Museum Consultant

Alice Parman fell in love with museums in 1972 and has worked in and around them ever since. She brings both experience and creativity to your interpretive planning project. A skilled facilitator, Alice elicits good ideas from all participants, then adds her own perspective. She works collaboratively with your team to develop an interpretive approach that’s a perfect match for your institution and your community.

In Fall 2010 Alice was hired by an Oregon county to study a proposed location change for a museum. For the first time, Alice's work became front page news!

Organizational Coach

Alice honed her managerial and problem-solving skills as department head at a large museum and director of two smaller nonprofits. As a coach she’s always in your corner, helping you cope, plan, and succeed. Careful analysis and collaborative exploration inform her specific, practical recommendations. Through training, encouragement, and guidance, Alice helps build individual capabilities and organizational strengths.

Focus On:

Exhibit Makeovers: A Do-It-Yourself Workbook for Small Museums
By Alice Parman and Jeffrey Jane Flowers (AltaMira Press, 2008).

Reviewed in Museum, July/August 2008:

"Watch out, reality TV: Exhibition makeovers could be the new craze! This handbook offers step-by-step instruction to update and renovate tired, faded or merely disorganized museum displays..."

Weber Co. DUP plan.pdf

Karen Stark created this 5-step plan to introduce board members, staff, docents, and volunteers to the Exhibit Makeovers process. Karen is Curator at the Weber County Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum in Ogden, Utah. (Shared by permission of Karen Stark.) Click here for more information about the Weber County DUP.

Download printable Exhibit Makeovers worksheets (pdf)

Read the review

Learn more
and order your copy of Exhibit Makeovers

Preview upcoming EXHIBIT MAKEOVERS workshops


Alice recommends:

The Participatory Museum, by Nina Simon (Museum 2.0, 2010). Nina encourages us to ask how visitors can improve the exhibits. Her groundbreaking approach is as practical and level-headed as it is creative and provocative. It's a joy to read such a well-written, carefully-edited book. Click here to learn more.

Stephanie Weaver's excellent book, Creating Great Visitor Experiences: A Guide for Museums, parks, Zoos, Gardens, & Libraries, offers structured steps for making your museum more welcoming and rewarding for all, in a DIY format. Click here to learn more, and while you're at it, take a look at Stephanie's richly informative website.


Serving Native Communities

Alice Parman is honored to be a core team member of Tribal Museum Planners & Consultants, newly launched by principal Lisa J. Watt (Seneca).

Link to Tribal Museum Planners & Consultants web site.


© Alice Parman, Ph.D., 2004-2009. All rights reserved.