As a follow up to my Predictions for the future of Museums,  I have been thinking about the future of museums.  What if there was a place where parents, teachers, scientists,museum professionals, artists, students and experts could all share ideas both on the internet and in person. The “Hub Museum” is such a place!

Hub Museum is not one museum but a new model of a partnership of connected museums. Instead of a children’s museum, natural history museum, an Art Museum, a Science Center, the Hub Museum is all of them! Museum live through attendance and attendance is driven by new programs and exhibitions, the Hub Museum, changes every three months, into a new place and the exhibitions are rotated through all of the fellow hub museums.

Teachers, parents, scientists,museum professionals, artists, students and experts all gather online at “The Hub” portal. Teachers can share lesson plans and review science standards and curriculum, parents can view lesson plans and curriculum. Scientists can answer questions of students, “citizen scientists” can earn “expert” points by answering questions. Students can ask questions and learn from one another and experts. The online presence is fun and relaxed, although the content is in line with California Science Standards and National Curriculum. Same as the sharing of exhibitions the Hub portal is a shared online community amongst museums, parents, teachers, scientists, experts and most importantly students.

Museums become the hub for in person activities, instead of museums trying to individually create exhibitions, they are created through a network of museums all working to the same educational standards and curriculum. Instead of each museum working to separate standards and curriculum, the curriculum of the schools is shared by the museums and museums work in partnership with one another to design and build exhibitions.

Exhibitions are then shared amongst museums, so museums are always changing. Superintendents of schools, teachers and students are aware of the educational content before they visit the museum.

Still the museum is serving a different role than the school, the museum is an informal place for exploration and discovery of the formal education at school.

Opening of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, January 2, 2010

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art – Grand Opening

Michael Jackson Museum to Get Rides, Golf Course | NBC Chicago

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By Matthew Santoni
TRIBUNE-REVIEW

“At the foot of Troy Hill, a 108-year-old, ethnically Croatian Catholic church has sat abandoned for five years, its sagging stained-glass windows rattled by traffic rumbling past on Route 28 a few feet away.

But after St. Nicholas Church skirted demolition several times, a study released Friday showed it could see life again as a national immigration museum. It might attract 25,000 visitors a year after $10 million worth of renovations and expansion, said Mark Fatla, executive director of Northside Leadership Conference, which is managing the preservation effort.”

By SARA KINCAID Bismarck Tribune | Posted: Friday, December 4, 2009 2:00 am

“Planning continues on the idea of a children’s museum in Mandan.

The founding board for the North Dakota Children’s Museum met Thursday evening in Mandan. It was the board’s second meeting. A children’s museum has interactive exhibits for children.

“It’s not sterile, where you can’t touch anything,” said Sara Hills, one of the co-founders of the museum.

Hills is spearheading the children’s museum effort with Wendy Anderson-Berg. Hills is a kindergarten teacher in Mandan Public Schools and Anderson-Berg works for Bismarck Parks and Recreation.”

From the Star-Telegram

“These and many other jaw-dropping interactive experiences await when the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History opens its doors Friday, marking the start of a new era in the museum’s history.

What began in 1945 as the Fort Worth Children’s Museum has evolved into a dazzling 166,000-square-foot, $80 million state-of-the-art complex that will thrill children and enable adults to find their inner child.”

By Janet Fullwood
Contra Costa Times Correspondent

“The upcoming Olympic Heritage Celebration is timed to cash in on public enthusiasm for the 2010 Winter Olympics, opening Feb. 12 in Vancouver, British Columbia. And it’s more than just a nostalgia bash. The underlying goal is to raise funds and support for a ski museum to be built at a yet-to-be-determined North Shore location.

The proposed facility, which will incorporate the Auburn Ski Club collection now on display in a deteriorating Donner Summit museum, will take a broad look at the history of skiing in the west, says Linda Williams, project manager for the Olympic Museum Foundation.”

From the Daily Press

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.

The renovation is scheduled to open Saturday after several delays prevented it from opening as expected on Memorial Day weekend.

The Virginian-Pilot reported Sunday that a coastal Sahara desert habitat will be one of the new things to see. Scorpions, cobras and hedgehogs will be on display.

A Red Sea aquarium and Flores Island exhibit will also be on display–along with the much-awaited Komodo dragons.

By Michelle Krupa, The Times-Picayune

“Spearheaded by a pair of Mayor Ray Nagin’s close allies, the Center for Entertainment and the Creative Industry, dubbed CECI, would reinvent the Municipal Auditorium, still shuttered since Hurricane Katrina, as a structure that combines traditional stages with digital production facilities, a merchandise distribution center, a culinary school, a jazz museum and offices for nonprofit and commercial start-ups in entertainment-related fields.”

From the Morning Sun

“The proposed Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum is still a dream, but the dream could be a little closer to reality.

Organizers of the children’s museum announced last week the start of a capital campaign. The group that began with four mothers and an idea says that to make the project a reality, it wants to raise $3 million.”