Case Study: Venice Museum & Archives
With new marketing/brand strategies & development tools, VMA wanted to:
- Communicate the social and economic value of VMAs mission to diverse target audiences with a limited budget and staff resources
- Heighten community awareness of the significance of its historical assets
- Engage and educate the local citizenry about the connection between quality of life in Venice and its heritage assets
- Raise public awareness of the need for a new history museum
- Publicize the significant gains achieved by the Venice Museum & Archives
- Encourage and promote change in perception through building capacity programming
- Position them to launch a capital campaign to build a new museum
R&D/discovery Phase
Florida Journeys Communications undertook the project in three consecutive phases: R&D/Discovery, followed by the Design and Production. Of the three phases, the first Discovery stage is the most pivotal. It’s the opportunity to scan the environment for clues to what will resonate with key audiences; it’s also a time to “pressure test” key assumptions and identify barriers to overcome.
R&D Milestones
- Engage community leaders in one-on-one interviews (25+ hrs) about their perceptions of historic Venice and the new museum concept.
- Develop a holistic view of the Venice history “marketplace” by synthesizing strategic plans, trends reports and websites.
- Discuss key findings / recommendations with stakeholders
- Present summary report = The Case For Action
- Build capacity/success stories = Design for Living speaker series 2016
Speaker Series
The speaker series, that drew crowds in the hundreds and received a good deal of media attention, was designed to dovetail an exhibit at the Venice Museum & Archives that focused on the life and work of John Nolen. The 2016 speaker series Design for Living: John Nolen and the Renaissance of New Urbanism was a capacity building initiative presented by the museum and developed and produced by FJC. Design for Living explores the inspirations for innovative city planner John Nolen’s 1926 plan for Venice and how his planning principles connect with the New Urbanism movement today.
- First speaker series the museum has ever presented
- 750 people attended the series of 4 speakers; engaged new audiences; regional media coverage
- Presented/sponsored by three Venice history nonprofits working together
The Streets of Livable Cities
Victor Dover, cofounder of Dover, Kohl & Partners Town Planning is an avid bike commuter and expert on how to fix our streets, and in the process shape enduring cities that people really love. He lectures widely around the nation on topics of livable communities and sustainable development, and was national chair of the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) from 2010 to 2012. Victor has been designing walkable, sustainable communities for 25 years and his work spans five continents and ranges from revitalizing historic downtown to retrofitting suburbia.
Economic Value of Historic Preservation
Clay Henderson, Esq., President Florida Trust for Historic Preservation will be discussing the economic value of historic preservation to communities that value their heritage assets. Clay is a titan of Florida environmental and historic preservation policy. He was recently selected as executive director of Stetson University’s newly established Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience. For the last 15 years, he has been senior counsel at national law firm for Holland & Knight, focusing on environmental and water law.
Local Food
Ed Chiles, Chiles Restaurant Group CEO, is a passionate supporter of all things local and sustainable. He owns three waterfront restaurants and Gamble Creek Farm that supplies much of the produce his restaurants use. Menu items include local heritage seafood dishes such as grey striped mullet and Sunray Venus clams. Ed is a leader in developing the Gulf Coast’s blue economy as an economic engine and promoting full utilization of our heritage sustainable seafood through his Gulf Coast Heritage Project.
John Nolen: Landscape Architect and City Planner
Bruce Stephenson, Ph.D. is the Director of the Department of Environmental Studies and Sustainable Urbanism at Rollins College. His books, editorials and journal contributions examine the intersection of environmentalism and city planning and authenticity as an overlooked factor in economic development. Bruce is a Florida Humanities Council scholar and contributor to the PBS documentary, “Imagining a New Florida.” He will be discussing and signing copies of his new book, John Nolen: Landscape Architect and City Planner.
Design & Production Phase
Once we moved into design we created an identity system and branding package based on our significant research, and input from the museum staff.
