Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=66347
Story Retrieval Date: 2/9/2010 7:36:41 PM CST
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iPods may be the standard, but most podcasts can be downloaded and listened to on any MP3 player.
Podcasts are sweeping Chicago museums
by
Virginia VanZanten
Oct 23, 2007
What Chicago museums offer:
The Adler Planetarium
adlerplanetarium.org/podcasts
The planetarium offers Adler Night and Day, a bi-weekly podcast that explores the universe and space issues, as well as the Pale Blue Dot III lecture series exploring the search for life on other planets. The Adler Mix, a series about a wide array of space science issues, will be added in November.
The Field Museum
www.fieldmuseum.org/plan_visit/audio_tours.htm
This tour takes visitors through the museum's permanent collection. Narrated by Peter Sagal, the host of National Public Radio’s “Wait…Wait…Don’t Tell Me!,” the tour also includes interviews with curators and museum staff.
Chicago History Museum
http://chicagohistory.org/planavisit/exhibitions
The current exhibit, “Chicago: Crossroads of America,” offers three audio tours available online and at the museum. Spiced with humor, The Second City tour was created by the famous Chicago comedy troupe and is also available in Spanish. In Our Own Words was created by a teen council from Chicago high schools and targets a younger audience.
Art Institute of Chicago
www.artic.edu/aic/visitor_info/podcasts/
Visitors can subscribe to the museum's podcast or download a la carte from the Art Institute's Web site. The Musecast features teasers for upcoming exhibits, and the lecture series taps some of the top artistic minds in discussions of individual art work, special exhibitions, the lives of artists or more general themes.
Museum of Contemporary Art
www.mcachicago.org/interactive/podcasts.php
MCA podcasts allows guests to tour highlights of the MCA collection with big names in the art industry and to explore the current major exhibit, “Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll since 1967,” with the music and the people who made it happen.
McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum
http://freedommuseum.us/podcast.php
Currently featuring three stories including freedom of the press in professional baseball and the struggle for freedom in Tibet, this site brings in big names to discuss today’s issues and the liberties they impact.
It used to be that listening to an iPod in a museum would get you evil looks from the docent.
Not anymore.
From New York to Chicago and all the way across the pond (even Versailles outside Paris is getting in on the action), museum podcasts are all the rage.
In a move to reach a younger generation and make exhibits more accessible, museums are offering free podcast downloads. Some are even lending out iPods to enhance their visitors’ experiences.
Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art helped blaze the iPod trail in fall 2005 after receiving a donation of several iPods from Apple. “As a contemporary art institution, we felt it was our job to be up on the new technology,” said Sarah Jesse, assistant director of public programs. “[Because of the podcasts], we’re definitely reaching a younger audience.”
The podcasts aren’t all about bringing in the kids. The Adler Planetarium's podcasts aim for a different demographic. “Our broadcasts are really a medium for the mid-20s and mid-30s demographic," said Katie Peterson, the planetarium's distance learning educator. "They’re the groups that are really latching on.”
Earlier generations also can get in on the action. “Our older visitors have really enjoyed the iPods as well, especially people who haven’t used them before,” said Lauren Bolan, public relations and sponsorship manager at the Chicago History Museum. The museum shows iPod newcomers how to use the devices.
While museum staffers say it was tough to get the world out initially, most institutions are seeing growing numbers in podcast downloads. The Adler Planetarium saw 6,000 downloads in their inaugural year but doubled that amount in the next seven months, according to Peterson. Paid admission to the Chicago History Museum includes free use of an iPod loaded with audio tours. Ninety percent of museum visitors accept the offer, said Bolan. That's in addition to 4,300 people who had already download their files online, she said.
Another bonus to the iPod trend? It’s cheap for both museum visitors and staff.
Recording a typical audio tour for an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art costs around $30,000—a price driven by studio time and complicated equipment fees, according to Jesse. The cost for podcasts is substantially less. The museum purchased one piece of recording equipment in 2005 for $400 and simply constructs the podcasts in an Apple program called Garage Band. “Now for us, [creating podcasts] is basically free,” she said.
Despite the lower cost, few museums are moving entirely away from traditional audio tours. The Adler Planetarium is reserving its podcasts as a vehicle for original content. "We want to reach audiences we wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach and provide information they wouldn’t necessarily get if they stepped into the Adler,” said Peterson.
To find out if your favorite museum offers podcasts, search for “podcast” on its Web site. Or open your iTunes browser, click on ‘iTunes Store,’ ‘podcasts,’ then search for your museum of choice.
