Arts management students address museum wayfinding challenges

When Constance DeVereaux, director of UB’s Arts Management Program, sought a community partner for a hands-on class project, she found one in the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. Museum officials shared that some visitors struggled to navigate its galleries, creating an opportunity for students to apply research and problem-solving skills to a real-world challenge.

“People often think research is just sitting in a dusty library,” DeVereaux said. “But everything you do as an arts manager requires some kind of research. I like to demystify it for people.”

To develop solutions, students studied wayfinding theory, examined practices at other museums and learned to design surveys, analyze data and translate findings into actionable recommendations.

“Developing and refining our research methodology as a class throughout the semester was a big highlight for me,” said Benjamin Scumaci, a second-year arts management master’s student. “It was rewarding to see our surveys yield statistically significant data, which validated the necessity of our project. It is easy for student projects to feel redundant, trivial or otherwise not taken seriously, so it was nice to see that there was real value in our work.”

Students discovered that some AKG signage blended into the walls, making it easy for visitors to miss. Their challenge was to propose new strategies while respecting the museum’s strict aesthetic standards.

“That meant they had to be innovative — finding solutions that wouldn’t change or affect the museum’s existing design,” DeVereaux explained.

Ideas ranged from subtle floor lighting to “wearable wayfinding” gear, like T-shirts or tote bags worn by staff and volunteers to signal they could help lost visitors.

“Addressing real concerns from the institution while balancing both AKG’s needs and its visitors was challenging but incredibly rewarding,” said Nicolee Jimenez, a second-year arts management master’s student.

Students presented their findings in a formal report to museum staff, including Pamela Martin, AKG’s senior manager of operations.

“The Buffalo AKG team really enjoyed working with the UB Arts Management research class,” Martin said. “It was extremely helpful to receive a fresh perspective rooted in research on our visitor wayfinding system. The students astutely stated the core tension at play and developed creative solutions that would maintain the aesthetic quality of our art-centered experience.”

And while implementation may take time, DeVereaux said the lessons learned were invaluable.

“Even if a client doesn’t adopt your ideas immediately, you’ve gained skills you can carry forward,” she told the class.

Jimenez agreed, stating that a class like this bridges the gap between theory and practice.

“It offers a tangible learning experience that isn’t limited to the AKG itself but can be applied in other institutions and fields. Valuable opportunities like this give us a direct, concrete and hands-on understanding of how things truly operate before fully stepping into the workforce,” Jimenez said. 

For DeVereaux, the project embodies the kind of practical, community-engaged learning she envisions for the arts management program.

She brings to her position as director more than 25 years of experience as a researcher, organizational leader, scholar and teacher. She just finished a fellowship at the University of Ottawa where she conducted research on the culture, identity and survival of French Canadians in New England.  

A pioneer in cultural management and policy, DeVereaux joined UB in 2023 after serving as a Fulbright senior specialist and holding academic appointments worldwide. She also serves as lead organizer of the Arts Management Studies Research Stream of the European Sociological Association and as managing editor of the Journal of Cultural Management and Cultural Policy.

Since taking over as director of the UB arts management program, she’s worked to approach it from a unified vision that combines academic study with professional preparation.

“Arts organizations are the heart of a community,” she said. “We’re training students not just to work in them, but to lead them.”