Free guides from practice founded in 1999 — more than forty museums. Everything a board member, mayor, city manager, or foundation officer needs to understand before commissioning a museum planner.
A complete walkthrough of the ten steps of museum development — from the first community meeting through opening day and the planning cycle that follows.
Before your community commits capital, you need to know whether the museum can operate sustainably. This guide explains what a feasibility study covers and why it is never optional.
The master plan translates your institution's mission and audience into a physical building program, visitor experience framework, and capital campaign strategy. It is what architects work from.
A deeper companion to Guide 02: what you are actually commissioning, typical fee ranges, deliverables, and how feasibility fits ahead of master planning and a capital campaign.
Historic civic buildings, collections in storage, and historical societies often begin in Phase 01 — governance, building condition, and honest audience math before anyone talks about exhibitions.
These guides are written by Mark Walhimer, managing partner of Museum Planning LLC (founded 1999). He has worked inside museums since 1992 and has planned museums across the United States and internationally — science centers, children's museums, natural history museums, history museums, and cultural centers.
The guides reflect what actually works, drawn from that experience. Not theory. Not what the textbooks say. What happens in the room with boards, city managers, architects, and funders.
Every engagement begins with a conversation — an hour, no cost, no obligation.
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