Good Interpretation Sells

One of the striking aspects of Interpretation as a discipline, a skill, and a philosophy is that it always is in search of frontier, a better light bulb, and a higher call. It is not complacent with giving a tour; a list of names, places, and events. Good interpretation inspires and a list simply does not inspire. Good interpretation sells.
By "sells", it should be understood that interpretation creates something within itself that people like visitors and stakeholders want.

Planning is crucial to making a
quality program that sells itself

One cannot buy a good reputation. A reputation is built, little by little, and as such it will take time. For an interpretive place, this should not be a problem as there is always another day tomorrow. By taking the time to carefully cultivate quality interpretive programs, events, tours, training, hand-outs, or waysides, an interpretive site can position itself to start to attract attention. Quality interpretation is going to inspire, motivate, and provoke (Remember Tilden's 6 Principles?) Outreach, advertisement, and word of mouth promote the site, but do not be discouraged by a modest response; many of the decision makers are slow to respond, especially to new things. Everybody is looking for a sure-fire win and the best bang for their buck, especially from the education field with their ever shrinking funding and increasing liability for field trips. The interpretive place is therefore in competition with everything else for that field trip consideration.

As mentioned, it will take time. Five years should be a minimum base before seeing significant growth. Why? Because you cannot buy a good reputation; it is built little by little and it takes time. Five years should be enough to get the word out. A busy season should be a good indicator that the interpretation is quality.

Some t-shirts do get honorable mentions!

That increased visitation is going to create revenue, even if the interpretive site is free. Nearly every interpretive site has a gift store. Those items on sale are going to sell. It works even better if they are quality products. The closer to the interpretive themes a product is, the more likely it will sell. However, never disdain a well designed t-shirt! Or a funny one! An excelletnt example would be Living History Farms. The town highlights trades like a print shop, a broom maker shop, and a blacksmith, and each of these shops produce goods to sell in the gift store. Living History Farms also goes out of its way to create events that fall in line with its interpretive goals like Food and Farm festivals. Read about my experience at LHF here.

If the site does charge for admission, the high visitation from quality interpretation is going to do well. It also shows to the Board or to the higher-ups that the site is doing well and deserves to be protected, preserved, and properly maintained. For many places, especially in the public and national properties, this is the goal: to get people to appreciate the place and make sure it continues. Few places are more heartbreaking than a washed up has-been place that is neglected.

The quality interpretation is simply going to elevate the profile of that place. Some places are blessed to be large, famous, important, significant places that resound in the public, but others are going to have to yell and scream to get recognition and a quality interpretation of that place can generate enough noise to attract notice.

These higher profile places are appreciated. The things that are appreciated are protected. Even a local place can gather staunch support if people properly appreciate it. Quality Interpretation creates not only appreciation for the site, but also support, a higher profile in the community, protection and preservation, better funding to be able to do more, and a reputation for being a sure-fire win for visitors.  Thus, when there is another partial government shut down, the impact is felt by the surrounding area because the local businesses depend on the revenue that the popular site brings in as an added benefit. Of course, that applies only to the public lands, but could apply to private interpretive places in the case of a emergency, like an environmental disaster.

The bottom line is that an interpretive place must take the time to hone its programming, hand-outs, and events, and provide the best training for staff in order to build that reputation that the site sells itself and is successful in reaching its goals. That is how good interpretation sells.

Site Visit: Special Event at Martin Luther King Jr. NHP

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthplace home

One of the side benefits of being somewhere is that it is nearby to somewhere. Being inclined to historical areas and places, we often roam to these places to enjoy some power of place and being at the right place at the right time. In this instance, we found ourselves in near Atlanta, Georgia, about the time of Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday.  The only thing that was off was the partial government shut down that closed most of the National Parks, so at first it seemed that the holiday was going to be quashed by denying access to the interior of King's childhood residence, but a generous grant from the Delta Airlines Foundation (which has a large presence and is a major employer in the Atlanta area) provided funding for the site to be open for 2 weeks from the holiday until after Superbowl LIII which was held in Atlanta this year. So instead of being disappointed, we decided to impulsively drive to Atlanta the day of the holiday to explore the site and learn a little bit more about the famous leader.

As to be expected, the event was well attended and overwhelmed official parking and a few streets were closed to parking, so finding a place to park was hard to find. We set about getting our trophies: a Junior Ranger book that we will complete later to send in and the Park stamp. We toured the first racially integrated firehouse in Atlanta, quickly browsed the King Center, viewed Dr. King and his wife's tombs amid the fountain, quickly browsed the visitor center, toured the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and viewed his birthplace.  It was a very superficial visit in part because we had our moody "threenager" as well as the holiday crush.

Nevertheless being a part of a historic event in place and in time for someone who made a huge impact on American culture and politics was very important. It is remarkable that the birthplace, his first church, the first racially integrated firehouse, and final resting place are on the same street. It makes it unique that this "cradle-to-grave" and everything in between is all in one place.

Inside Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. King preached.

It is abundantly clear that more time is needed to really appreciate the enormity of the offerings by the King Center and the National Historic Park, and that our visit barely qualified as a survey. Rather than evaluate the interpretive quality of the site, there are some thoughts that bear sharing.

Viewing the struggle for civil rights in the United States is something like seems out of sync with the rhetoric. It's like the United States is guilty of double talking: Land of the Free but only for white people. On one hand, it feels like the past is a foreign land where segregation seems so blatantly incorrect and wrong when trying to explain it to a child when the best explanation is "well, that's the way things were." On the other, many people have benefited from that struggle and example set by the brave men, women, students, and children who stood up to something that they knew to be wrong and fought hard to gain equality and justice. Perhaps it is shocking how hard they had to fight to gain it. Dr. King, while being the face and the icon of the movement, is not the only person who led it or even came up with it, yet his influence should not be understated in view of the fact there are so many other bright lights that stood with him, guided him, helped him, and supported him- so many in fact that to name them all would take more time than I have to devote to such a task. It's also sad to say that his work for a just society still remains just out of reach for many.

For the very little that we had to opportunity to enjoy, it will be worth returning to when the next opportunity allows it to be so.