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By Angie McNew, Director of Web Sites and Emerging Media
Yes, we do build the exhibits ourselves. Most of them anyway.
When you mention you work at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, two questions that frequently come up in conversation are “how long does it take to build an exhibit” and “do you build the exhibits yourselves?”
The answer to the first question usually depends on what kind of exhibit it is. It’s important to understand that there are basically three types of exhibits at our museum.
1. Permanent exhibits are the big, long term exhibits like Dinosphere®, The Power of Children: Making a Difference, Playscape, ScienceWorks, and National Geographic Treasures of the Earth (which is our newest exhibit opening in 2011.)
2. Temporary and Special exhibits are the ones we build that only last for about a year or less. Rock Stars, Cars, And Guitars and Etch A Sketch were two temporary exhibits that recently closed. Barbie™: The Fashion Experience is a temporary exhibit open until February 2011.
3. Traveling exhibits are exhibits that we build and usually offer for a short time at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis before we ship them out to be rented by other museums and venues. Right now we are working on designs for our newest traveler, Dora and Diego—Let’s Explore! We also rent traveling exhibits that other venues have built as a means of keeping things new and interesting for visitors. Polar Bears to Penguins is a travelling exhibit that opens here in October, but it was developed by Science North.
Usually permanent exhibits take the most time and planning to build. It’s not unusual for the museum Exhibit team to spend 3-5 years planning a permanent exhibit. There are several phases of the exhibit planning process, but the actual construction doesn’t take place until the final phase called “Production Phase.”
There are a few interesting things that happen before we reach Production Phase. 
When we close an exhibit and board up the entrance, we start demolishing the inside until everything is gone. We try to be as green as possible when we deconstruct an exhibit so we look to reuse, recycle, repurpose, or donate everything that comes out of an old exhibit. Then we clean up the space and essentially start with a “white box” which is the foundation for the new exhibit going into the space. We also try to build and test prototypes of ideas we have for activities for new exhibits. For example, we recently built a puzzle of a sarcophagus lid to see how visitors would use it for the Treasures of the Earth exhibit. Even though the exhibit doesn’t open until next year, early prototyping helps us gauge how well visitors enjoy and learn from an activity, and testing helps us figure out how to improve it before the real version gets built.
Once Production Phase hits things swing into full gear and the exhibit really starts coming together.
All the structures are built; the lights and computer hardware are installed; the carpet, paint, and surfaces are put in; and finally all the graphics and artifacts are installed. Did you know we have a carpenter shop and a paint shop in the lower level of the museum? That’s where the cabinetry and structures are built, painted, and stored until they’re ready to move into an exhibit. The lower level is also where our collection is housed and artifacts are prepared before being put on display in the museum.
Next time you visit The Children’s Museum, see if you can guess which doors lead to the carpenter shop or what might be happening behind the mysterious walled up entrances of closed exhibits.
