Museum set to expand, fulfill brand

Story by: Austin Ashlock and Creighton Hoefer

Upon arriving at the National Music Museum last November, Cleveland Johnson, the institutions second director in its 40-year existence, was faced with a number “daunting” challenges.

“I quickly realized the museum had a corner to turn,” Johnson said. “We had to decide whether to keep on keeping on, or take the chance to reevaluate the institution, it’s setting, it’s era and it’s cultural impact.”

Choosing the latter, Johnson set out, not to renovate the historical institution, but to fulfill its national title.

“Our biggest challenge is how to breakout and kind of get out from under that bushel that (the museum) has had for many years,” Johnson said. “We want to live up to our national name.”

Heard, not seen

However, before Johnson and his staff can concern themselves over garnering national recognition, their most up front obstacle is right outside their door.

Located on the campus of the University of South Dakota, the National Music Museum is approximately seven miles off Interstate 29, tucked away in a town of about 10,000.

This is cause for concern for Johnson.

“Even those seven miles are an obstacle,” he said. “It’s a really tough sell, we just have to be compelling enough to make that happen.”

With an array of historical musical instruments, ranging from contemporary items like Elvis Presley’s Martin D-35, to more unique instruments like the 10-foot long, 1,000-pound long drum, Johnson said the collection at the National Music Museum is “screaming to get out.”

“The instruments here are, without a doubt, the most comprehensive collection of instruments in the entire world,” Johnson said. “We need people to realize this isn’t a South Dakota thing, and it’s not even a national thing.  The museum’s potential to reach out and inspire people, not just musicians, is great.”

With the confidence of the museum’s potential behind them, the staff at the National Music Museum is looking into any possible method to breakout of Vermillion and “realize the capacity of their name.”

Entering the new age

In an age of bombarding technology — Facebook statuses, Twitter feeds and endless forms of media — the museum finds itself not only struggling for the time of its patrons, but their attention.

“We are competing with television, entertainment and people’s leisure time, which is as scattered as ever,” Johnson said.

So, to help fulfill the goal of a national brand, Johnson has turned to the very thing the museum competes with: technology.

Turning fuel into fire, the National Music Museum created a Facebook page six months ago and is in the stages of redesigning their website. Johnson expects these changes will make the museum appealing for people at a distance.

While Johnson hopes social media will expand the museum’s causal influence, the introduction of new technology within the museum is another way to increase interest.

When perusing through the museum, visitors are now able to check out an iPod Touch to carry along and experience the museum not only visually, but also audibly.

‘Broadening the appeal’

Appealing to the masses and academia alike, Johnson said another purpose the National Music Museum serves is to share the instruments with the world, even if that means sending them away.

Ted Muenster, capital campaign director, said the museum has been doing several things to broaden the appeal of not only the building but also the instruments inside.

Sending their selection of instruments to exhibits in cities like Minneapolis and Seattle is part of the museum’s duty, according to Muenster, and ultimately benefits the institution.

“We’re in a small community in a relatively light-populated part of the country,” Muenster said. “So we have to understand those limitations. We’re going to be taking the museum out into the world rather than expecting the world to come here.“

Johnson said opportunities to spread the National Music Museum’s name through loaning instruments are not just a strategy, but also a duty.

“These instruments are being seen by over 50,000 people at these large exhibits,” Johnson said. “It’s exciting to know that they have that sort of hold on people, and that’s really what we are all about.”

Muenster said the museum is looking to seek out similar exhibition partnerships with well-reputable music institutions across the region and throughout the country.

“We hope to develop traveling exhibitions with museums like the Jocelyn Museum in Omaha and the Metropolitan Museum in New York,” he said.

A multi-month exhibition will be featured at the Minneapolis airport in 2015, Muenster said.

He also said the museum hopes to develop a saxophone-centric exhibit by next year, as 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of the invention of the saxophone.