Podcast appearances and mentions of Nina Simon

PRESENTACIÓN LIBROS 00:02:05 Asesinatos en familia (Nina Simon) 00:03:35 Los orígenes del totalitarismo (Hannah Arendt) 00:05:40 El cuerpo de Cristo (Bea Lema) 00:07:25 Oposición (Sara Mesa) 00:09:15 Un futuro prometedor (Pierre Lemaitre) 00:11:55 Mayores con reparos. Contrapaso #2 (Teresa Valero) 00:14:15 Zapatos nuevos y sopa de almendras (Begoña Oro) 00:16:00 Afterschool Dice Club #6 (Hiro Nakamichi) 00:18:10 Agatha Raisin y las brujas desdichadas (M.C. Beaton) 00:21:40 Aprendiz del villano (Hannah Nicole Maehrer) PELÍCULAS 00:24:40 Retrato de una mujer en llamas 00:26:50 Zero dark Thirty 00:31:00 Los últimos románticos 00:31:15 Larger than life: el legado de las Boybands 00:36:15 I’m still here 00:38:10 Novocaine 00:40:40 Vaiana 2 00:42:30 Tierra de nadie 00:45:15 Holland 00:46:45 Deberes: Deadpool y Wolverine SERIES 00:48:00 El juicio de Karen Read 00:50:50 Receta para un asesinato 00:53:15 Majestad (T1) 00:55:35 Manual para señoritas (T1) 00:57:35 Severance (T2) 01:00:00 Mythic Quest (T4) 01:02:10 A dos metros bajo tierra (T1-T5) 01:06:25 Love is blind USA (T8) 01:11:40 Deberes: Evil (T1-T4) 01:14:00 DESPEDIDA En este programa suenan: Radical Opinion (Archers) / Siesta (Jahzzar) / Place on Fire (Creo) / I saw you on TV (Jahzzar) /Bicycle Waltz (Goobye Kumiko)

In this novel by Nina Simon, we explore a fun whodunit featuring a trio of female amateur sleuths, three generations worth! The storyline has grandmother Lana, mother Beth and daughter Jack Rubicon trying to prove Jack's innocence when she is suspected in a murder. Enter Hal Rhoads, his children Martin and Diana, Ricardo Cruz and Victor Morales and a land trust. When both Rhoads and Cruz die in the same timeframe, the Rubicon women start detecting and discover who the murderer really is. Like Lana, we enjoyed a local (Central Coast) Sauvignon Blanc - a 2023 from Outward in Santa Maria Valley, California, while doing a deep dive into the sauvignon blanc grape. 

Nina Simon has worn many hats in her career: slam poet, NASA engineer, game designer, and museum director at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. If that didn't make her busy enough, she went ahead and wrote two nonfiction books: The Participatory Museum and The Art of Relevance. In 2020, Nina's mom was diagnosed with advanced cancer, so Nina quit her job to help care for her. The two had always enjoyed reading mysteries, so they started imagining one that featured characters a bit like them—hardworking California women trying to balance professional ambition and motherhood. She wrote, her mom read, and the creative process helped them heal and grow closer. Today, Nina's mom is doing well, and Mother-Daughter Murder Night is a New York Times Bestseller. (Talk about turning lemons into lemonade.) If you dig this podcast, will you please leave a short review on Apple Podcasts? It takes less than 60 seconds and makes a difference when I drop to my knees and beg hard-to-get guests on the show. I read them all. You can watch this podcast on my YouTube channel and join my newsletter on Substack. It's glorious. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Nina Simon has worn many hats in her career: slam poet, NASA engineer, game designer, and museum director at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. If that didn't make her busy enough, she went ahead and wrote two nonfiction books: The Participatory Museum and The Art of Relevance. In 2020, Nina's mom was diagnosed with advanced cancer, so Nina quit her job to help care for her. The two had always enjoyed reading mysteries, so they started imagining one that featured characters a bit like them—hardworking California women trying to balance professional ambition and motherhood. She wrote, her mom read, and the creative process helped them heal and grow closer. Today, Nina's mom is doing well, and Mother-Daughter Murder Night is a New York Times Bestseller. (Talk about turning lemons into lemonade.) If you dig this podcast, will you please leave a short review on Apple Podcasts? It takes less than 60 seconds and makes a difference when I drop to my knees and beg hard-to-get guests on the show. I read them all. You can watch this podcast on my YouTube channel and join my newsletter on Substack. It's glorious. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Dat het leven kort en onvoorspelbaar is, deed Martine nog meer beseffen dat je een passie niet op de lange baan moet schuiven. Ze wilde een lange reis maken om vrijheid en avontuur weer te ervaren. Het werd een fiets-wandelreis. Samen met haar vriend 2 maanden wandelen, de overige maanden alleen op de fiets. En die bleek het ideale middel. Zeven maanden, gebruikmakend van bekende routes van Spanje tot in de Balkan en via Praag weer terug. Feeling Good van Nina Simon vertolkt de fietsbeleving van Martine. Voor wie twijfelt aan alleen te reizen geeft deze aflevering een zetje in de goede richting. Veel inspiratie en luister plezier! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/henrik-kos/subscribe

In this quick Knit & Tell episode, I'm sharing my go-to stretches that keep your hands and wrists flexible, pain-free, and ready to knit for longer. Whether you're tackling a big project or just starting out on your knitting journey, these stretches are a must-have in your knitting routine. Plus, I'm giving you a peek into my current project (hint: it's perfect for chilly weather) and the book I'm reading that's finally starting to pick up steam! What You'll Learn in This Episode: Why hand and wrist stretches are essential for knitters Four simple stretches to incorporate into your knitting breaks perfect episode to save for later so you can do the stretches in real time.  Mentioned in This Episode: My current project: High Seas Balaclava Knit Kit The book I'm reading: Mother Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon (check it out here) Join Our Community! Want to connect with other beginner knitters? Join our supportive Facebook group for tips, inspiration, and encouragement: www.theknittingmamas.com/group Let's Stay Connected! If you loved this episode, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. Your support helps us bring more relaxing and helpful content to knitters like you!  

Continue celebrating spooky season with Mother Daughter Movie Night by Nina Simon.  Enjoy with a glass of Chateau Se Chasse Good Knight red wine blend.Support this podcast on Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/dontreaddrunkNina Simon WebsiteNina Simon - Author (ninaksimon.com)Chateau Se Chasse Good Knight290 Wine Castle Chateau de Chasse Good Knight Red Blend | Vivino US Red Beans and RiceAuthentic Louisiana Red Beans and Rice Recipe (allrecipes.com)Get 60 days of Everand Freehttps://www.scribd.com/g/9s1nq7Everandhttps://www.everand.comMedia RecommendationsAgatha All Along – Disney +Deceitful Love - NetflixFind my sponsors: 1uptilsunup on @1uptilsunup on; TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTubeAvenue Coffee is on Facebook and at: www.avenue-coffeehouse.comFind me on Instagram @dontreaddrunk www.dontreaddrunk.buzzsprout.comdontreaddrunk@gmail.com

"Consciousness creates MatterLanguage creates RealityRitual creates Relationship" - Oscar Mira-Quesada quoted by Nina Simons in podcast #218Part of our moving towards a healed and healthy culture for humanity is rewilding our relationships with ourselves, each other and the earth. A key part of this is building rituals that have meaning for us in the context of these relationships. Connecting to the cycles of the earth is a straightforward ritual that acknowledges, honours and respects the world we live in and our place within the planetary cycles - and our own.This guided visualisation walks us into the moment of balance between the long nights and the long days, the restorative time of winter and the outward-acting time of summer, between being to doing.  Please take time for yourself to sit quietly, perhaps light a candle, or otherwise create a space out of time that has meaning for you. It doesn't have to be at the moment of the equinox, whenever that is for you, wherever you are in the world, it's the connection that counts, the marking of the day.  And you don't have to limit yourself to one pass through - please feel free to explore this more deeply than one single iteration. If you want other, similar journeys, they are a whole host in the Accidental Gods Membership Programme. For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, where you are moving from doing to being, from the long days to the long nights, this meditation is more appropriate. I mentioned Alnoor Ladha and Lynn Murphy and our discussion of Initiation Cultures and Trauma Cultures, which was in episode 208. 

Charlie talks with debut novelist Nina Simon about her breakout novel Mother Daughter Murder Night. They discuss writing mysteries, the natural world, mother daughter relationships, strong women characters, and how Nina came to write this book in the first place.

In this episode, I unravel the disturbing case of Sheila LaBarre, a woman whose property became a horrible crime scene, revealing bone fragments, blood splatter, and audio recordings that shed light on her sinister intentions. As I uncover the details of Sheila's tumultuous relationships and marriages, including alarming allegations and a web of missing men, I'll explore the disturbing events that led to her arrest and trial. Join I tell you about the harrowing twists and turns of Sheila LaBarre's life, and the shocking revelations that ultimately resulted in her conviction.It's the case of serial killer Sheila LaBarre right now on Love and Murder************************************************************************************************Commercials:BJs - Save $35 on a yearly membership with my link: www.murderandlove.com/BJsAudiobooks - 1 month free with 3 free audiobooks: www.murderandlove.com/audiobooksBooks I recommend - Bridgerton Series (for the romance lovers) or Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon (for True Crime/ Mystery)✨✨For a commercial-free episode, pictures, and more head to our exclusive group at www.patreon.com/loveandmurder✨✨Podcast Promo: Book of the Dead Podcast linktr.ee/bookofthedeadpod*************************************************************************************************

A comunicadora de ciência Joana Lobo Antunes fala-nos disso mesmo e também de mulheres cientistas e, claro, de livros. Neste episódio, Hugo e Joana desencontraram-se nos seguintes livros: - The Art of Relevance, Nina Simon (2016) - Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA, Brenda Maddox (2003) - O Fim do Mundo em Cuecas (2023) - Cientistas portugueses, David Marçal (2019) - As Cientistas, Rachael Ignotofsky (2018)

We just know that 2024 is going to be a great year of books. Check out what books are on our shelves first.  Sarah's Shelf: The Last Love Note by Emma Grey The Secret of Snow by Viola Shipman Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall   Jayme's Shelf: Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon

Jamie and Chelsea devoured a host of murder books and a few Romcoms for dessert. Programs discussed include Santa and Mrs. Claus on December 18th at 5:00 pm. computer classes, trivia nights, Legos, and Photo Calendar Workshop.  Check out our events page for the details. Books discussed include: Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn SolomonThe Dead Romantics by Ashley PostonDorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen MeisterThe Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (Thursday Murder Club Series)The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood  Death Comes to Marlow by Robert ThorogoodWhat Rose Forgot by Nevada BarrThe Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy GilmoreMother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon. 

PopaHALLics #113 "Cry Murder!"Is that red on the holiday decorations blood? In an unplanned twist, dad and daughter both come to the show with murderous streaming and reading recommendations. A killer episode, wouldn't you say?Streaming:"A Murder at the End of the World," FX & Hulu. When a reclusive tech titan (Clive Owen) holds a retreat in Iceland, his guests start getting iced, so to speak. A 24-year-old hacker turned true-crime sleuth (Emma Corrin) must figure out the killer's identity in this mystery from the makers of "The OA.""The Crown," Netflix. Part one of the sixth and final season focuses on the final years of Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and the impact of her life and death on the royal family. "Fargo," FX & Hulu. Season 5 of this black comedy crime drama finds Juno Temple ("Ted Lasso") as a Minnesota housewife who is not who she says she is. Jon Hamm ("Mad Men") is the rule-breaking sheriff who wants to track her down.Books:"Mother Daughter Murder Night," by Nina Simon. In this mix of mystery and family drama, three generations of women try to solve a murder while also learning to live together. A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick."My Lovely Wife," by Samantha Downing.  A husband spices up his marriage by finding victims for his wife, a serial killer, in this thriller. Dark, sexy, and disturbing."My Murder," by Katie Williams. In this novel named an NPR Best Book of the Year, the victim of a local serial killer is brought back to life by cloning. However, fitting back into her family and solving her murder proves harder than she thought.Music:Santa's bag—i.e., our Found Tree 2023 playlist—contains plenty of cool, off-the-beaten-track holiday tunes for you! A special thanks goes out to Mike Bode, our show's resident composer, and his wife Mary Kay. Their annual Cool Yule collections for family and friends introduced us to many of these tunes.

The girls put on their thinking caps and solve a mystery this month with Nina Simon in Mother Daughter Murder Night. Don't worry: no turkeys are involved. They also go over some exciting adaptations that have been announced, and maybe how to rescue one (https://www.change.org/p/save-shadow-and-bone-5ff54b93-d127-44a9-9f77-dfc410bdc2ba)! Don't forget to visit Blackwells.co.uk. to get some UK covers of your beloved favorites.   Books mentioned:  Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros Mother Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros Nightbane by Alex Aster The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell Unfortunate Side Effects of of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall  Beauty and the Lycan Beast by Jessica Molly It's A Date Again by Jeneva Rose

Welcome to the First Taste Reading Series on the Debutiful podcast feed! Each week, a debut author will read five minutes from their book to kick start your week and whet your appetite with damn good writing. Today, Nina Simon reads an excerpt from her debut novel Mother-Dauther Murder Night! You can purchase a copy of the book here: https://bookshop.org/a/339/9780063315044 Follow the author: https://www.ninaksimon.com, https://www.instagram.com/ninaksimon, and https://www.twitter.com/ninaksimon! Follow Debutiful: www.debutiful.net, www.instagram.com/debutiful, and www.twitter.com/debutiful.

Nina Simon's funny, touching, character-driven mystery is superbly narrated by Jane Oppenheimer. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile's Michele Cobb discuss a story of three generations of women coming together to solve a murder and prove their innocence. Los Angeles real estate mogul Lana Rubicon is diagnosed with cancer and moves into a small-town home with her adult daughter, Beth, and Beth's teenage daughter, Jack. Then Jack finds a body. Oppenheimer is outstanding, capturing the story's humor. Her expressive performance adds to the fun of this story. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile's website. Published by Harper Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from Dreamscape Publishing. Dreamscape is an award-winning independent publisher and multimedia studio that is committed to producing a diverse catalog of high-quality audiobooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week my guest is Nina Simon, author of the debut novel, Mother Daughter Murder Night,  a Reese's Book Club Pick, New York Times Bestseller, Indie Next Pick, and more. 

September Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and debut author, Nina Simon, joins me to celebrate Mother Daughter Murder Night - a family drama and thriller that was a such a delight to read! This was one of my favorite chats as the WHY to this book has a special story. I am so happy to support Nina and this book. Just listen to this chat and I think you will agree. Follow Nina for her latest novels and news: https://ninaksimon.com

Lori and Julia mourn the closing of a local T.J. Maxx, discuss Taylor Swift's shiny new romance with athlete Travis Kelce, and for LOJ Book Club Lori and Julila talk with author Nina Simon about her novel Mother-Daughter Murder Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lori and Julia mourn the closing of a local T.J. Maxx, discuss Taylor Swift's shiny new romance with athlete Travis Kelce, and for LOJ Book Club Lori and Julila talk with author Nina Simon about her novel Mother-Daughter Murder Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mother-Daughter Murder Night – Nina Simon  Nothing brings a family together like a murder next door.  The whodunit sees an older, high-powered businesswoman convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter and granddaughter. When the granddaughter discovers a body while kayaking and becomes a suspect, the trio, all fiercely independent, must come together to solve the crime, uncovering all sorts of secrets in the town along the way.      The Secret Hours – Mick Herron  Monochrome is a busted flush - an inquiry into the misdeeds of the intelligence services, established by a vindictive prime minister but rendered toothless by a wily chief spook. For years it has ground away uselessly, interviewing witnesses with nothing to offer, producing a report with nothing to say, while the civil servants at its helm see their careers disappearing into a black hole.  And then the OTIS file falls into their hands...    LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this two-part episode, Jill sits down with accomplished UK arts leader Tom Bird (Chief Executive at Sheffield Theatres). Drawing inspiration from Nina Simon's book, "The Art of Relevance" and their own personal leadership experiences, Jill and Tom engage in a rich dialogue about how to keep audiences at the center of every decision and what relevance means in today's arts and cultural industry. For additional resources and to sign up for the podcast newsletter, we invite you to visit our website at leadingthewaypodcast.com. 

In this two-part episode, Jill sits down with accomplished UK arts leader Tom Bird (Chief Executive at Sheffield Theatres). Drawing inspiration from Nina Simon's book, "The Art of Relevance" and their own personal leadership experiences, Jill and Tom engage in a rich dialogue about how to keep audiences at the center of every decision and what relevance means in today's arts and cultural industry. For additional resources and to sign up for the podcast newsletter, we invite you to visit our website at leadingthewaypodcast.com. 

Mother-Daughter Murder Night: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick Nina Simon has worn many hats: NASA engineer, slam poet, game designer, museum director, and nonprofit CEO. Her work on community participation in museums, libraries, parks, and theaters has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, NPR, and the TEDx stage. Mother-Daughter Murder Night is Nina's first novel. She wrote it as a love letter to her mother, as a way to entertain, comfort, and connect with her during a major health crisis. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nina now lives off-the-grid in the Santa Cruz Mountains. More information can be found on her website, ninaksimon.com. When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.

Mother-Daughter Murder Night: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick Nina Simon has worn many hats: NASA engineer, slam poet, game designer, museum director, and nonprofit CEO. Her work on community participation in museums, libraries, parks, and theaters has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, NPR, and the TEDx stage. Mother-Daughter Murder Night is Nina's first novel. She wrote it as a love letter to her mother, as a way to entertain, comfort, and connect with her during a major health crisis. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nina now lives off-the-grid in the Santa Cruz Mountains. More information can be found on her website, ninaksimon.com. When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.

Barbara Peters in conversation with Nina Simon

This week on From the Front Porch, it's another New Release Rundown! Annie and Olivia are sharing the September releases they're excited about to help you build your TBR. When you purchase or preorder any of the books they talk about, enter the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order! To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our website (type “Episode 441” into the search bar to easily find the books mentioned in this episode): Annie's books: Happiness Falls by Angie Kim How Far to the Promised Land by Esau McCauley (9/12)  The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff (9/12)  This Is Salvaged by Vauhini Vara (9/26) Olivia's books: Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon (9/5) The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall by Ali Standish (9/12) Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter (9/19) The Widely Unknown Myth of Apple & Dorothy by Corey Ann Haydu (9/19) From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.  A full transcript of today's episode can be found here. Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.  This week, Annie is reading You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith. If you liked what you heard in today's episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week. Our Executive Producers are...Ashley Ferrell, Cammy Tidwell, Chanta Combs, Chantalle C, Kate O'Connell, Kristin May, Laurie Johnson, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stacy Laue, Stephanie Dean, Susan Hulings, and Wendi Jenkins.

On this episode of Complicated Conversations, we welcome Nina Simon to discuss her debut novel, Mother-Daughter Murder Night, a family drama involving three generations of women and a murder mystery. Think: Gilmore Girls, but with murder. Our conversation with Nina was like a therapy session for us (massive compliment). We discussed so many deep questions: what does it mean to be a strong woman? Are there different ways to be strong? Can interdependence and care be seen as strength? Can an imperfect family be a source of love and hope? What does it look like when you have a group of women who are alphas and how can they negotiate how to work together (helloo team sports)? How do you build a new professional identity and shed an old one? This book has such a personal inspiration behind it, providing a comforting escape for Nina and her mother who was diagnosed with cancer, and it will be a joy to all of you! Nina had “the audacity to create something out of nothing” and we all get to reap the rewards. Mother-Daughter Murder Night is out now! Buy it, read it, share it, and listen to our spoiler-free chat with Nina wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SUPPORT MY WORK through Patreon!Dreaming of writing a murder mystery book? Listen to the inspiring story of a mother and daughter who crafted their whodunit amidst a cancer diagnosis. Today Nina Simon discusses her debut novel, “Mother-Daughter Murder Night.”How does a former NASA engineer make the shift to murder mystery writer? In this fascinating Book Gang episode, we sit down with the talented Nina Simon to uncover the remarkable journey behind her debut novel, Mother-Daughter Murder Night. When Nina's mother battled stage 4 cancer in late 2020, it prompted her to leave her CEO position and care for her. Amidst the challenges, Nina and her mother found solace in their shared love for murder mysteries, leading them to write a mystery book of their own to keep them busy during their long days in the hospital room.Today, we explore the authenticity of mother-daughter relationships portrayed in the story and the intricate balance between land conservation and community tensions depicted in her novel's narrative. We also discuss the therapeutic power of creativity, courage, and resilience that emerged through the act of storytelling bonding Nina and her mother during this challenging period. THIS WEEK'S SPECIAL BONUS BOOK LIST- THE 2023 FALL READING GUIDELooking for the best new fall books? Don't miss the MomAdvice Fall Reading Guide with 37 new books for fall. Read the guide for free or join the paid community for the 26-page printable version. Patrons can follow Nina to our spoiler-filled bonus conversation to discuss the killer AND if a Mother-Daughter Murder Night sequel is in the works for the writer.  Don't miss the fun!Meet Nina SimonNina Simon has donned numerous hats throughout her journey, from being a NASA engineer and slam poet to a mystery game designer, exhibit developer, museum director, and founder of a global nonprofit. Her career has predominantly unfolded within the realm of museums and cultural centers, earning her recognition as a "museum visionary" by Smithsonian Magazine due to her community-centered design approach. As an Ashoka fellow, she established OF/BY/FOR ALL, a worldwide nonprofit that crafts digital tools empowering civic and cultural entities to embrace inclusivity, relevance, and sustainability.Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nina lives with her husband and daughter in an off-grid community in the Santa Cruz mountains. Mother-Daughter Murder Night is her debut novel. Mentioned in this episode:Joining the Patreon gives you access to the 2023 Fall Reading Guide printable and a bonus episode with Nina Simon. Get the September FULLY BOOKED buzzy new release show, exclusive author interviews, music playlists, and more! Mother Daughter Murder Night by Nina SimonBig Magic by Elizabeth GilbertMagic Lessons PodcastTom Lake by Ann PatchettThe Kayak ConnectionS. A. CosbyDon't Know Tough by Eli CranorLouise PennyInspector Gamache SeriesThree PinesDavid JoyMiss Fisher's Modern Murder MysteriesNina's Book Tour2023 FALL READING GUIDE HEREShop the above (Amazon) links or through my Book Gang Bookshop Page!! They pay a 10% commission on every sale and match 10% to independent bookstores. Connect With Us:Connect with Nina on Instagram or her WebsiteConnect with Amy on Instagram, on TikTok, or MomAdviceJoin the MomAdvice Book ClubShop Our Bookish Shirts to support the showBuy Me a Coffee (for a one-time donation)

Barbara Peters in conversation with Nina Simon

This week on From the Front Porch, it's another New Release Rundown! Annie, Olivia, and Erin are sharing the August releases they're excited about to help you build your TBR. When you purchase or preorder any of the books they talk about, you can enter the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order! To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our website (type “Episode 436” into the search bar to easily find the books mentioned in this episode): Annie's books: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett The Peach Seed by Anita Gail Jones Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo Holler, Child by LaToya Watkins (releases 8/29) Olivia's books: Mister Magic by Kiersten White (releases 8/8) Whalefall by Daniel Kraus (releases 8/8) Rewind by Lisa Graff (releases 8/22) The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass (releases 8/29) Erin's books: The Connellys of County Down by Tracey Lange Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (releases 8/8) The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins (releases 8/15) From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.  A full transcript of today's episode can be found here. Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.  This week, Annie is listening to Social Engagement by Avery Carpenter Forrey. Olivia is reading Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon. Erin is reading Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister. If you liked what you heard in today's episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week. Our Executive Producers are...Ashley Ferrell, Cammy Tidwell, Chanta Combs, Chantalle C, Kate O'Connell, Kristin May, Laurie Johnson, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stacy Laue, Stephanie Dean, Susan Hulings, and Wendi Jenkins.

ep 300 - Faithless Selezione dedicata al gruppo inglese Faithless, dalle ispirazioni veramente variegate: da Erik Satie a Nina Simon, da Trifle a Uncle Louie. Un range di generi e atmosfere che spaziano dal trip hop alla techno, dal funk alla trance e non solo… trip hop techno funk

THE U.S. AS A DYING DEMOCRACY Aired Tuesday June 06, 2023 | Time on KPFK Pacifica 90.7fm Please listen to this great podcast featuring Eric Mann as host and Commentator Hear Fareed Zakaria commentary. "The Rise of the Rest", in full. After which Eric puts forth his commentary and analysis that the U.S. is slowly loosing its imperial global influence- as so called third world nations-most of which were former colonies of the west collectively rejects U.S. imperialisms and globalization. Eric reads Robert Kennedy's article "Peace Platform",  in which Kennedy argues against U.S. warmongering, and "imperial projects". As Kennedy Presidential campaign gains momentum, Kennedy's Anti-war policy and Anti-imperialism position, could bring the political conversation to the left.  Eric give his  commentary on the subject.  Listen to Celia Cruz song: Yo Vivire (I will Survive). Listen to Nina Simon's : I wish I Knew How it Would be to be Free. Juneteenth is right coming soon:  Eric  and Queen Nina Womack discuss Juneteenth celebration where African art, talent, and politics will be on display June 16th at: ART SHARE L.A. 801 E. 4th Pl L.A. CA, 90013 Please send support and comments to eric@voicesfromthefrontlines.com Listen to Voices from the Frontlines every Tuesday at 8AM PST on KPFK 90.7FM.

Eric Mann commentary—The Great Biden/Democratic Sell-Out on the Debt Ceiling Negotiations Reading from Politico, Eric exposes how Joe Biden, behind closed doors with Kevin McCarthy gave away food stamps for the poor and COVID funds for Indigenous and all people to retain The “Debt Ceiling” after pledging to give away nothing—and the Progressive Democrats As always, complain, whine, and then cave. Nina Simon's Virtuoso Performance of “Love Me or Leave Me” on the Ed Sullivan Show recorded on September 11, 1960, when she was 27 Conversation with Channing Martinez and Eric Mann on their new co-directorship of the Strategy Center Join us Saturday June 3 from 12-3 to celebrate the Strategy Center's expanded leadership team Channing, Eric, Barbara Lott-Holland, and Akunna Uka Strategy and Soul Movement Center 3546 Martin Luther King Blvd (at Crenshaw) 90008 Go to www.thestrategycenter.org to rsvp Eric sings his interpretation of Jimmy Ruffin's great “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted”

Today's session focuses on the basics of understanding anger as an emotion and its various categories. Join the doctors as they lay foundation to discuss anger and reactiveness this month.

At each professional crossroad, Nina Simon has made the choice most likely to disappoint her mother. She left an electrical engineering job at NASA to design spy museum exhibits, said goodbye to a museum directorship to start a global movement for more inclusive cultural organizations, and now has put down her CEO hat to write crime fiction. Her first novel, Mother-Daughter Murder Night, will be published in 2023 by William Morrow. Nina lives off the grid in the Santa Cruz mountains with 20 people, 16 chickens, 2 trampolines, and 1 zipline.We talk about: Leaving her dream job Living in an intentional "off the grid" community What she learned from her ambitious days as a museum industry leader Marriage & kids on an unconventional path Writing her novel WATCH On YouTubeFOLLOW NINA Her Website: NinaSimon.com Twitter: @ninaksimon TIMESTAMPS0:00 Audio intro0:12 Introduction1:37 The scripts Nina grew up with4:43 Did Nina see herself as creative growing up?5:39 Nina's education and why she hated her dream job at NASA12:17 Fitting your life into your job vs fitting your job into your life14:39 Nina's approach to money, building a marriage that supports entrepreneurship19:55 Writing books27:39 Giving herself a permission33:17 Making choices that are not "the right choice"38:37 The non-traditional paths and having kids46:08 Reinventing yourself, knowing when to leave52:42 Constructing backward narratives about our lives

Schwuler gehts nicht - Folge 138! Von unerzählten Geheimnissen und knallharten Charakteranalysen von Pat und Sebastian, über den Unterschied von unsensibel und empathielos und der Frage: Wie besoffen kann man eigentlich sein?

In the second episode of Queer(y)ing Museums, BCMA's Desirée Hall and Tanya Pacholok chat with Amelia Smith, a transgender lesbian emerging museum professional who holds a Master of Museum Studies from the University of Toronto. In this episode, Amelia shares with us about her approaches to exhibition design and community engagement; how cisgender privilege shows up in museum spaces and in how we talk about trans histories; thinking about audience engagement and who we are designing exhibits for, and more. Amelia's work seeks to bridge the gap between transgender studies and queer museology. Upon finding little addressing this topic, she took it upon herself to create it. Her website "Not Your Average Cistory" has grown into a home for exploring the various ways that museums can be viewed through a transgender lens. Check it out here:  http://www.notyouraveragecistory.com/ You can also find Amelia on Twitter: @NTURAvrgCistory  If you would like to take action against the anti-trans bills that Amelia mentions in this episode, the American Civil Liberties Union is doing great work to fight for the rights, health, safety, and wellbeing of trans people in the midst of ongoing anti-trans legislation: https://www.aclu.org/issues/lgbtq-rights/transgender-rights References in this episode: Framing Agnes https://www.framingagnes.com/ Nina Simon, The Participatory Museum https://www.participatorymuseum.org/ Mary Weissman Toward a Transgender Archaeology (in the Transgender Studies Reader) Clare Sears Arresting Dress (Duke University Press)

This week I am joined by the AMAZING Jessica Vann, a good friend, a talented educator and a fantastic entertainer. We catch up, wax poetic about Michigan and buld a kickass playlist of R&B and Soul! Follow Jessica on Instagram at jdotcreates jdotjourney Show Feb 21sr 8p at Mercury Theatre! Buy tickets at https://ci.ovationtix.com/35981/production/1080408 Jessica's Podcast: Tomfoolery and Shenanigans

Have you ever wondered about the ethics of museum curation? Who gets to choose what matters? Who gets to say what ought to be preserved? Chelsea Pennington Hahn of the Museum of Boulder has pondered over just those questions and is willing and able to answer them just for you! She'll talk to us about what it means to define art not only for yourself but also for the public, and the weight of that responsibility in times of peace and tragedy.  Get ready to wander with a museum wonder star!  Best Quote: "You have a piece of history or a random artifact or something around, you might be like this seems boring to me if I'm being honest, but once you dig into it there's always something fascinating. Your fingertips tingle with new knowledge as your research tells an interesting story that you didn't realize was connected to this larger arc throughout history and throughout the community. " Spotify playlist: bit.ly/CuratorsCornerPlaylist Today's Gif: bit.ly/DigiMuseumGif To check Chelsea's favorite mentors, learn more about Nina Simon, Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History - check out this classy article written all about herPamela Schwartz, Executive Director of the Orange County Regional History Center - read this thorough NPR article written about herCynthia Sanford, Registrar of the Clark County Museum - look through how she expertly handled tragedy and shares that wisdom with others in the museum worldTo read today's episode transcript, head over to WonderStarsUniverse.com/Podcast/ChelseaMuseumOfBoulder To read other Wonder Star stories, check out the full book: bit.ly/WonderStarsBook Learn more about the Universe and get bonus content at WonderStarsUniverse.com Music by Blue Dot Sessions Published and produced by the Eboni Freeman Institute#WonderStars ___________________________________Episode Topics Covered What is a collection facility? How does one acquire art? What is the mission of the collection? How does a curator balance building today's collection while crafting the collection you envision 20 years from now?How do you work with your team to define a vision?How do partnerships arise?How do you think about positioning the museum in terms of larger political and societal conversations? When you put your curator hat on, how do you manage leading on projects you don't have a passion for?How do you archive a mass shooting? How do you equitably tell the story of a diverse place where there are citizens across the political, economic, and social spectrums? How was it for you as a person and a curator to manage the King Soopers Shooting memorial through trauma-informed preservation? What was Chelsea's first big art experience? How does exploitation show up in the careers of art administrators?

eine Stunde Jazz mit Paul Kuhn, Duke Ellington, Nina Simon und andere Bbands. Jazz and more eben

Is America really a white supremacist nation or like almost all other countries does it just have a dominant culture? Are we alone? Do you believe? Are UFO's real or just a trick of clever camera work? What was the Black is Beautiful movement and did it achieve what it wanted to do? How much influence did the Mongol Horde have on Russian civilisation? More than you think.

Is America really a white supremacist nation or like almost all other countries does it just have a dominant culture? Are we alone? Do you believe? Are UFO's real or just a trick of clever camera work? What was the Black is Beautiful movement and did it achieve what it wanted to do? How much influence did the Mongol Horde have on Russian civilisation? More than you think.

Wie die angehende Immobilieninvestorin finanziell an Morgen denkt Das Immobilien 1x1. Nutze meine Immobilien Welt Zusammenfassung und starte dein Denkmalimmobilien Investment. Dein Zugang for free findest Du hier: https://marcelkeller.mykajabi.com/Immobilien1mal1 (2/3) Frauenpower im Business und Vermögensaufbau – Interview mit Chemikerin Nina Simon. Wie die angehende Immobilieninvestorin finanziell an Morgen denkt. Der Podcast für Immobilien, Unternehmertum und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung.

Meredith Ezinma Ramsay, professionally known as Ezinma [Eh-zeen-mah], first picked up the violin when she was three years old. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, to a Guyanese father and German-American mother, Ezinma's mixed cultural and ethnic background influenced her musical upbringing and molded her into the versatile artist she is today. As a mixed race girl raised in the Midwest, Ezinma felt she didn't belong. So, she found her comfort in the violin. A precocious child, her talent was noticeable from a young age. When auditioning for her middle school's orchestra, Ezinma placed third chair. She was shocked because the players in front of her weren't as advanced she was. Her father used this moment to teach her an unforgettable lesson: "People aren't going to see you for your talent, but your skin color. It isn't enough to be good, you need to be the best." Feeling she had been misjudged, Ezinma stood up for her talent, used the orchestra's chair placement challenge system and went on to serve as first chair until she graduated. In high school Ezinma won scholarships to study and perform in Italy with world renowned faculty and attend prestigious music festivals including Interlochen Summer Academy, and she won youth concerto competitions. Despite her success, Ezinma pursued a career in medicine and left the violin as a hobby. At the University of Nebraska she double majored in biochemistry (with an emphasis in pre-medicine) and violin performance and minored in mathematics. While at the University of Nebraska she studied with Hyeyung Yoon of the Chiara String Quartet. Midway through her undergraduate degree, she realized her regret about not playing violin professionally. In 2012, she won a scholarship to complete her master's degree in violin performance at The New School in New York City where she studied with Laurie Smukler. While in New York, Ezinma experimented and found her sound. In addition to performing at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Symphony Space, she took production classes, studied jazz violin, joined a few bands, and pushed past the limits of the classical genre. Ezinma catapulted into digital stardom when she began performing covers of viral trap hits on her violin, including "Mask Off" by Future, "Gucci Gang" by Lil Pump and "Rockstar" by Post Malone. In 2016 She was approached by Beyonce with an offer to be a part of her all-female band. Ezinma accompanied her at the end of her Formation World Tour, the release of "Lemonade," and in 2018 was part of history when she performed alongside Beyoncé at Coachella. Ezinma has worked with other artists including Stevie Wonder, Yo-Yo Ma, Kendrick Lamar, Joshua Bell, Clean Bandit, Sza, Mac Miller, A$AP Ferg and countless others. In 2019, Ezinma signed with Decca Records, US (Universal Music Group). Currently, the classically-trained violinist is gearing up for the highly-anticipated release of her original music. This music presents the world with a different side of her and a new context for the classical violin. Ezinma's style cannot be limited to one genre. Her music is a blend of virtuosic melodies and orchestral soundscapes with hard hitting beats—a classical-fusion that is cinematic, orchestral and anthemic. This fusion, this juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated worlds, allows Ezinma to connect with diverse audiences and bring classical music to new audiences. In 2017, Ezinma was asked to score "The Times of Bill" a documentary by Mark Bozek, with narration by Sarah Jessica Parker. This documentary, which features hours of unedited footage and photos of the fashion photographer and icon, was met with praise by Vogue and The New York Time. This project ignited a passion in Ezinma for scoring and writing to picture. In 2019 Ezinma scored Alison Duke's short film "Promise Me," which received many accolades. This year, Ezinma's documentary about her life and music is scheduled to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in partnership with Bulgari. When Ezinma was growing up, there was a mélange of music booming from the stereo: Parliament, Bill Monroe, Bob Marley, Van Morrison, Billie Holiday, Earth Wind and Fire, Bob Dylan and Nina Simon. These artists—along with her classical study of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart – were influential in her development and continue to inspire her today. A true creative, Ezinma continues to find inspiration from many different art forms including dance, visual art, and film. In addition to her music, Ezinma is an advocate for music education. In 2020, she launched her nonprofit foundation, HeartStrings, a music-based youth development program for children K-5 of diverse backgrounds. At HeartStrings Academy, each child is equipped with a quality instrument, outstanding music instruction, community engagement activities, access to world renowned concerts, and performance opportunities. Ezinma yearns to increase visibility and access for children of color so more kids can feel like they can be seen and heard in classical spaces. Ezinma resides in Brooklyn, NY, and enjoys reading, kickboxing, running, and fashion. You can find her as Ezinma on all streaming platforms and social medial channels! Website: https://www.ezinma.com/

In this episode we talk to Zoie Golding and Anthony Missen about the ways in which artists make a difference and the metrics we measure this by. Inspired by the book, The Art of Relevance, by museum director Nina Simon, Melanie asks her guests why their work matters and to whom. They discuss ‘insiders’ – their loyal curators, artists, audience and participants who ‘get them’. And the 'outsiders' – people who may not know their work is out there and whom they strive to reach. Zoie also reflects on the outsiders who are inside – the ones who are close to us who also struggle to ‘get’ what we do… We talk about permission and ethics and the trap so many of us fall into of ‘crashing’ into communities uninvited. Anthony and Zoie both reflect upon the numerous times they have needed to throw their lesson plans away and read the room and the permission they had to give themselves to do this. Anthony suggests that by evaluation we simply mean conversation and we discuss how easy this is to enable post-performance. Finally, we ponder whether metrics of success, so often number driven, have changed at all in response to the crisis we are all living through now. Recording date: Friday 29 January 2021 Talking Moves is a Greenwich Dance production Presented by Melanie Precious Production by Carmel Smith, Lucy White and Melanie Precious

From Johns Hopkins University to the University of Puget Sound. Listen in as Mrs. C and Professor Melvin Rouse talk about the Corvid family of birds, Nina Simon and Kendrick Lamar, and The Golden Girls. Throw in a side conversation about research rats, and it makes a really fun hour. I Wish I knew it how it would feel to be free – Nina Simone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sEP0-8VAow Alright – Kendrick Lamar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-48u_uWMHY What Fool Believes – The Doobie Brothers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJe1iUuAW4M High Rises – Chika https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzJxo1I8a6c

Back in December 2014, comedian Cait Harris and performance artist Ivan Cheng recorded their works for the x-mas show on Eastside Radio 89.7fm. Cait Harris is a Sydney based performer and writer of plays, films and short stories. Her stories can be found in the ebook The Sturgeon General Recommends Cait Harris with Momentum Publishing and she can be seen performing on ABC 2’s new series Storyclub in January 2015. Every so often Cait can also be seen performing at the comedy venue Giant Dwarf on Cleveland Street, Redfern. In the comedy skit recorded for our show, Cait plays a radio presenter who after numerous unsuccessful relationships falls in love with a cockatoo. Ivan Cheng is an Australian artist whose practice focuses on the damage in interpreting notation. As well as collaborative projects, he has shown conceptual performance work in Europe, North America, and Australia. Having studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Sydney Conservatorium of Music, he is developing scores which relate to formalism and history across cultural form, interested in the temporal act of reading and sight-reading. For our show, Ivan performs the text titled Duksy River, Disky River, Dusky Rivet. The text-score is followed by an experimental version of Silent Night composed by Ivan in collaboration with Polish-American sound artist Derek Piotr as the first track of a hypothetical Christmas album. For more about Ivan and his future work see ivancheng.com MUSIC TRACKS played during the show: 1) Nina Simon, I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free) from ‘Live in Montreux 1976′ album 2) Tape Five, A Cool Cat In Town (feat. Brenda Boykin) from ‘Tonight Josephine!’ album 3) Louis Prima, When You’re Smiling / the Sheik of Araby from ‘All Time Greatest Hits’ album 4) Camille, Gospel With No Lord from ‘Music Hole’ album 5) Ivan Cheng and Derek Piotr, Silent Night 6)Jun Miyake, Lillies of the Valley from ‘Pina Soundtrack (Wim Wenders Film)’ 7) Asian Dub Foundation, Commited to Life from ‘Community Music’ album 8) Lauryn Hill, To Zion from ‘The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill’ album 9) On The Stoop, The Butt Naked Blues, from ‘On The Stoop’ album IMAGE: Ivan Cheng, EVEN!, a second stage of ‘epoche-lacan-orbits’ performance series (2014)

In this episode, Claire Doherty talks to Nina Simon, author of The Participatory Museum and the Art of Relevance, and formerly transformational Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH) and now CEO of OF/BY/FOR ALL - a movement for more inclusive community-centred cultural organisations world-wide. They discuss how OF/BY/FOR ALL responded as the pandemic hit and Black Lives Matter intensified alongside the challenges of unlearning and remaking museums and cultural organisations.Recorded remotely during Covid lockdown in summer 2020.culturereset.org#cultureresetYou can find out more about Of, By and For All here@OFBYFOR_ALLRead Nina's most recent piece on Leadership - Calling All PhoenixesEdited by Marcin PawlikProduced by Claire Doherty and David MicklemPostcards to the Future is a People Make It Work project for Culture Reset. Funded by the Gulbenkian Foundation. To download a transcription of this podcast, go to culturereset.org.

Playlist: Gil Scot Heron - 'B' MovieMichael Franti & Spearhead - Gas Gauge (Tha' World's in Your Hands)Linton Kwesi Johnson - Sonny's Lettah ( Anti-SUS Poem)Lee Reed - No KanadaChet Singh - Occupation NationLee - The End of An American DreamBOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS, featuring Thievery Corporation Remix - Get Up, Stand UpFela Kuti - Sorrow Tears and BloodAfrolicious - RevolutionGorillaz - Tomorrow Comes TodayTanika Charles - Endless ChainNina Simon, featuring DJ Logic Remix - Obeah WomanIsley Brothers - Fight the PowerDragon Fli Empire - VortexTroo Knot, featuring Shandi - MaybeBlack Eyed Peas - movementChicano Batman - Invisible PeopleBrooklyn Funk Essentials - RecycledThe Roots, featuring Joanna Newsom & SRS - Right On

Work. Shouldn't. Suck. LIVE: The Morning(ish) Show with special guest Nina Simon, Spacemaker & CEO of OF/BY/FOR ALL. [Live show recorded: April 3, 2020.] NINA SIMON spend her days working on OF/BY/FOR ALL, a nonprofit she founded to make civic and cultural organizations of, by, and for everyone. If you like to read, check out her best-selling books "The Participatory Museum" and "The Art of Relevance." Both are available for free online or you can buy them for your very own. You can also read hundreds of posts on the Museum 2.0 blog, which she authored from 2006-2019, and her recent essays on Medium. If you are more of an audio-visual person, the two TEDx talks she gave on opening up museums and deepening relevance are linked from her website, NinaKSimon.com. as well as a short video from when she was named Santa Cruz County Woman of the Year.

Today’s podcast guest has spent the last 12 years helping a vast range of museums, galleries, libraries and theatres to understand their audiences and develop insight.She was previously voted one of the top 50 freelancers in the UK, is a IPSE Ambassador of the Year Finalist and also helps to run the Museum Freelance Network. It’s safe to say that Marge Ainsley’s insight in bringing audiences and organisations closer together is second to none.A few things we talk about:Creating connectionsBringing audiences and organisations closer togetherHelping staff to work more productivelyUnderstanding barriers to visiting attractionsBreaking down perceptionsThe value of cultural organisations on health and wellbeingInterviewing 5000 people in one weekend at the Grand PrixHeads up, this podcast was recorded in 2019, so there’s a few things mentioned that might be a little out of context.We experienced a few technical difficulties - nevertheless, you're going to learn plenty from this brilliant interview.Enjoy! Show references:https://www.margeainsley.co.uk/https://www.ofbyforall.org/https://www.museumfreelance.org/https://www.mrs.org.uk/https://philbrook.org/visit/stay-connected/The ‘great guy’ we mention at the end of the podcast who helped us with your survey is Adam Pearson, of Pearson Insight.  TranscriptOne tiny blooper - 0.08 we say Marge was voted top 500 freelancers in the UK, however it was one of the top 50. Still an incredible achievement!Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast that celebrates professionals working in the visitor attraction sector. What do we mean by visitor attractions? Well, it's an umbrella term for a huge range of exciting organisations that are must sees. Think museums, theme parks, zoos, farms, heritage sites, tour providers, escape rooms and much, much more. They're tourist hotspots or much loved local establishments that educate, engage and excite the general public.Kelly Molson: Those who work in visitor attractions often pour their heart and soul into providing exceptional experiences for others. In our opinion, they don't get the recognition that they deserve for this. We want to change this. Each episode, we'll share the journeys of inspiring leaders. We'll celebrate their achievements and dig deeper into what really makes their attractions successful both offline and digitally.Kelly Molson: Listen and be inspired as industry leaders share their innovative ideas, services and approaches. There's plenty of valuable information you can take away and put into action to create better experiences for your own guests.Kelly Molson: Your hosts for this podcast are myself, Kelly Molson, and Paul Wright. We're the co-founders of Rubber Cheese, an award winning digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for visitor attractions. Find out how we can create a better experience for you and your guests at rubbercheese.com. Search 'Skip the Queue' on iTunes and Spotify to subscribe. You can find links every episode, and more, over on our website rubbercheese.com/podcast. We hope that you enjoy these interviews, and if there's anyone you think we should be talking to, please do send us a message.Kelly Molson: Marge Ainsley, it is so lovely to have you on the Skip the Queue podcast this morning, so thank you for joining us.Marge Ainsley: Well thank you for having me.Kelly Molson: Now we want to talk a little bit about ... Well, we want to talk a lot about what you do and how you work within the cultural, museum and visitor attraction sectors. So can you just tell us a little bit about what you do?Marge Ainsley: So I've been freelance 11 years this year, and I tend to work with museums, galleries, theatres, archives, visitor attractions, heritage sites, helping them with their marketing audience development and visitor research or evaluation work.Marge Ainsley: So I suppose if I gave you a sense of an every day or an every week, that could look like me going and working with, say, an independent museum who don't have in-house expertise in audience development or visitor research, and supporting them either strategically or very practically. It could be training them as an organisation as well, through to working on large capital projects. So I get involved in a lot of museum refurbishments where there needs to be a lot of upfront visitor research, especially with people who aren't using those places at the moment.Marge Ainsley: So I can be one day working with a collection in a very small, independent museum in the middle of nowhere, through to a really big, well funded organisation the next day. So it's a real big mix.Kelly Molson: And when you talk about kind of communication and evaluation work that you do for them, can you give us an example of how you specifically helped one of those organisations?Marge Ainsley: It could be something as simple as working with an organisation on their copywriting. So for example, whether that's their interpretation or whether it's marketing collateral where they don't have that kind of copywriting expertise in-house, or it could be ... For example, I worked on Silverstone Experience, which is about to open this year, working right before any of the concepts were designed for that new attraction on non-user research and user research. So that could be talking to potential audiences about what they want to see in that attraction and where they go now, how they would work out how to get there. All that kind of concept testing work.Marge Ainsley: So it could be something very, very practical with an attraction that's already open, through to looking at one that isn't open yet and what people want to get out of their experience. So it's a real range.Paul Wright: What process do you go through to do the research?Marge Ainsley: Sometimes I work by myself, but if it's a big project I'll work with a team of associates. And so it might be that we work with, say, an exhibition design company who come up with the concepts and we kind of scrutinise those and look at who the target audiences are. And then once we've worked out who the target audiences are, we would then go out to those.Marge Ainsley: So, for example, it could be ... I spend a lot of time sitting in [inaudible 00:05:55] with families. So I'll go out to particular areas where those target audiences are and just talk to them. So it could be me being in a soft play centre talking to families. For example, just [inaudible 00:06:09] the larger organisations.Marge Ainsley: I do a lot of work for libraries, so recently I've been going and talking to families about why do or don't they use their local library service. Did they know that there's an arts and cultural offer at their local library service? How do they typically find out about activities in their area? So that, for me, is one of the most enjoyable parts of my job actually; going out and talking to people who don't engage with us at the moment and working out what those barriers are.Marge Ainsley: So that practical process is from working out who they are, using data to inform where those people are located, going to those locations, drawing up a discussion guide with relevant questions and then going through that process of interviewing them and analysing the data afterwards and then presenting it back to the client. That could be anything from a library organisation, an archive, a huge capital project, but it's still pretty much the same process.Kelly Molson: So I guess if you're working with an organisation that's kind of already up and running, for example, you would be brought in if they had a challenge with engaging with people that aren't necessarily coming to their museum or their visitor attraction already, and they want to be able to put an offering together for them. So they might bring you in at that point?Marge Ainsley: Yeah, that's right. So a lot of the organisations I work for, they're kind of saying, "Well, we know we're getting this type of visitor coming through the doors. How do we either get more of them, or how do we get the kind of lapsed people to come back?"Marge Ainsley: So sometimes when I go out and I'm talking to different kinds of potential visitors, some of those may have gone to a museum or gone to a library as a kid years and years ago, or gone for a visit once and never gone back again. So it's about finding out what their perceptions are, why they've not been back enough. You know, you'll come up against perceptions such as, "Well, it was like this when I went as a school child on a school trip 25 years ago and I've never been back since." Or, "Isn't that the place that they have weddings? Why would I want to go there?" You know, they've just got maybe a mismatch in terms of perception, or they don't really understand the 2019 version of what that organisation looks like.Marge Ainsley: So, for example, a lot of the work I do with libraries at the moment is to kind of get that 21st perception about libraries out because a lot of people, I think, still perceive libraries to be those places where we have to be really, really quiet, whereas many of them have got a really vibrant cultural offer.Marge Ainsley: So it's just about kind of understanding what those barriers are and those perceptions, and then working out with the libraries ... And I suppose this is the other part of my job, kind of audience development, what we call audience development planning ... Working with them to create different kinds of strategies really to engage those people who don't have a level of awareness, or have an incorrect perception I suppose of what that place is like now.Kelly Molson: That bit must be quite exciting for you as well, because you get to see a real kind of change in perception and you get to see the progress that that organisation can make with the help that you've been able to support them with.Marge Ainsley: Yeah, that's right. And I think one of the most interesting bits actually at the moment is around the difference that these organisations are making to people's health and wellbeing. So you've probably seen a lot in the media and out there in terms of data around social prescribing and the fact that actually, people are now recognising the value that museums and galleries and other cultural organisations can have on our everyday lives and how important they are in terms of contributing to the amazing places that we live.Marge Ainsley: And so when I go and ... The other side of my work is evaluating projects, so I don't just do the kind of, why aren't people visiting? I do a lot of evaluation of projects as well. It's really interesting when you talk to people about the difference that these places and projects are making to their lives. So, for example, I was running a discussion group not so long ago where it was a group of people who were real advocates for this particular organisation. They were just talking quite frankly and openly with me about how they'd never left the house before, they had real anxiety problems, they might not even get dressed in the daytime and this particular place, they'd managed to be persuaded to go to this cultural activity and cultural provision that was happening, and how it had just totally turned their life around.Marge Ainsley: One gentleman had written on a card and left it at the workshop and it said this particular project had saved his life. It's those type of research groups that you just think, "Oh, this is why the jobs that we do in the art sector." So yeah, it is really interesting. You know, it's not always about the positives either. A lot of my work is about working out what's failed and why. That's an area I think we're starting to get a little bit better on in terms of evaluation and the cultural sector. It's still not quite there yet.Marge Ainsley: And what I mean by that is when I work with a client, often ... Of course they're interested in advocacy around their project as well and what's worked really well. But often, it's been a bit of a battle in terms of getting people to talk openly about what's not worked, and I think there's a few reasons for that. Some of it's around not wanting to be seen as failing. Some of it's around funders of projects not releasing the [inaudible 00:11:50] of money until you've submitted an evaluation report. There's a lot going on there, but we've seen a shift change in that recently.Marge Ainsley: And so a lot of my work is about looking at, "Okay, where were the challenges? Where were the issues on that? And what have you learned? What are we going to do differently next time?" And a lot of organisations as well, they're not just waiting to do evaluation at the end of the project. So more and more I'm encouraging people to really kind of use that what we call formative evaluation, so really looking across a project period. Say it's like 18 months, really looking right from kind of quarter of the way through, half the way through and all the rest of it at what's working well and not, and then actually reporting that back in to make a change during a project rather than waiting until the end when it's all kind of done.Marge Ainsley: So that's the other aspect of the work I'm really interested in. Yeah, I've worked with quite a few really interesting organisations recently who have been really up for that kind of formative evaluation process.Kelly Molson: Yeah, absolutely. That sounds very much like kind of our agile design and development process as well-Marge Ainsley: Yeah, [crosstalk 00:13:03].Kelly Molson: Do a little test, yeah, and then reevaluate. So Marge, one of the large capital projects that you worked on recently has been for Silverstone Race Circuit, which is a brilliant visitor attraction, but could be quite different from the cultural sector that you're used to working with. How did you find that project? And [inaudible 00:13:23]?Marge Ainsley: I mean, it was so exciting for me working with kind of a large commercial organisation. And so it was really interesting in terms of just how the organisation works, but also just having the opportunity to conduct visitor research on a bigger scale.Marge Ainsley: So for example, for that project we, again, looked at who the target audiences were going to be for the new experience there, what the concepts were for the displays. But we ended up working for the whole of the Grand Prix weekend, so this is going back a couple of seasons now, right at the beginning, which was great. So we had a giant, huge marquee at the Grand Prix. Now, I'm not a massive motor sport fan, but just to have that experience of thousands and thousands of people there, so doing surveys. We had a roaming kit box that we took out and about. We got items from the collection were displayed in the marquee and we were talking to potential visitors about those were and what they found exciting and what they didn't find exciting. They were voting at that point on what the attraction might be called, what the kind of themes were.Marge Ainsley: It was just really great to actually be in that space where there was real, passionate motor sport fans who were just actually really keen to come and talk to us. I think we had something crazy like 5000 people that we interviewed that weekend. It was something bonkers. But just having that opportunity to be at a world leading, world stage event to do that kind of research. And of course, opening soon, I think it's the end of October 2019 they're due to open, just seeing all that research come together because often I'll work on a project, and it might be an evaluation report, for example, that I do for an organisation and then I kind of deliver it and then I move on, whereas with this kind of upfront user and on-user research, more exploratory research, it's really interesting to see how that then gets used by an organisation into a capital project. So I'm really looking forward to going down there and seeing what the final result is when it opens.Marge Ainsley: But it's the same with whatever. I mean, with the copywriting examples, you know, I worked on Merlin's SEA LIFE Centre that they're building over in Chongqing. There's these whole crazy, giant projects that I work on from afar ... I didn't have to go to China ... I work on all these really interesting, exciting projects and then I see them come to fruition. That's just a really rewarding part of my job.Marge Ainsley: But then I also get a lot of satisfaction from working with what I call the smaller organisations that have big ambitions. I mean I work with a lot of independent museums, like I say, where they're voluntary run. They may have like one part-time member of staff, but otherwise it's volunteers that run the whole site. So for example, I'm working with Calderdale Industrial Museum in Halifax. You know, the Shoreditch of the north I think we're supposed to say now, next door to the [inaudible 00:16:31], and it's a really ambitious organisation, but they just need that little helping hand with their marketing and comms work.Marge Ainsley: So I've got this privilege of working with those smaller organisations who have these amazing collections and amazing opportunities to engage audiences, versus those really giant, juggernaut organisations as well. And I guess that's one of the benefits of being a freelancer, isn't it? It's that variety and the different clients that you get to work with.Kelly Molson: It is, yeah. I think one of the things that we've always thought is how much museums in the cultural sector can learn from visitor attractions and vice versa. I guess that kind of ties in with what you're saying as well, is actually, it doesn't matter the size or scale of the project that you're working on or the organisation that you're working with, they actually do have exactly the same challenges which is why you're able to help them.Marge Ainsley: Yeah, absolutely. It would be interesting actually to talk to some of these museum organisations because some of them might not even see themselves defined as a visitor attraction. I think a lot of maybe the independent museums who are part of kind of Independent Museum Networks do, but I think a lot of organisations I work with just don't kind of categorise themselves as visitor attractions. I know that sounds a bit odd, but I just don't think they even use the same terminology.Marge Ainsley: You know, I've been talking to you guys previously and the kind of terminology around, how do we welcome our guests? For example. Sometimes visitor attractions talk about guests. Well that word itself is quite interesting when you talk to museums because I don't think ... I'm going to say we here ... But I don't think we would ever talk about ... Well, maybe we would, but we don't always talk about museum visitors as guests because it's very much about their place, their collection. Museums are wanting to try and give the welcome to visitors, audiences, users, whatever you would call them, that it's their collection, it's their place to hang out. You know? It's of them, it's by them, it's for them.Marge Ainsley: There's this whole campaign and initiative that I should mention really, called OF/BY/FOR ALL. It's run by a woman called Nina Simon over in The States, and it's this kind of concept about if you're wanting to be a real inclusive museum, you need to be of the people, by the people, for the people, that kind of thing. And so this whole guest terminology, I think, around visitor attractions doesn't almost maybe sit well with that because we don't want them to be guests. We want them to feel like it's theirs. I don't know. I don't know what you guys think of that, but I think there's something interesting there with the terminology between the two.Paul Wright: That's got to be difficult if you're writing copy for, say, websites as well, especially in terms of say SEO, search engine [inaudible 00:19:24] and what you actually say. It's a real minefield, I suppose.Marge Ainsley: Yeah, absolutely. And I think there's a big job to be done around tone of voice actually.Marge Ainsley: It's something I do help museums with in terms of their brand and kind of the copy and tone of voice and their values, because I think, again, it comes back to some of the challenges that particularly museums face that I work with. I mean, they're doing an amazing job with the resources they have, but if you imagine an independent museum that is volunteer run, that doesn't necessarily have marketing expertise in-house and then just layering on that even ability to copyright effectively on a website. Or not even thinking about the tone of voice element, just actually thinking about the fact that when you write copy for web, it's different to print. That's just not potentially on their radar.Marge Ainsley: So I think that is actually a challenge for a lot of the museums that I work with, just purely because they don't have that capacity and expertise. And you know, I'm not digital marketing expert, I don't do a lot of digital work these days, but we do still see that kind of approach by museums of like, say, with social media, "We must setup every single channel that we should do with social media," because again, that expertise isn't there, rather than just thinking, "Right, let's get our own website in order first and get that looking and working effectively on mobile," and those kind of things.Marge Ainsley: But it is purely down to capacity and knowledge. They have to prioritise looking after the collections and getting the doors open. Some of these places I work, they're only opening one or two days a week potentially and rostering on a whole set of volunteers to be able to open. So it's very different. You talk about, say, Silverstone where they've been recruiting for the new experience and they'll have a full team. That versus the kind of independent museums that I work with where there's just a couple of them. It's really, really tricky and I'm just dead proud of those ones for just achieving what they can and they're doing so much good work. But I guess that's where I come in, isn't it? In supporting them with it.Marge Ainsley: But yeah, tone of voice and the way that museums are selling themselves I think, and the USPs as well. So I do do a lot of work with museums where they might have five or six different sites all under the same banner. I spend a lot of time working out with them, "Well is it everything for everyone? Who's the target audience for all of these different sites? Is the messaging different? What are the features versus the benefits of those individual sites?" But yeah, I'm not sure that they would be referring to people as guests anyway.Paul Wright: How often do you review their copy?Marge Ainsley: It depends what the project is. I mean I'm working with a group of museums in Cheshire at the moment and we did a kind of a print audit the other day looking at their What's On brochure like, for example. We pull apart other people's brochures and we look at theirs and we think about target audiences, and we look at kind of the copy and imagery and what they're wanting to say.Marge Ainsley: But that's part of a whole program I'm working with them on audience development, so it depends on the project. If it's, say, like a training session I'll tend to run that. So I'll do training on copywriting, brand and tone of voice. That's kind of separate. But with audience development, that's just such a broad piece of work.Marge Ainsley: So for example, I might get involved in writing audience development strategy. People often get marketing and audience development confused, or they might think very differently about the two, and it all comes down to semantics. I mean, most people, if you were to ask them, would say, "Well, marketing is kind of the numbers. It's the bums on seats. It's the getting people through the door," whereas the audience development is not just more visitors, but diversifying those visitors as well, diversifying those audiences.Marge Ainsley: When we sit down and do an audience development strategy, we really involve everybody from across the organisation because it could be, you know, programming, it could be collections, it could be the comms, it could be anything in terms of the interpretation. It's a whole range, all those different kinds of things that I can do to diversify the audiences. It can be internal as well, so making sure the staff are trained.Marge Ainsley: So when I'm doing audience development strategic planning, the copywriting and the kind of messaging just forms one part of that piece of work which takes place over quite a long period of time. And then ultimately, it's either some kind of audience development manual or practical guide. Definitely not an 80 page strategy that sits on a shelf. It needs to be something proactive that that organisation uses.Marge Ainsley: So it's a real small part, whereas if I was working, say, on copywriting for SEA LIFE Centre Chongqing, their entire seahorse gallery for example, that's me just focused on that piece of work and it's just purely to do with copywriting or copy editing. So I'm kind of hopscotching around a little bit, but that's just reflecting my portfolio I suppose and the different types of work that I do.Kelly Molson: So you've been freelancing for 10 years now?Marge Ainsley: Yeah, 11.Kelly Molson: 11 years.Marge Ainsley: Yeah, don't forget that one.Kelly Molson: 11 years of freelancing. So we know ourselves from running a busy agency how complex it can be, how many balls you're juggling at any time. But one of the amazing things that you do is you actually set up the Museum Freelance Network. Can you tell us how did that even come about? Because it sounds like you're busy enough.Marge Ainsley: Yeah, I've got quite a few side projects, but then you ask any freelancer and they've got a list of side projects as long as their arm. But I didn't actually set it up. So it was Christina Lister and Laura Crossley set it up about four years ago and then I came on board quite soon after they started it to give them a helping hand really.Marge Ainsley: Ultimately, in a nutshell, the network was really setup to kind of champion and support and lobby for freelancers working within the cultural sector. So we specifically focus on freelancers working in museums, libraries, archives, galleries and heritage sites.Marge Ainsley: Gosh, the community's grown substantially in those four years really. We have an annual conference where we have around 80 to 90 delegates coming along to that. We run a training workshop every three months for people who are new to freelancing, or thinking about freelancing. We've been amazed how popular that is.Marge Ainsley: I suppose one of the things we do with Museum Freelance, we're collaboration rather than competition. So it's not about, "Well, I've done that. Why would I say to that person how I've done it?" It's about supporting each other. And so when you come to conference, or if you come to a training workshop, or indeed if you're on the community ... So we have like a LinkedIn group which has got about, I think it's 800 we've got on there now. We have regular Q & As on Twitter and on social media as well. If you get involved you'll notice that we're very much about thinking like a business. So it's not, even though it's specifically focused on freelancers within the cultural sector, it's very much about those broad business skills that everybody needs as a freelancer.Marge Ainsley: So at the conference, whether you're someone who's a visitor services expert, or visitor experiences expert, or whether you're an archivist, or whether you're a painting restorer, or a marketing freelancer, it doesn't matter. It's all kind of ... I don't want to use the word generic, that's not quite right, but it's broad. So we'll have talks about coaching and health and wellbeing. We'll have talks about finance. We'll have talks about staying motivated as a freelancer.Marge Ainsley: So it's really broad. And we set it up and have continued it because we just felt that that was missing in terms of specifically the cultural sector. And so we're there not to just support freelancers, but kind of do that lobbying behind the scenes as well that wasn't happening. And what I mean by that is making sure that we have a seta around the table when it comes to new strategies and new policies being developed by organisations such as the Museums Association, or the Association for Independent Museums. These kind of larger membership organisations. Arts Council England have got a consultation out at the moment on their next five year strategy, so how do we make sure that freelancers are part of that discussion?Marge Ainsley: One of the things that we're doing at the moment is we recognise that there isn't a lot of robust data and research out there about specifically museums and galleries and those kind of cultural organisation's freelancers. There's plenty there in terms of, say, creative industries around, what does that freelance landscape look like? Who are they? Where do they live? What kinds of people are they? What are they charging? What are they working on? But nothing really similar exists in the cultural sector.Marge Ainsley: So at the moment, we're working on kind of a mapping survey that we're going to be sending out which will hopefully give us that data we need, that shows us kind of not just what the demographics are like and what people are charging, but also gives us the opportunity to look at what the challenges are that are facing freelancers within our sector. And then to be able to use that data to be a bit more informed in terms of that lobbying, or informed in terms of our own evaluation.Marge Ainsley: So for example, with our conference at the moment, we don't know if the people coming to conference are representative of the museum freelance sector at large. So hopefully having a mapping survey that tells us more about those things will be useful for us as well as for other organisations working with freelancers in the sector.Paul Wright: The data from this survey, when is it going to be released?Marge Ainsley: So we're hoping to put the survey out in the new year. We're working on it at the moment, so yeah, watch this space. I should say ... And Christina will be listening to this, I'm sure ... She will say, "Don't forget, it's just us." We are volunteer run. We're not a membership organisation, so everything that we do with Museum Freelance, whether it's the conference, the kind of community side of things that we do, it's just me and one other person at the moment.Marge Ainsley: So we're tied to the time we have outside of our client work as to how much that we take on. But you know, we're both really passionate really about just kind of keeping it going and keeping support in the freelancers that are out there, because yes, there are the wider networks like Being Freelance and Freelance Heroes and Doing It For The Kids, and all of those that are there to support freelancers working across sectors, but there isn't really anyone there to fight the corner of cultural freelancers.Marge Ainsley: So things that everyone is picking up on, payment for freelancers and being paid on time and things like that, but also looking at how organisations within the cultural sector can work more effectively with freelancers as well. So this isn't us ... And we very much position ourselves like this ... This isn't us having a moan about freelancing at all. We do a lot of celebrating about freelancing. But it's also about mutualness, it's reciprocal, so we do a lot of work with organisations within the cultural sector supporting them in terms of how to write a decent freelance brief, understanding fees and what to charge, what the budget should be.Marge Ainsley: So like Christina, this week she's off to the Museum Association conference talking to museums there about how to work best with freelancers. So it's not just us supporting the freelancers, we also work with organisations as well on what they can do to help and how that can make their lives easier and their work more effective too.Kelly Molson: This is something that we've talked about at great length independently of this podcast, Marge, isn't it? When we met up in London a few months ago we discussed the tendering process, particularly around cultural organisations and how that could potentially be improved. So it's lovely to hear that you are actually actively involved in working with those organisations to be able to make positive change in that area.Marge Ainsley: Yeah, and I think we have to kind of recognise that some organisations, especially again, the smaller independent ones that I would work with, you know, they haven't got lots of experience in working with freelancers. They might not have written a brief before, so it is about helping them. And also thinking about stuff as a freelancer that makes sense to you around, "Well, I need two weeks to put a proposal together," or, "I should be interviewed on Skype. Do I need to be interviewed? What's the process between when the brief goes out to when I'm supposed to be starting the contract?"Marge Ainsley: That's normal to us. We know what our timescales are, but an organisation who isn't used to working with freelancers might not have the same understanding of that. Similarly just like that language as well. So one thing that we are doing quite a lot of championing of at the moment is making sure that organisations know that when something is a freelance role versus when it should be a paid full-time or part-time PAYE member of stuff.Marge Ainsley: So you'll see a lot of language around jobs or job specification, or you might see a brief that has a full long list of, "You must be here at this time and you must do this work," which will all fall foul of HMRC's, "This is not a freelance job. It should be an actual paid position." And that's not them necessarily on purpose trying to get away with a freelance contract when it should be in-house where they would pay for NI and all the rest of it. It's just, I would say, 99.9% of the cases we see, it's just naivety on behalf of the organisation just not understanding the difference between the two and the rules that exist around there in terms of HMRC. I won't go into those, but you know.Marge Ainsley: I think the organisations that we've supported with it and when we've done talks at conferences about it, the museums are welcoming that support because again, it's just not been there really. But there is only so much that we can do and we've got so many ambitions for the network. Yeah, watch this space.Kelly Molson: We absolutely will, Marge.Paul Wright: I'd like to talk a little bit about surveys. We've had a bit of experience lately trying to put one together and I thought it was going to be quite easy to do, but actually it was really, really, really, really difficult.Marge Ainsley: Yeah. Yeah, I mean I'm a qual rather than a quant girl, I have to say. Give me a discussion guide and a consultation group any day rather than a survey.Paul Wright: Yeah.Marge Ainsley: But you know, I find that within some of the work I do it needs a mixed methodology, so I do put together surveys and I do train people as well in terms of evaluation research methods. So I have a whole session in the afternoon about what makes a good and a bad survey. That's quite an eyeopening part of the session.Marge Ainsley: But I guess, for me, when I see a really awful survey, there's a few things. It's typically if someone doesn't actually have a really good grasp on what their research objectives are in the first place, what it is they're trying to find out. I always say to people, "Measure what matters. Why are you asking that question?" And I'll go through a survey audit with people if they've already got one and I'm like, "So what are you actually doing with the results from that question?" And they go, "Well, I don't know. It's just been like that since 2008." I'm like, "Right, okay."Marge Ainsley: It's about actually putting together that, what is it we want to find out? What are the research or evaluation objectives from the offset, and designing the questions effectively from that. So there's a little bit there in terms of sometimes people just kind of stick their finger in the air and go, "We'll ask this for no reason."Marge Ainsley: I also see some horrendous surveys in terms of the questions. So there might be double questions, or there might be questions that don't make any sense, they're in the wrong order, surveys too long and you give up, especially if it's on mobile these days. You know, people will design a survey on some free software and then bash it out and it's all you've got to do endless scrolling, or they put pictures in that never load up because they're too big. There's a lot to think about really in terms of the overall look as well as the questions and how it works across different platforms.Marge Ainsley: So that would be another thing I would say; think about where people are filling that survey in. Think about how long they've got. We'll see random introductions as well to surveys, or no introductions at all. So you must kind of tell people what the point of this survey is. You know, are you going to incentives it? If you are going to incentivise it, then you need to be looking at the Market Research Society's code of conduct around incentives and how that works. Are you collecting data from the surveys as well? Are you within GDPR?Marge Ainsley: There's so many things to think about and I think that's why often you'll get external or independent evaluators or research people to give you a hand because people will say to me, "Why are you charging me this amount of time to put a survey together?" And they're really surprised about how long it takes to design a decent survey.Marge Ainsley: And I suppose just as a final point on that, because I could go on all day about surveys, is to test it. The amount of time I say to people, "Did you try this out before sending it to a mailing list of 50,000 people?" And they're like, "Oh no, we've not done that." It's the best thing that you can do. You know, I've been writing surveys a long time and I still make mistakes in them in terms of maybe the wording isn't right, or a question isn't phrased properly, or maybe the order isn't quite right or the routing doesn't work.Marge Ainsley: So the best thing that you can do is test it, whether that's on a colleague or a member of the target audience you're aiming for, just to give it a bit of a sense check because without fail, there will be something. There will be something with it.Paul Wright: Thanks for that. I wish we had talked to you before.Kelly Molson: I have to say, we did ask the experts in the end. We got a great guy in to help us.Marge Ainsley: I might be able to guess who that is.Paul Wright: It definitely took us a lot longer than we expected. It was one of those things where we started it and then it was only until we got really deep into it we just realised, "We really need some help with this."Marge Ainsley: Yeah. I think that's the thing as well. And when I go and do the training, a lot of the projects that I work on I will always build in some element of training because ... And it might be doing myself out of future work, but the kinds of organisations I work with, they are being restructured, they are having their budgets cut left, right and centre and they're not going to be able to afford to buy in a freelancer or an independent or a consultant all the time, and so just having that training where they can embed those skills. If I can leave them with something sustainable, then that to me, that's great. That's what I want.Marge Ainsley: So a lot of the time at training, we pull those surveys apart, but I also give them the skills in terms of how to write it, what pitfalls to look out for, but also how to analyse it as well and how to write it up. Because I think the other thing with it is we're awash with data, aren't we? We're awash with giant 100 page reports and big data and all this data around us, but it's really hard to cut through that. And so a lot of the time I'm kind of teaching organisations about how to not just analyse their data, but how to present it and how to tell a story as well.Kelly Molson: So we're coming up towards the end of the podcast, Marge, but there's a few extra questions we want to run by you. One of the things that you talk about is about being really interested in creating connections. What we wanted to ask you is, from your understanding and research, what do you think that people really want from organisations in the cultural sector? And when we say people, we mean visitors.Marge Ainsley: I think it depends who the target audience is, doesn't it? I mean I do a lot of work with families who they are simply looking for a wet weather afternoon activity that is free. But it doesn't really matter which visitor you talk to, they're wanting that welcoming space. They're wanting somewhere where they can learn, somewhere that they can take time out. Somewhere where they can be entertained.Marge Ainsley: We talk a lot about motivation within arts and culture, and I think we can probably do a lot better in terms of tapping into those motivations as well. I mean, I'll give you a really good example. Recently, you might have seen it in the media, the Harris Museum in Preston, they have partnered up with their local NHS Trust ... So it's like an NHS Foundation Trust, and that particular branch of it's called the Lancashire Recovery College ... And every Monday now, they've partnered with them to basically work out of the museum. So on a Monday you can go and do all these different types of health and wellbeing activities, for example.Marge Ainsley: I think people ... I don't know if they know this or it's just us putting this on them, but I think some people are wanting this ... It's just that space that is within their community. So you know before I was talking about the OF/BY/FOR ALL, just changing the perception of museums not being stuffy, not being unwelcoming places, places that are for the likes of them. I think one aside of that is this sense of community. Whether you're going there for a social experience, having a cup of tea, whether you're going to do yoga, or whether you're going to do a kind of art and therapy event like this Monday at the Harris.Marge Ainsley: Manchester Art Gallery ... I'm talking to you from Manchester here ... They have a kind of an And Breathe space where you can go and just sit and contemplate the work. Those kind of safe spaces where you can just take a breather from busy lifestyle.Marge Ainsley: So think people are wanting different things depending on which target audiences they are, but I think more and more we are, and I think should be, looking at museums ... I'm conscious I've talked a lot about museums, but museums as spaces that the community feels are for them. I don't know whether that's answered your question.Kelly Molson: No, no, it does and it's a really interesting discussion. I saw something actually on Twitter a couple of days ago ... And I will find who Tweeted this and I will credit them in the show notes ... But they talked a lot about museums and cultural spaces opening themselves up as co-working spaces. And I thought, "What a brilliant idea."Marge Ainsley: Yeah, no, I was in on that conversation actually.Kelly Molson: Oh, great.Marge Ainsley: I linked in to Battersea, because Battersea Arts Center have opening up a co-working space. In fact, they were presenting at the IPSE National Freelancer's Day this last year about their work.Marge Ainsley: And so yeah, I think it comes down to the museum's purpose ultimately, doesn't it? And what they believe that they stand for. I'm not suggesting that every single museum and gallery is going to want to be everything to everybody, or behave in a particular way and become a community centre. But from my perspective, certainly with audience development and with getting people to engage with our collections and engage with us as organisations, we've got to be more open, we've got to be more responsive to what those audiences are looking and what their needs are. Break down these barriers around, you know, "Not for the likes of me."Marge Ainsley: We talk in the cultural sector a lot about audiences are hard to reach. I kind of stamp my foot a bit about that because I don't think they're hard to reach, I think we're the ones that are hard to reach, you know? So I think there's so many good projects and organisations out there doing amazing things in terms of audience development, but I think we've still got a way to go in terms of just changing that perception around what a museum could and can be.Marge Ainsley: When you go to somewhere like the Whitworth here in Manchester and they've got a beautiful park outside where they combine a visit to the park and poetry in the park with what's happening inside the museum and are linking the two. You go to other places and there's amazing events and workshops going on to help the local community members who've got English as a second language and they use the paintings and the collection to support that language development. There's so many good projects. But it is something that I know is going to be a hot topic in the sector at the moment about that sense of community.Marge Ainsley: If you want a good example of this, if you look up Philbrook Museum in Oklahoma, there's a guy, the director there spoke a big museum conference called Museum Next, and he spoke at this conference about how they've totally revolutionised this historic house in the middle of what is quite a deprived area in Tulsa in Oklahoma. Just little changes that they've made to make the community feel like it's a place for the, rather than a place that isn't and it's for people who are rich and have loads of money to go and visit.Marge Ainsley: Little things like when the director started, they weren't allowed food in the gardens. It's got these beautiful gardens around it. So he just turned that on its head and started doing barbecue burger Fridays, and they have hundreds of the local community go now. They're closed on Mondays, but then they put this kind of Me Time Monday into place where members of the local community could kind of pitch to come and spend the whole day in the museum by themselves, like whilst the staff are there. The whole museum's shut and they just can blog and they can draw and they can do what they want.Marge Ainsley: They've changed little things like the retail offers, so rather than selling stuff that no one wants they sell like paracetamol and nappies. Just really little changes, but it's revolutionised the way the community perceive that museum and it has made them feel like they're welcome there.Marge Ainsley: I think that's really what we need to do more of in the sector, and that's why I love working with audience development and audience development strategy because it's not necessarily the typical things that you would have on a marketing and communications plan. It's not, "Let's change the leaflet." There's a bit of that. There's a bit of, "Is the leaflet going to the right place? What are we doing with our website?" But there's a lot more in terms of audience development like going out to people, bringing the collection and taking it out to people, working with particular community partners to access different groups. So there's a lot more to audience development than just, "Are we distributing our leaflets in the right places?"Kelly Molson: And it kind of comes full circle to what we talked about earlier about creating connections. It is really about creating connections between those people and that organisation and that venue, and how they can use it to support them as part of their own personal development, which is just lovely.Marge Ainsley: Yeah, it's exactly that. I mean within a work context, for me, it could mean getting organisations to work better with their partners, or facilitating meetings internally to get teams working more effectively.Marge Ainsley: So another side of my work which we've not touched upon, it is a facilitation. So I will get asked to go and help on away days and meetings so that they can kind of just take a step back from actually running them themselves. So that connections could be just getting organisations to work better together as well, get better communication between the staff, or it could be like we've talked about; those connections in terms of getting museums to understand their non-user audiences a bit better by going and doing that research, or getting them to do the research.Marge Ainsley: I'm working some organisations at the moment where I've kind of given them some homework to go out to particular marketplaces and actually stand and talk to people. And you'll find quite a few museums do this now. It's kind of like back to the shop floor, because a lot of office staff don't have that opportunity to go and talk to visitors. So people will roster whatever level of the organisation you're on, you'll go and do a visitor services job for an hour every so often just because then you really do get a sense of what people are talking about, what they're struggling with in the museum and just have that connection with them.Marge Ainsley: I've always had this thing really around, whether it's my personal or professional life, about creating connections, and I suppose that's why I really enjoy what I do too.Kelly Molson: Marge, thank you. We have absolutely loved speaking to you today. We're going to write up all the show notes, everything that you've discussed and all the things that you've mentioned we'll link to and we'll give everyone shout outs too. But thank you for your time. We've had a great time.Marge Ainsley: You're very welcome. Thank you.Kelly Molson: You can find links and notes from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast, or search Skip the Queue on iTunes and Spotify to subscribe. Please remember to leave a rating. It helps other people find us.Kelly Molson: This podcast was brought to you by Rubber Cheese, an award winning digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for visitor attractions. Find out how we can create a better experience for you and your guests at rubbercheese.com.

This episode’s guest, Nina Simon, Founder of Of/By/For All, knows that what looks like a “welcome” sign for some people can be a “keep out” sign for others, especially in civic and cultural spaces (think libraries, theaters, parks, & museums). Nina and her colleagues at Of/By/For All are turning cultural elitism upside down by changing the representation of stakeholders in cultural institutions and working with the people who have been most excluded to address systemic barriers and make real changes together.  Nina Simon is deeply committed to the principles of inclusion and is working with hundreds of civic and cultural organizations worldwide. In this episode, you will find inspiration and practical pointers for making your organization and programs more equitable and inclusive, too. We hope you’ll get a lot of of this episode where our host, Becky Margiotta, interviews Nina.    Show Highlights:  Creating all-inclusive spaces for communities  Utilizing parks to connect people  The importance of integrating culturally relevant elements  Making institutional changes to create a sense of belonging for everyone  Looking for invisible “keep out” signs that others may see  What participatory design looks like and the community process  Taking advantage of crises and making large-scale change  Tools and concrete practices to become more of, by, and for your community  Courses focusing on making inclusion something you do instead of something you talk about  Providing a framework to amplify an organization’s ability to achieve success  Integrating digital media and using technology to reach people  Socializing practices and getting organizations involved  Self-assessing organizations to evaluate how representative they are of the community  Inviting people to share what they have to contribute and engaging new people  Breaking free from oppressive spaces and getting outside of our comfort zone Navigating personal insecurities and using our humanity to make space for others  How to create firm connections and acknowledge when others are whitewashing Counterbalancing between using the right language and taking action   How to address the harm that organizations cause communities  Establishing clear expectations across the board    Links:    Contact Nina:  https://www.ofbyforall.org The Participatory Museum The Art of Relevance Follow Nina on Twitter    

An interview with Nina Simon, outgoing director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) and incoming CEO for Of By For All. We discuss rebuilding of the MAH to reach an unprecedented level of financial stability, what she's learned about her own leadership style, about realizing one's own career potential, and about the Of By For All movement.

OF/BY/FOR ALL is a global movement and a set of tools to help community institutions around the world become more representative OF and co-created BY their communities. In this episode, we’re joined by OF/BY/FOR ALL founder Nina Simon and Rohini Kappadath, General Manager of Immigration Museum (Australia), to find out how to create a museum for everyone. Never miss an episode! Subscribe to Museopunks on iTunes or Stitcher

This week, its Terry's first special of the Christmas season with Serena Ryder. The Canadian hit-maker previews her new album Christmas Kisses, produced by the legendary Bob Ezrin.  “When I was a young girl, I would spend hours upon hours locked away in my room listening and singing to Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simon and Chet Baker" shares Ryder. "It’s been a dream of mine to be able to sing an entire album in this style - and also a dream to be able to embrace the spirit of Christmas in a genuinely joyful way." The podcast includes four tracks from the new record, including "Christmas Song" "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" "White Christmas" and "Blue Christmas".

This week we talk about membership in the museum. What kinds of memberships exist? Should we, as museum professionals be reworking how we approach memberships? How much should they cost? Who do we need to be marketing to? We boast on Nina Simon, from the Museum 2.0 blog for helping us shape this discussion. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MuseumMastersPodcast Twitter: http://twitter.com/MMastersPodcast Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/MuseumMastersPodcast/ Mary Akemon:http://twitter.com/maryakemon Allison Bryan:http://twitter.com/allisonkopplin

Get to know Nina Simon and Nancy Proctor: Small Museums & Staying Relevant with Your Community.

Nina Simon is inspiring speaker, writer and thinker who started changing the way museums and cultural institutions do and think about their work when she started her Museum 2.0 blog over a decade ago.  In this episode of the podcast, Nina talks about writing and sharing her latest book "The Art of Relevance" and how she came to her working definition of the word Relevance. She shares stories of truly living off the grid, getting her homes electricity from solar power and having to haul bathroom waste in a bucket every day and why that lifestyle makes her judge others less.  Nina also talks about the importance of athletics and playing sports in her life and how much play factors into all parts of her work and life. Plus Nina talks about growing up with a rockstar father, how writing books let her actually focus more on doing the work she wants to do and what community and partnership really means to her.  Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History Nina Simon is an internationally-recognized expert on active community participation in cultural institutions and has been named a “museum visionary” by Smithsonian Magazine for her innovative approach to design. Nina received the American Alliance for Museums' Nancy Hanks Memorial Award in 2012 and was named one of the 50 most “powerful and influential people in nonprofit arts” by the Western States Arts Federation in 2012 and 2013. Nina is the author of The Participatory Museum (2010) and the popular Museum 2.0 blog.     

What does it mean to be a museum professional with an active online presence? How does blogging, Twitter, and other forms of social media communication give shape to a professional identity in the digital age? In this episode, the Punks talk to Nina Simon, Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, prolific blogger, and author of the book The Participatory Museum, and Ed Rodley, Associate Director of Integrated Media at Peabody Essex Museum and author of Thinking About Museums, about the impact that an active online and social media presence can have on museum work broadly, and on professional identity. What does it mean to “grow up professionally” in the public eye, or to enter into an online discourse with an already-established professional identity? How does the kind of professional discourse that social media makes possible give shape to new ways of thinking and perceiving museum work? And what are the long-term ramifications of living a professional life online for all to see?

Join me for an inspiring conversation with Nina Simon as we discuss her career trajectory, Museum 2.0 and how she is putting her ideas about the participatory museum into practice as Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.

American civil rights song and Nina Simon hit I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free is instantly recognisable. How did the song come to be written and what is its place in the US today?

Nina Simon, the blogger behind the popular Museum 2.0 site, talks about why she believes social media is the key to helping museums and heritage groups connect their constituents with their content. Among the topics covered are the time investment required for social media as well as how to use social media philosophies to better visitor experiences without necessarily using the web tools. Click here for a transcript of the interview.

In today's bumper September Bonus Episode, Emilie Sommer of East City Bookshop kicks us off with suggested comp titles.After which, Bianca interviews Nina Simon, author of Mother-Daughter Murder Night, a debut that was chosen for Reese's Book Club. They discuss Nina's nightmare-turned-dream debut experience; the trend of the cozy murder mystery; picking the right agent; the query letter that landed Nina her agent; and how plotting and brainstorming constitute "real" writing.Finally, in the Q&A segment, Carly and CeCe discuss telling potential agents that you've already received a full request; querying so-called 'dead' genres; when to consider a novel historical fiction; some common reasons agents don't pick up a non-fiction proposal; why there's so much hype around supporting women writers; query response rates; changing details in historical events; and publishing excerpts of your novel through contests.Find us on our socials:Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyraInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shit_about_writing/https://www.instagram.com/biancamarais_author/https://www.instagram.com/carlywatters/ https://www.instagram.com/cece_lyra_agent/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSNOTYAWWebsites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and www.cecilialyra.comBookshop.org affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theshitnoonetellsyouaboutwritingTo connect with Emilie Sommer go to https://www.instagram.com/emiliegsommer/ and you can find East City Bookshop at https://www.instagram.com/eastcitybookshop/More information about Nina can be found at: https://ninaksimon.com/Our Sponsors:* Check out Factor 75 and use my code tsnotyaw50 for a great deal: https://www.factor75.com/* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands