The Edgewood Museum brings local history and culture to life for the Edgewood area.
Vision: The impact we strive to have
The Edgewood Museum will be a hub of community learning and enjoyment.
The Museum endeavors to ignite creativity, inspire critical thinking, and spark conversation.
Action: What we do
Deliver learning experiences to the community at large.
Present compelling exhibitions and programs that present local culture and history.
Generate and share new experiences through exhibitions and web-based media.
Collect, preserve, and interpret significant historical artifacts with a focus on local history and culture.
Think big, start small, create.
Values: Core beliefs that guide us
We believe that the Edgewood community deserves the best; we aim to excel at everything we do.
We exemplify Iowa hospitality; we are welcoming and friendly to all. We put people first.
Partners are essential; we work to build relationships with businesses, organizations, and individuals.
We never stop learning or thinking; we continually push boundaries and explore new territory.
The Edgewood Museum will serve in perpetuity. To ensure this, we build and care for our collections, make smart use of our financial resources, and continually invest in our future.
We exist to benefit the community; we demonstrate our success by aligning our words and our actions
Goals and Objectives
Goal 1: Develop engagement in the community
Develop an audience for the Museum to include Edgewood area residents and visitors.
Encourage participation from all community members. Establish partnerships with like-minded organizations.
Strengthen relationships with community leaders.
Empower the public to feel ownership of the Museum.
Engage the community as an accessible and welcoming center of learning.
Enhance history appreciation among our patrons.
Commit to audience development by knowing our patrons, and by presenting exhibitions and programs that respond to their needs and interests.
Provide access to the Museum with convenient opening hours and pricing policies, and developing new ways to speak with new audiences.
Work creatively in partnership with other organizations to enhance our work and enable us to extend our reach.
Determine how to present, interpret, and share our collections as a means for engaging our audience.
Goal 2: Establish the Museum as a partner in education
Develop offerings that promote creativity and build community.
Connect with teachers and serve as a partner.
Ensure that every school-age child visits the Museum.
Develop and promote the collection as a resource for learning.
Provide a robust digital learning experience.
Grow financial support for education efforts so that they can be provided free of charge or at the lowest cost possible.
Develop a docent program to provide a strong volunteer pool to support education initiatives.
Goal 3: Provide a fun and enjoyable Museum experience
Adopt a culture of hospitality, and develop a visitor centric ethos.
Provide family-friendly visitor amenities to promote comfort and engagement.
Develop a changing exhibition program to connect with community interests and motivate attendance.
Be a highly visible organization with a lot of “buzz” about town.
Build a high quality collection and enhance public access to it.
Actively partner with other cultural, educational and social service organizations.
Acquire, centralize, and catalogue objects and archives.
Digitize and post the collection on-line.
Utilize actual and virtual exhibitions and related educational programming.
Create personalized experiences for our visitors.
Broaden our offerings by forging creative partnerships with other cultural organizations in the region.
Goal 4: Ensure long-term sustainability and grow organizational capacity
Develop a volunteer corps to provide support to Museum activities.
Focus on long-term strategy, fundraising, and fiduciary responsibilities.
Grow and diversify financial resources—operational and endowment.
Goal 5: Develop the Museum’s brand, communications, and marketing
Develop and launch a brand for the Museum.
Develop public and media relations to reach the entire Edgewood community and the surrounding trade area.
Align the Museum’s marketing efforts with its audience development goals.
Create a communication strategy for promoting the Museum.
Develop a comprehensive digital strategy by focusing on the broader role that technology must play in every aspect of the Museum’s operations, especially in marketing and communications and new interpretive initiatives.
