NAI Blog

When I was a kid, I groaned when stuck with listening to the conversations of “old” people. They talked about their illnesses, marriages, deaths, divorces and other incredibly personal matters. Being young and healthy with no marriage on the horizon, it seemed like watching soap operas to listen to my family members talk about such stuff.

Years later, while directing a community nature center in Pueblo, Colorado, I realized that life’s passages – life, death, marriage, divorce, disability – are universals. We all have those to face and they matter very much. They are only boring when youthful exuberance is raging.

At the nature center we learned that we could find win-win relationships with local people by being a unique service center during these times. One of our first efforts was to create memorial gardens. We identified places on our grounds to install demonstration xeriscapes (water saving gardens). A bereaved family looking for a public place to donate money in memory of a recently deceased loved one would pay $1,500 to $3,000 for a memorial garden that included a small marker recognizing the gift. Months after each of these gardens were installed I would see families gathering on our grounds for a picnic, or a prayer, or a walk that included gathering around the memorial garden for a spiritual moment to remember a loved one. Some of these memorial gardens led to family members becoming volunteers or donors in other ways. Their connection to a loved one was linked to the place. And the memorial gardens demonstrated a water saving approach to landscaping with native plants, another good thing.

I recently attended a meeting of the Association of Nature Center Administrators in Jackson Hole and listened to Gordon Maupin, Executive Director of The Wilderness Center in Wilmot, Ohio, talk about their new “green” cemetery at Foxfield Preserve (http://www.foxfieldpreserve.org ). As a nature center, they are buying farm ground to convert to native prairie and forest that will permit natural burials without embalming or individual graver markers. There is a growing demand for these ways to return to the earth without caskets, vaults, formalin and monuments. Foxfield Preserve is likely the first modern “green” cemetery at a nature center in the U.S. This kind of facility can be financially rewarding for the organization. Traditional U.S. funerals and burials are expensive in the U.S. and these eco-cemeteries can be a great way to increase natural habitat while offering people a cost-effective alternative for burial. Also traditional cemeteries lock up an unbelievable amount of natural resources and poisons in the soil each year (check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-cemetery).

Preserving open space near urban areas while giving people a place to “recycle” themselves probably sounds morbid if you are young and planning on living many more decades. As we get older, we get very pragmatic about all this and want a plan that matches our beliefs. Many of us do not want to be the next mummified burial of our time to be unearthed millennia later by archaeologists. We are willing to get back to the Earth in the most basic ways.

At the nature center in Pueblo we also offered a great place to host a wedding or birthday on the waterfront on the Arkansas River for a reasonable fee. These are memory making times for young people especially and a great revenue source for a zoo, museum, nature center, aquarium or historic site. These can also lead to more in-depth relationships with people after the special event. They will always remember that special wedding or birthday party in a unique natural setting.

I never figured out the win-win situation for people facing a divorce but it probably existed under my radar. People recently separated or divorced often turn to a spiritual release or uplifting daily experience by walking a trail, volunteering at a raptor center or helping with special events. When our lives seem to fall apart, we have to find ways to heal and interpretive sites offer a retreat from life’s trials and tribulations, even if only for a few moments each day.

The National Association for Interpretation has a location on our website at http://www.interpnet.com/about_nai/memoriam.shtml where you can read about colleagues who have passed on. New blogging software allows friends and family to make comments about the person being recognized, while reading the thoughts of others. A beloved professor, a good friend, a former supervisor or an employee can be remembered not only for their good works but for their many good friends. Sometimes these memorial recognition websites result in memorial donations from friends in memory of the person. That helps the organization live on and do good works while providing ways for others to show their appreciation.

Life’s passages are joyful, painful, uplifting, enduring and important. Think about how your organization helps people through life’s passages. You may find a wonderful win-win relationship that is lasting and loving. Please share what you have done in this area of life’s passages in the comments section below or comment on what you think about these ideas.

-Tim Merriman

I was recently contacted by someone with an explanation of her personal Facebook rules. It got me to thinking that we all create personal boundaries, very often without explanation, that can easily be misinterpreted. Some people may be shy, some may be confused, some may be genuinely unfriendly, and some may just have some unassailable logic of their own by which they govern their contacts with others in cyberspace or face to face.

The advent of social networking clearly challenges the conventions by which we make and keep friends in our lives, not to mention the value of the word “friend” itself. “Friend request” is now considered a verb, not a noun, I’m told. So as I pondered all these things, I realize I’ve created my own rulebook for use of social networking sites, but because I haven’t shared those rules, people may inadvertently mistake my intent.

My own rule is never to ask someone to be my friend, but to always accept anyone who makes the overture to me. This is no doubt a carryover from being painfully shy in person and constantly worried about whether anyone is interested in anything I might have to say. The risk of rejection can be a real albatross. I always thought Mr. Rogers was so brave to be able to ask people to be his neighbor . . . So if you see me on Facebook (I’ve given up myspace as completely unfathomable for anyone over 50), and you’d like to be my friend, please feel free to “friendrequest” me. I’m still not sure you’ll be terribly interested in anything I have to say, but I’m always open to a good conversation, even if it’s in short sentences and status reports. I’m doing my best to embrace technology as it comes along, though I admit I’d still much rather sit down around a fireplace and share some good stories the good old-fashioned way.

-Lisa Brochu

by Jim Covel

We’re all preoccupied with the current crisis in the global economy.  Unless you’re one of the rare exceptions, you are probably looking at your operating budget for the next 12-18 months and trying to figure out how to keep the proverbial wolves away from the door.  In short, good news has been a little hard to come by in recent months.  This may just be the opportunity we have been waiting for!  Let me explain….

When times are good and there’s a higher level of affluence in our society, people have more discretionary income to spend on their leisure pursuits.  Taking the family to Hawaii, Orlando, cruising to Cancun—may seem like attractive, and affordable, options.  Theme parks, destination vacations, spas and resorts may thrive under favorable economic conditions.  However, this is not the pattern we’re seeing now that families are very conservative with their leisure dollars.  There may be a silver lining in this cloud for many of us.

Historically, use of public facilities, local parks and recreation programs has increased significantly during hard times.  Taking the family camping at a nearby county or state park may seem like a much more affordable option than flying to an exotic location.  The summer camp run by the municipal recreation department may start looking like a great part of the “staycation” plan.  Families may rediscover the solid value of visiting a local nature center, museum, going on a nature walk or attending a campfire program.  And the best news of all—the public has already paid for many of these facilities and services through their tax dollars.  So participation is available at little or no cost compared to many privately run alternatives.

As interpreters, we seem to be prone to the “scarcity mentality,” assuming that we will always work with inadequate resources, and that our resources will only become more limited when times are tough.  Unfortunately, this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy if we’re not careful.  I’d like to offer a contrary perspective—we may be poised for a significant increase in demand for our programs in the coming year, and we should take this opportunity to market the tremendous value in the programs we offer to the public.

Here are a few findings from a study that compared community science centers and nature centers that were thriving with those that were struggling.  Features of the thriving organizations included the following:

• Expanded hours—being open on evenings and/or Sundays provided greater access to programs and services for working families.
• Fresh and diverse programs—frequent experimentation with new program offerings maintained ongoing interest and participation from a diverse community audience.  Existing programs were evaluated frequently to measure their success and/or improve their “fit” to audience needs.
• Audience segmentation—hours, services, programs were designed to fit a variety of audience segments, and promoted heavily to those segments.  Have you thought about programs for single parents, new arrivals in your community, non-English speakers, displaced workers or other growing audience segments?
• Community connections—using advisory councils, tapping into various community groups and associations to elicit ways you can serve community needs and to communicate opportunities you offer is key.
• Stay light on your feet—becoming more flexible and responsive to new ideas and opportunities is crucial in this era of rapid change and challenge.  Successful institutions are able to ramp up new programs quickly, even re-invent themselves in months (not years).

In the final analysis, when the community/clientele of a science center or nature center felt closely connected and well-served by the institution, they fought to support that institution.  Institutions that were characterized by outdated program offerings, a 9-to-5 mentality, or lack of responsiveness to the changing needs of their audience were often the ones that were struggling.

So look at the assets you have to work with, and the value you offer to various audience segments.  Think about building on that to introduce new programs or bridge to new audience segments.  Your first promotional effort may very well be aimed at your own manager or sponsor.  That’s OK.  While many managers are focused on helping their organization survive, a bit of boldness and initiative may be a welcome ray of light.  And would you rather have them contemplating how to eliminate your program or thinking about the value, energy and creativity you add to the organization.

Make the most of opportunity….