Corporate Training in Museums

Museums often court corporate audiences through special event rentals and development and promotional partnerships. But we rarely approach them as potential adult learners. In overlooking them, we miss the potential of reaching a large number of often novice museum participants who can gain from gallery learning and develop a relationship with our collections. This paper presents three primary types of corporate learning programs developed at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga Tennessee: tailored opportunities designed for a company or work group's needs that are co-facilitated by business coaches and museum staff, personal leadership development courses, and team building opportunities for local work groups or visiting conference groups. The programs discussed here have the potential of being adapted to a variety of types of museums which will be discussed at the conclusion of this text.