“The client’s role is not to solve the problem — it’s to state the problem.”

What’s the client’s perspective in major cultural projects? What are “client user groups?” What’s the difference between advocating for the client, and advocating for the project? How do you “inhabit your project?” How might a single gender-inclusive restroom project change an entire institution? Should every project have a “super contingency” in the budget?

Amy Weisser (Deputy Director for Strategic Planning and Projects at Storm King Art Center) joins host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “The Client Side of Major Projects.”

Along the way: P.P.E., trusting the hiring decisions, and a 2,000-year-old Roman theory that still works today.

Talking Points:

1. The Three-Legged Stool: Vision, Schedule, Budget

2. Client Advocate, Project Advocate, User Advocate

3. Museum Building Projects are Linear, Not Cyclical

4. All Projects are Transformational

5. Project Phases: Watercolors to Hard Hats

6. Disasters DO Happen

7. Build Your Values

How to Listen:

Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311

Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G

Everywhere
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/

Guest Bio:

Amy Weisser is Deputy Director, Strategic Planning and Projects at Storm King Art Center, where she incubates projects focused on strategic growth. Weisser has spent 30 years supporting cultural institutions undergoing profound development. Prior to Storm King, Weisser led exhibition development for the National September 11 Memorial Museum from 2005 to 2017 and helped open the contemporary art museum Dia:Beacon and the American Museum of Natural History’s Rose Center for Earth and Space. She has taught Museum Studies at New York University. Weisser holds a doctorate in Art History from Yale University. She is a co-author of Martin Puryear: Lookout (GRM/SKAC, 2024).

About MtM:

Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. This podcast is a project of C&G Partners | Design for Culture. Learn about the firm's creative work at: https://www.cgpartnersllc.com

Links for This Episode:

Amy’s Email:
as.weisser@stormkingartcenter.org

Amy’s LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amysweisser/

Storm King:

www.stormking.org

Storm King’s Capital Project:
https://stormking.org/capitalproject/

Building Museums Symposium, a project of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums:
https://midatlanticmuseums.org/building-museums/

Links for MtM:

https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger
alger@cgpartnersllc.com
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com

Newsletter:

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