The Client Side of Major Projects, with Amy Weisser (Podcast)
“The client’s role is not to solve the problem — it’s to state the problem.”
What’s the client’s perspective in major cultural projects? What are “client user groups?” What’s the difference between advocating for the client, and advocating for the project? How do you “inhabit your project?” How might a single gender-inclusive restroom project change an entire institution? Should every project have a “super contingency” in the budget?
Amy Weisser (Deputy Director for Strategic Planning and Projects at Storm King Art Center) joins host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “The Client Side of Major Projects.”
Along the way: P.P.E., trusting the hiring decisions, and a 2,000-year-old Roman theory that still works today.
Talking Points:
The Three-Legged Stool: Vision, Schedule, Budget
Client Advocate, Project Advocate, User Advocate
Museum Building Projects are Linear, Not Cyclical
All Projects are Transformational
Project Phases: Watercolors to Hard Hats
Disasters DO Happen
Build Your Values
How to Listen:
Making the Museum: https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G
Everywhere: https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/
Guest Bio:
Amy Weisser is Deputy Director, Strategic Planning and Projects at Storm King Art Center, where she incubates projects focused on strategic growth. Weisser has spent 30 years supporting cultural institutions undergoing profound development. Prior to Storm King, Weisser led exhibition development for the National September 11 Memorial Museum from 2005 to 2017 and helped open the contemporary art museum Dia:Beacon and the American Museum of Natural History’s Rose Center for Earth and Space. She has taught Museum Studies at New York University. Weisser holds a doctorate in Art History from Yale University. She is a co-author of Martin Puryear: Lookout (GRM/SKAC, 2024).
About MtM:
Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. This podcast is a project of C&G Partners | Design for Culture. Learn about the firm's creative work at: https://www.cgpartnersllc.com
Links for This Episode:
Amy’s Email:
as.weisser@stormkingartcenter.org
Amy’s LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amysweisser/
Storm King:
www.stormking.org
Storm King’s Capital Project:
https://stormking.org/capitalproject/
Building Museums Symposium, a project of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums:
https://midatlanticmuseums.org/building-museums/
Links for MtM:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger
alger@cgpartnersllc.com
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com
Newsletter:
Like the show? Try the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a one-minute email, three times a week, on exhibition planning and design for museum leaders, exhibition teams and visitor experience professionals. (And the best way to find out first about new episodes of the podcast.)
Subscribe here: https://www.makingthemuseum.com
