Formidlingsseminar Aarhus 2016

1. Exhibition and public program development in the
National Maritime Museum Amsterdam:
focus on audience groups
Linda Mol MA
Head of Exhibitions and Interpretation
The National Maritime Museum Amsterdam: in 350-year-old Naval Depot, the former
arsenal of the Admiralty.
From the old to the new museum
‘Reinvention’ of the old maritime museum
(180,000 visitors per year):
•new corporate story (the Dutch ‘seaward story’)
•new marketing strategy
•new exhibition strategy
•new fundraising strategy for refurbishment (€ 17.5 million)
The Open Courtyard
Exhibition development: focus on audience groups
Maritime experience/
Voyage at Sea
experience and immersion
Eastindiaman Amsterdam
experience and immersion
Thematic exhibitions
discovery and experience
Audience group
Families
School groups
Object exhibitions
discovery and enjoyment
Aucience group
Traditional museum visitors
Maritime specialists
Location of exhibitions within the building
EAST (‘Objects’)
Object exhibitions
WEST (‘Stories’)
Thematic exhibitions
Amsterdam
NORTH (‘Experience’)
Voyage at Sea
Eastindiaman
SOUTH ‐Entrance

2. Exhibition strategy, summary:
• Different exhibition formats,
• for different audience groups,
• in different parts of the museum building,
• designed by different exhibition design teams,
• creating different atmospheres in each of the galleries.
EAST– Objects – The Navigational Instruments
WEST – Stories – Golden Age exhibition NORTH – Experience – Voyage at Sea
Audience focused approach in
exhibition development:
• design
• storyline
• (intensity of) experience
• multimedia techniques applied
• required level of foreknowledge
Formal and informal learning in the galleries: school
groups, families and traditional museum visitors

3. General results 2011-2015
1. Visitor numbers:
• 2012: 440,000
• 2013: 327,000
• 2014: 322,000
• 2015: 302,000
2. Division in audience groups:
2013:
Families: 38% Visitors without kids: 54% Schools: 8%
Dutch: 73% Foreign tourists: 27%
2015:
Families: 33% Visitors without kids: 58% Schools: 9%
Dutch: 67% Foreign tourists: 33%
General results 2011-2015
3. Visitors research:
•Visitor surveys every month
•Separate research on different topics: specific audience groups
(families, education/schools), exhibitions & public programs
(both evaluation as well as testing of new concepts), and
reputation/image
4. Results of visitor research:
•during visitor surveys: rating of 7.9 to 8.3 (out of 10)
•Repeat visit intention: between 71% and 59%
•Net Promoter Score: between +38 and +26
•spontaneous brand awareness doubled
General results 2011-2015
4. Results of visitor research:
•Higher ratings by families for West and North Wing than for East
Wing compared to visitors without kids, and vice versa (0.3-0.5
point)
•Personified groups (‘personas’) turned out to be more complex:
Dick, Simone and Mickey all visited with children, but had different
interests and ‘needs’
•Foreign tourists were not defined as a separate audience group but
had special ‘needs’ too.
External and internal changes
• Economic crisis: budget cuts by government and reduction of
budgets for exhibitions, marketing and visitor research
• Reopening of the Rijksmuseum in 2013 and other museums
around Museumplein
• Changes in staff and management
Temporary exhibitions on relevant topics: The Dark Chapter (2013-2014)
Temporary exhibition The Dark Chapter (2013-2014)
1. Starting points:
•Audience group: families and school groups
•Developed with an international advisory board
•Based on a recent doctorate thesis about the shipwreck of a
18th century Dutch slave ship
•Exhibition design based on CSI-series
•End of exhibition: discussion area where visitors could vote on
statements and leave their reaction online or in the gallery
2. Results/lessons learned:
•Visitor survey: 8
•For few visitors the main reason to visit the museum, but in 14
months 200,000 visitors

4. The Dark Chapter (2013-2014)
•High impact education program for school groups:
- special training for museum teachers
- in order to make slavery relevant, discussions
about modern day types of slavery too
•Spin off of exhibition was organised on 2 locations
in Surinam
New object exhibition: The Atlases (2014)
New thematic (family) exhibition: Life on board (2015)
Lessons learned from Life on board
1. Starting points :
• Replacement for least popular family exhibitions
• Theme based on visitor research
• Budget 50-75% less than for refurbishment
2. Results:
• Visitor survey: 7.9
• Fundraising for small exhibition more difficult than for
large museum projects
Public program development for family exhibition ‘The tale of the whale’
Public programs:
Whale Weeks during Summer Holiday
1. Starting point:
• Collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund in the
development of exhibition in 2010-2011
• Start with modest public program for families in 2013

5. Public programs:
‘Whale Weeks’ during Summer Holiday
• 2014-2016: developed into a platform for education on
the (history of) whales and whaling in cooperation with:
- World Wildlife Fund
- Museums in villages/town with history on whaling (in
De Rijp and Zaandam)
- Ecomare (centre for nature and marine life)
Audio tour for foreign tourists (2015)
In 2015 development of ‘old fashioned’ audio tour with 25
highlights from the museum collection
Royal Barge: object exhibition in new boat house on the museum’s jetty (2015) Royal Barge: exhibition in boat house
Royal Barge: public programs
Commercial events: world premiere of film about 17th century Dutch admiral

6. Commercial events: host location for the European Council of Ministers in 2016
Commercial events: accompanying public programs
The future: development of AR / VR experience
‘Dare to Discover’ and of programs/projects for
nearby Navy Dockyard