and public engagement. Through participatory exercises, site-based exploration, and collaborative problem-solving, each session offers practical tools for improving how collections and historic spaces are presented and experienced. Timed to coincide with the nation’s 250th anniversary, the series invites participants to experiment with new approaches to storytelling, digital tools, collaboration, and flexible interpretation while remaining grounded in the real-world constraints and opportunities facing collecting institutions today. Participants will leave with fresh ideas, strategies, and actionable plans they can implement at their own sites.
Rethinking Visitor Experience
Monday, April 20
Collaborative Interpretation
Friday, May 1
Digital Tools for Interpretation
Thursday, May 14
Enhancing Museum Narratives
Wednesday, July 22 | Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz | 9:30am-12:30pm
This workshop helps participants critically examine the stories told through their collections and consider how narrative choices shape public understanding. Working together in a historic setting, attendees will review interpretive content, identify gaps or assumptions, and experiment with alternative narrative structures that allow for greater complexity and inclusion. Hands-on activities will focus on refining interpretive language, sequencing information, and presenting multiple perspectives clearly and responsibly. Participants will leave with strategies and draft concepts they can use to strengthen and refresh interpretation at their own institutions.
Pop-Up Exhibits & Public Engagement
Tuesday, October 6 | Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, Yonkers | 9:30am-12:30pm
Designed around experimentation and flexibility, this workshop explores how temporary and mobile interpretation can extend museum storytelling beyond traditional galleries. Participants will work collaboratively to design and prototype low-cost pop-up exhibits and public-facing interventions that can be deployed in outdoor spaces, lobbies, or community settings. The session emphasizes adaptability, audience engagement, and rapid testing of ideas, allowing institutions to respond creatively to current themes or visitor needs. Participants will leave with practical models and a toolkit of approaches for implementing pop-up interpretation at their own sites.
Space is limited to 25 participants per workshop
This workshop series is funded by the Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.
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