Category Archives: Engagement

Photography, Permission, and Fair Use: Where Museum Policies Get Complicated

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Do I need permission to take photos of a guided tour in a museum?

In the previous posts in this series, I looked at visitor codes of conduct, visitor photography policies, and commercial or media photography policies. Those policies are becoming more visible because photography is no longer a simple matter of “Can I take a picture?” A single image can be a personal memory, a social media post, a teaching tool, a scholarly document, a news illustration, a commercial asset, or evidence in a public debate.

This final post turns to the more complicated issues: fair use, copyright, photo releases, privacy, and ethics. As a reminder, I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. Museums should consult an attorney when writing policies involving copyright, image permissions, privacy, publicity rights, releases, commercial use, or contracts. My purpose here is to identify common points of confusion that arise when museums, visitors, writers, teachers, scholars, and photographers try to understand what permission is needed and from whom.

I encounter these questions in my own work. As someone who photographs museums and historic sites for this blog, teaching, consulting, and research, I occasionally wonder: should I ask permission from the museum before publishing a photograph of an exhibition? Do I need a model release if visitors appear in the background? Is it appropriate to photograph a historic house where people still live nearby? Does it matter if I am writing criticism, promoting the museum, or using the image in a paid presentation?

These questions are often confused with a different issue: what museums need to do when they use images of visitors for their own promotional purposes. A visitor taking a photograph in a gallery, a museum using a child’s image in a fundraising campaign, and a company filming a commercial in a sculpture garden are not the same thing. They raise different legal, ethical, and managerial questions. Policies should be clear enough that frontline staff can explain them without being expected to interpret copyright law, privacy law, or fair use on the spot.

Four Issues That Often Get Confused

Photography policies often blend several distinct issues:

  • Copyright: who owns the rights to the artwork, photograph, exhibition label, design, film, or other creative work that appears in the image?
  • Access: what conditions did the museum place on photography as part of admission, ticketing, visitor conduct, or use of its property?
  • Privacy and publicity: are identifiable people shown in the image, and is their likeness being used in a way that requires permission?
  • Ethics: even if a photograph is legally permissible, is it respectful, accurate, safe, and consistent with the museum’s values and the dignity of the people, places, and stories involved?
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When Museums Become Backdrops: Managing Commercial and Media Photography

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Wedding photo taken at the Cincinnati Museum of Art. Credit: Sherri Barber Photography.

In the previous post in this series, I looked at visitor photography policies: whether visitors can take pictures, where they can take them, what equipment they can use, and how museums distinguish casual personal photography from behavior that disrupts the visitor experience. But there is another side to museum photography policies.

When photography moves beyond ordinary visitor memory-making, the questions become more complicated. A museum gallery, historic house, a picturesque barn, sculpture garden, or historic landscape can quickly become a backdrop for someone else’s project: a wedding shoot, fashion session, graduation portrait, influencer campaign, documentary film, news segment, advertisement, stock photography shoot, or corporate video. That shift changes the issue. The question is no longer simply, “Can I take a picture?” It becomes: who benefits from the image, what resources are being used, what risks are created, and how is the museum’s name, space, collection, or reputation being presented?

As with the earlier posts, this is not a scientific or comprehensive study. I reviewed a selection of commercial, media, and photography policies from museums and historic sites to identify patterns in current practice. I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. Museums should consult an attorney when developing policies involving copyright, releases, insurance, contracts, filming agreements, or commercial use. My interest here is in how these policies reflect museum management, visitor experience, institutional risk, and revenue. Just a warning: this is a loooong post because of the complexity of this topic—and I’ll only be touching the surface.

From Visitor Photography to Site Use

The most useful distinction is between photographing a museum and using a museum as a setting. A visitor photographing a child in a gallery, a favorite object, a historic room, or a garden path is usually documenting a visit. A photographer staging an engagement session, fashion shoot, commercial, product video, or sponsored social media post is using the museum as a resource. Those are different activities. They require different policies.

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Can I Take a Picture?

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Sign at the entrance to the Albuquerque Museum in New Mexico.

What Museum Photography Policies Reveal About Visitor Experiences

While examining visitor codes of conduct, I started noticing another kind of museum policy that is becoming more visible: photography policies. They appear on websites, ticketing pages, “Know Before You Go” guides, and signs in galleries, historic houses, gardens, and exhibitions. Like codes of conduct, photography policies have always existed in some form, but they now seem more detailed, more prominent, and more complicated.

At first glance, the question seems simple: can visitors take pictures? But museum photography policies reveal that this is no longer a yes-or-no issue. The better question is: what kind of photography, by whom, for what purpose, in what space, and with what effect on collections, staff, visitors, and the experience?

To explore this question, I reviewed photography rules embedded in dozens of visitor codes of conduct and visitor policy pages from museums and historic sites. This was not a scientific or comprehensive study. It was an initial scan of current practice to identify common patterns and management issues. I am not offering legal advice here; museums should consult an attorney on copyright, releases, privacy, and commercial use. My interest is in how these policies shape visitor experience and staff decision-making.

The broad trend is clear: casual, personal photography is increasingly welcomed, but excessive equipment and disruptive, staged, or commercial photography is increasingly controlled.

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Why Are Visitor Codes of Conduct Suddenly Everywhere?

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To purchase tickets online for the Emily Dickinson Museum requires compliance with their Code of Conduct.

I’m encountering codes of conduct more frequently as I visit museums and historic sites. They’re not only posted near entrances, but increasingly appear on websites as I buy tickets or plan a visit. Museums and historic sites have always had expectations for visitors—don’t touch, no food—but they’ve never seemed so prominent.

That made me wonder: are our efforts to be more inclusive and welcoming attracting visitors who are unfamiliar with our expectations? Has the current political climate encouraged more conflict and confrontation in public spaces? Are front-line staff experiencing more difficult visitor behavior? Or are museums simply becoming more explicit about rules that were once assumed?

To find out, I examined dozens of visitor codes of conduct from museums and historic sites in the United States that were available online using Google’s search feature. This was not a scientific or comprehensive study. It was more of an initial exploration of what seems to be happening in the field.

What I found is that visitor codes of conduct are no longer just about protecting collections. They are becoming management tools.

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What Happens When You Apply Museum Standards to a State Capitol?

The Virginia State Capitol offers guided and self-guided tours to visitors.

When I agreed to conduct a Museum Assessment Program (MAP) review for the Virginia State Capitol, I knew it would be an unusual assignment. MAP is designed for museums—institutions with clear missions centered on collections, exhibitions, and interpretation. The Capitol, however, is not a museum. It is the active seat of the General Assembly of Virginia. That distinction matters.

At the Capitol, the “museum function” is secondary—sometimes tertiary—to the work of governance. I’ve completed several MAP assessments but only choose those that relate to my expertise and interests—and the unusual environment engaged me immediately and made me wonder what would happen. Tours, exhibitions, and school programs operate within an environment defined by legislative sessions, security protocols, and shifting public access. I suspected that some museum standards wouldn’t apply. Others—especially those related to education and interpretation—would, but required adaptation. What I discovered is that the most useful part of my visit wasn’t evaluating against museum standards—it was a workshop.

As part of MAP, I facilitated a session to develop guiding principles for the visitor experience (called Education and Interpretation in MAP). Think of them as a set of best practices—but ones developed by the staff themselves, grounded in real situations rather than imposed from outside. Rather than start with abstract values (e.g., diversity, education, creativity) or a series of broad questions (e.g., why does the museum exist? what is the museum’s educational vision?), I used scenarios—real situations staff face every day.

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Your Tours Aren’t the Problem—Your Outcomes Are

If you’ve ever wondered whether the challenges you’re facing at your historic site or house museum are typical or unusual, there is some collective evidence to draw on.

For the past decade, Ken Turino and I have led Reimagining Historic House Museums workshops across the country for the American Association for State and Local History, based on our book of the same name. We begin each workshop with a simple but revealing question: What is the greatest challenge facing your site?

We have collected these responses from a wide range of locations (such Chicago, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, Wisconsin, Texas, and Maryland) from a wide range of participants (staff, boardmembers, and volunteers). From a sampling of these lists, I used ChatGPT to analyze and synthesize the responses into the seven overarching issues, each representing a structural or strategic challenge. While the data was not collected in a scientific manner (participants are self-selecting, not random), the consistency of responses across regions and institution types is striking.

The most frequently cited—and arguably most consequential—is relevance and interpretive stagnation.

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Walking Through Time Before You Even Enter: Lessons from Rancho Los Cerritos

A breakdown of the key elements in the timeline walkway at Rancho Los Cerritos in Long Beach.

A couple of weeks ago, Engaging Places spent two days at Rancho Los Cerritos in California as part of an interpretation and visitor experience assessment. Before I even reached the house, something caught my attention—and it’s stayed with me since.

Walking in from the parking lot, I encountered a pathway that integrates a timeline from past to present. It was developed as part of a stormwater and groundwater reclamation project designed by Studio One Eleven, but what struck me wasn’t just the infrastructure—it was the interpretive opportunity. The walkway quietly does something many historic sites struggle to achieve: it begins interpretation before the visitor even arrives.

I’ve long been interested in how entrance sequences can frame a visitor’s experience, and this is a particularly effective example. As you move along the path, you’re also moving through time. Each step becomes a kind of measurement—an embodied sense of duration and change. It’s intuitive, familiar, and requires almost no instruction. In a matter of moments, visitors gain a basic orientation to the site’s history and significance.

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A Luxury Art Club Reveals What Museum Membership Could Look Like

Screenshot of membership levels for The Cultivist, starting at $440 per year.
Membership levels for The Cultivist start at $440 per year and by invitation, you can join at the $15,000 level.

A few weeks ago I came across The Cultivist, a private membership program that promises art lovers “insider access” to the global art world. The club offers members free or priority admission to dozens of museums, invitations to special events, tailored trips to art fairs and biennials, and behind-the-scenes experiences with artists, collectors, and curators.

At first glance, I was skeptical. Is this simply the commodification of art and culture for wealthy travelers?

Perhaps. But it’s also worth taking a closer look, because The Cultivist reveals something important about how cultural tourists and heritage travelers—especially affluent ones—may want to experience museums and historic sites.

The organization was founded by Marlies Verhoeven and Daisy Peat, both of whom previously worked at Sotheby’s developing VIP loyalty programs for collectors. Their backgrounds are not in museums, curatorial practice, art history, or education. Instead, they specialize in relationship marketing, high-net-worth client services, and luxury experiences.  That background explains the business model perfectly.

The Cultivist is not a museum membership program in the traditional sense. It is closer to a global concierge service for the art world. Members pay an annual fee starting at $440 to access a network of museums, exhibitions, artists’ studios, and art fairs, combined with customized travel and social events. Participating US museums include the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, Jewish Museum NY, and the Huntington Library.  In effect, the organization packages the art world into a kind of cultural lifestyle club.

From one perspective, this can feel uncomfortable. Museums have historically framed themselves as institutions devoted to public education, access, and engagement that contribute to society. A private club that sells privileged access to museums risks reinforcing the perception that the arts are primarily a playground for wealthy insiders.  But before dismissing the model entirely, it’s worth asking why a service like this exists—and why it appears to be successful.

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From Sites to Stories: Using ESRI StoryMaps to Interpret Women’s History in Washington, DC

Digital tools do not automatically produce meaningful interpretation. What they can do—when used with discipline—is force clarity about audience, theme, and purpose. This is why I have begun using ESRI ArcGIS StoryMaps as a core interpretive platform in my graduate course CMST6307: Interpretation of Historic Sites at George Washington University.

This fall, students were commissioned—within a realistic professional scenario—to create StoryMaps interpreting the history of women in Washington, DC. Each project connected five or six historic sites through a coherent theme, tailored to a specific public audience. The results demonstrate how StoryMaps can function not as digital scrapbooks, but as public-facing interpretive products grounded in professional standards.

I’m incredibly proud of what they accomplished, but this isn’t a showcase of student work for its own sake. It’s a case study in how digital storytelling platforms can support the interpretation of historic sites and house museums.

A flowchart of the interpretive planning process used in my course and at Engaging Places, which starts with audience, content, and design.
Interpretive framework used in my interpretation course (and with my clients).

A Professional Product, Not a Classroom Exercise

The assignment was framed as a hypothetical consulting project for the White House Historical Association. Students were told: “The StoryMap should connect 5–6 historic sites through a coherent theme, tailored to a specific audience. It should demonstrate professional standards in historical research, interpretive writing, and digital design.”

From the beginning, the emphasis was not on technology, but on interpretation. Each student had to demonstrate the integration of three core elements: audience, content, and design.

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Rethinking Board Governance in a Post-COVID World

At the recent Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums (MAAM) conference in Pittsburgh, I attended “Headwinds and Tailwinds: A Panel Discussion about the Financial and Operational Impacts on the Museum and Arts Management Field.” One of the panelists, Hayley Haldeman of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, offered particularly insightful observations about board governance in the post-COVID landscape. Her comments confirmed what many of us have observed firsthand—museum boards are facing more challenges and opportunities than ever before.

A Changing Landscape—But Familiar Structures

Despite the upheavals of recent years, Haldeman noted that few organizations have made major changes to their board structures. Most boards remain large, and many governance documents have yet to be updated. The notable exception has been a growing emphasis on board diversity—though progress toward real inclusion varies widely.

At the same time, museums are experiencing significant leadership transitions. Many long-serving executive directors have retired, while others are navigating the aftermath of the “Great Resignation,” which has affected both staff and board leadership. These changes can be destabilizing, but they also open the door for renewal.

New Pressures on Museums and Nonprofit Organizations

Board service today comes with new (and sometimes unexpected) responsibilities. Museums and other nonprofit organizations are grappling with a range of threats, both real and perceived:

  • Drops in individual giving and shifts in foundation priorities
  • Greater community expectations for accountability and transparency
  • Political and legal questions (e.g., DEAI initiatives, exhibition content)
  • Cybersecurity and AI-related risks

Meanwhile, board members are harder to recruit and retain. COVID-19 reshaped personal and professional priorities, making time an even scarcer resource. For organizations, that means it’s harder than ever to fill board seats, onboard new members, and keep them engaged—especially when board work happens virtually.

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