Promote, Publicize and Revel in Your Museum’s Accreditation Award

You’ve worked hard the past few years and now is the time to celebrate your achievement! This is the time to toast your staff, board and volunteers for their hard work, thank your community for its support, and remind citizens and local leaders what a great asset they have. Use the momentum of this award to expand your museum’s possibilities.

Here are some things other museums have done to promote their accreditation award:

• Throw a party! Thank your project team, staff, board and volunteers for their contributions to the institution’s success. Throw open the doors of the museum and have a day-long celebration full of special family events or an evening gala. Consider combining the celebration with an exhibit opening.
• Invite public officials to your celebration. Ask a local civic leader or official to present the accreditation certificate. One museum had the governor place the accreditation logo on the museum’s sign as part of the ceremony.
• Write a letter to your legislators. The Alliance would like to share your museum’s accreditation success story. Just fill in the form and the rest will be done for you, one, two, three…
• Put an article in your newsletter. Tell your members you have achieved or retained accredited status and explain what this means to the museum and its community and what you did to earn it.
• Invite local television stations. Many local television stations, especially morning shows, do remote broadcasts from locations around their area. Invite them to broadcast from your facility.
• Use accreditation as a chance to educate. Feature a lecture on the history of the museum or the museum’s role in the community. One museum offered a lecture by a notable historian on why local history is important.
• Dance or sing! Include some type of performing arts event as part of the celebratory activities.
• Let them in for free! Forget about admission fees (if you have them) for a day and have an open house or community day. Add special tours or demonstrations to help first-time visitors get acquainted with your museum.
• Develop a special behind-the-scenes tour. Show the public what an accredited museum looks like.
• Have the governor or mayor declare a day to honor your museum. Or ask state or federal representatives to pass a resolution congratulating you.
• Alert the public. Let the public know about your award and accredited status. Or include it as an insert in another mailing. Be sure to get the Visiting Committee’s permission before disclosing their names.
• Don’t forget your website. Add the accreditation logo to your homepage and create a permanent section of the site telling the world you’re accredited and what that means.
• Stick it! Put the clear accreditation logo window sticker on all your entry doors, the back or side window of any museum vehicles and other glass surfaces.
• Frame it! Frame your accreditation certificates and hang one in a public area for all your visitors to see. One museum made color photocopies of the accreditation certificate for staff members to hang at their desks.
• Organize a fundraising or membership campaign around accreditation. You have proved your museum is among the best—use this as leverage. Get ongoing support from your stakeholders to ensure you maintain accreditation and to help fund anything cited for improvement by the Commission or your Visiting Committee.
• Create a freebie for your staff, board, donors or even visitors. There are many vendors who will put logos on everything from candy to pens to baseball caps to luggage.
• Hold a reception for other museum professionals in your area to celebrate the industry standards and increase professional camaraderie.
• Put an ad in your local paper.

These are just a few ideas. If you have a creative way to celebrate, please share it with us!