Programs, tours and exhibits are the meat-and-potatoes of what most museums do to meet their missions to educate the public. Interpretation helps make small museums compelling so that the public understands that they are more than a repository of dusty objects. This book considers researching and designing exhibits and best practices for sharing the stories with your audiences. It explores how to orient your organization to be effective interpreters of what you collect, including how to tell engaging stories and how to address difficult issues you may have ignored in the past, like slavery, prejudice and privilege. For the non-historian, it also offers a step-by-step primer on good historical research.

Big Blue Ballis the long-awaited, much-anticipated collection of stand-out tracks culled from the all-star, pan-global collaborations that took place over three years of Peter Gabriel’s legendary “Recording Week” gatherings at his state-of-the-art Real World Studios in the English countryside. Produced by Peter Gabriel, Karl Wallinger(of World Party, Waterboys) and Stephen Hague( Pet Shop Boys, OMD), it’s a nonstop stream of poignant, sterling performances by a truly stellar lineup of artists-- including Gabriel, Wallinger, Sinead O’Connor, Natacha Atlas, Iarla O’Lionairdand James McNally(both of Afro Celt Sound System), Papa Wemba, Joseph Arthur, Tanzania’s late music legend Hukwe Zawose, Hungary’s Marta Sebestyen, Tim Finn, Cameroonian starFrancis Bebey, Vernon Reid, Justin Adams, Jah Wobble, Billy Cobham, Rupert Hine, gospel group the Holmes Brothers, flamenco guitarist Juan Canizares, Japanese percussionist Joji Hirota, and many more…in all totaling 75 artists from over 20 countries.Big Blue Ball’s songs were created and recorded between 1991 and 1995, but the album has been an active work-in-progress at Real World ever since, a labor of love with ace producer Stephen Hague working closely with Peter Gabriel and Karl Wallinger. Holding the disparate elements in place is the powerful backbone of big drum tracks underpinning many of the songs. Wallinger says, “Everyone was in orbit around this groove, and there is a universal language of dance, of dance grooves. That groove is the one bit that’s non-denominational on the album.”