It's a common argument that many traditional museums aren't progressive and that they fail to capture people's attention, especially in the digital age. Rainworks Omnimedia, a Chicago-based social enterprise museum, is unlike your typical age-old museum on many levels. By producing traveling museum exhibitions for natural history and science museums, Rainworks Omnimedia harnesses technology, multimedia and intriguing narratives in order to engage museum-goers of all ages and interests.
Founded by Gail Vida Hamburg, Rainworks Omnimedia brings together a plethora of writers, academics, illustrators, researchers, historians and academics to create complex and invigorating traveling exhibitions. The 2011 programming schedule includes the following absorbingly titled exhibitions: 'Brave New World: On Technology and Trends,' 'Glam: The History of Beauty,' 'Pure Elegance: The Wonder of Mathematics' and 'Economia: Money Matters: The Exhibition of Personal Finance.'
As the only social enterprise in the museum industry, Rainworks Omnimedia gives a portion of after-tax, post-sustainabiltiy proceeds to clean water and girls literacy programs in less-industrialized countries. Founder and CEO Gail Vida Hamburg had been a social entrepreneur since the late 1980s -- she started a clothing line handwoven by women in Malaysia, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan -- before social entrepreneur even had a name. What's more, Hamburg started Rainworks Omnimedia as a response to what she calls “the commercialization of museum science education with Hollywood film brands.â€
Rainworks Omnimedia is transformative on many levels: as an education tool, as a business model and as a giving inspiration.
Contact Information:
Rainworks Omnimedia Website
415 North Aberdeen Street, 1st Floor
Chicago, Illinois
60622
Telephone: 312-602-5369
Fax: 312-850-9799
Museum Social Enterprises
Rainworks Omnimedia Supports Clean Water and Literacy Programs
Trend Themes
1. Traveling Museum Exhibitions - Opportunity for other museums to create complex and interactive traveling exhibitions that utilize technology, multimedia, and intriguing narratives to engage museum-goers of all ages and interests.
2. Social Enterprise in Museums - Opportunity for other museums to adopt social enterprise models and donate a portion of their proceeds to charitable causes.
3. Progressive Museum Education - Opportunity for museums to transform their education tools and business models to better capture people's attention, especially in the digital age.
Industry Implications
1. Museum Industry - Museums can adopt similar business models to Rainworks Omnimedia and create traveling exhibitions that incorporate technology, multimedia, and intriguing narratives to engage all museum-goers.
2. Social Enterprise Industry - Social enterprises in other industries can learn from Rainworks Omnimedia's model of donating a portion of their proceeds to charitable causes.
3. Education Technology Industry - Opportunity for the education technology industry to work with museums to create innovative and engaging tools for museum-goers of all ages and interests.