When exhibits and programs connect with visitors, they ignite a spark!
Wendy Meluch - Founder
Museum Services
ABOUT
VisitorStudies.com is a consulting firm committed to helping experience designers and informal learning organizations do what they do best: excite and inspire people about the world around them. Visitor studies and evaluation provide actionable data about your audience so your exhibits and programs are relevant, engaging, and impactful. When exhibits and programs connect with visitors, they ignite a spark!
Testimonials
“
Wendy’s expertise allowed her to design evaluation methods that helped us to better understand a complex and somewhat delicate subject here at the Center. ... Wendy is knowledgeable and wonderful to work with. She put both our visitors and staff at ease with her pleasant and confident manner.
Paul Brock & Gretchen Henrich
Director of Operations &Director of Education
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
“
Working with Wendy Meluch has been great! She asks insightful questions, communicates clearly and often, and develops strong methods for studying our museum visitors. And the results of her summative evaluation of our Science of Sharing exhibition were interesting and comprehensive.
Josh Gutwill
Director of Visitor Research and Evaluation
Exploratorium
“
Working with Wendy over the past ten+ years has been incredibly rewarding – both personally and professionally. In addition to being an absolute pro at finding ways to affordably gather and crunch data to shape my visitor experience and interpretive plans, she always takes time to educate me...
Mary Kay Cunningham
Principal
Visitor Dialogue
About Wendy
Together we can create
experiences that spark
excitement and curiosity
in your visitors!
Wendy Meluch, MA | Founder
Wendy Meluch, uses visitor studies and evaluation to help informal educational institutions bring the visitor experience into sharp focus. Working in collaboration with project staff to understand their goals and unique situation, Meluch designs research to bring diverse visitor perspectives to all phases of exhibit, program and facility development. Her work provides decision makers with valid, actionable data.
A lifetime of experience as a visitor and planning for them informs Meluch’s visitor studies and evaluation practice. Her background includes personal and professional involvement with international educational travel, visual and performing arts, scientific research, non-profit development, and museum management. Before establishing VisitorStudies.com, Meluch served as Executive Director of La Sonrisa Institute (educational travel into Mexico), and the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.
Wendy is also working with a wide range of organizations to bring diverse community voices to the table for strategic planning. Listening to and engaging with your staff and community keeps your organization on the RISE…
Relevant, Impactful, Sustainable, Equitable
Projects
Bishop Museum - Field Trip
KA WA MA MUA KA WA MA HOPE – The Future is in the Past, is a multi-part, hands-on field trip experience for middle school students onsite at the Bishop Museum.
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
One of five museums at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West (BBCW) in Cody, Wyoming, the Cody Firearms Museum (CFM) is gearing up for a reinstallation of their core exhibition.
Chabot Space & Science Center High School Program
For many years, I have had the pleasure of evaluating Chabot Space & Science Center’s dynamic afterschool program for high school
Exploratorium, Sharing
The Exploratorium is at the cutting edge of creating and studying hands-on social science exhibits with the Science of Sharing project, a collaboration with the Museum of Life ...
Clients
Museums & Historic Houses
Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, AK
Arizona State Museum, Tucson, AZ
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY
Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI *
Boise Museum of Art, Boise, ID
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA
California Center for the Arts, Escondido, CA
California Exhibition Resources Alliance
Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland, CA*
Cody Firearms Museum, Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, WY*
Computer History Museum, Mt. View, CA*
CuriOdyssey, San Mateo, CA
Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, CO
di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa, CA |Gail Anderson & Associates
Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA *
Explorit Science Center, Davis, CA *
Fresno Metropolitan Museum, Fresno, CA
Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA
New Children’s Museum, San Diego, CA
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA*
Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA*
PIttock Mansion, Portland, OR
Pratt Museum, Homer, AK*
San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo, CA *
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA*
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, Pasadena, CA
The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, CA *
USS Hornet, Alameda, CA
Zoos, Parks & Gardens
California State Parks *
East Bay Regional Parks, Oakland, CA
Mountain Parks Foundation (Big Basin State Park), Felton, CA
National Park Service, Rosie the Riveter Visitor Center, Richmond, CA
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, San Diego, CA
Peralta Hacienda Historic Park, Oakland, CA*
Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historic Park, Richmond, CA
Oakland Zoo, Oakland, CA *
Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo, Palo Alto, CA*
San Francisco Zoo, San Francisco, CA*
Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden | Visitor Dialogue *
Atlanta Botanical Garden | Visitor Dialogue*
Tulsa Botanical Garden | Visitor Dialogue *
Other Non-profit & Educational Organizations
Bay Model, Army Corps of Engineers, Sausalito, CA*
California Association of Museums *
Community Well, San Francisco, CA
NASA AMES at Moffett Field, Mt. View, CA
National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata, India
Performance Violins, Pacifica, CA
San Francisco Children and Nature Consortium, San Francisco, CA*
Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO
Swords to Plowshares, San Francisco, CA *
University of Chicago, Quantum Education, Chicago, IL *
University of Hawai’i Manoa, Oahu, HI
Western Museums Association
YMCA of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA*
*Repeat Clients