T heBe
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s
e
rMus
e
um
Bringing technology to
a 21st century museum
When Chris Witulski, the executive director, approached
fragile to display. Our new website is a true image of what
me about working at the Besser Museum, I was ecstatic. I
our museum is.
was starting out in a general position as “museum assistant”
You can explore our art, history and science exhibits,
and would assist Chris with tasks and work on various things learn about the history of downtown Alpena with our interto help keep the museum running
active historic scavenger hunt, and
smoothly.
stay up to date on all of our new and
Two of my favorite things in this world
exciting exhibits. It’s no longer
are history, and as a musician, promotion.
enough to put out the open sign and
At the time, I was going to school to earn
expect people to show up.
my degree in music business, or in other
The 21st Century is a magnificent
words, a marketing and business degree
time to live. Answers to every queswith a focus in the music industry.
tion are available in 0.36 seconds or
Since then, I’ve used every aspect of
less (at least according to Google).
what I’ve learned in school to help proNow almost everyone uses some form
mote and share the museum’s legacy.
of technology, from cell phones to
Now, a year and a half later, I am the excomputers to tablets. As a museum,
ecutive assistant and spend my days
it’s to our advantage to reach out to
working to build a Museum 2.0, a job I
our community through these mediget excited about every single day.
ums.
Over the course of time, a museum’s
We may teach and share with peopurpose never really changes. We are
ple magnificent artifacts from the
here to protect and preserve artifacts and
past, but we are here to influence the
to share and teach their meaning and purfuture. We’re on social media (Twitpose. But, what makes a museum a 21st
ter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube).
By Kat Tomaszewski
Century museum? Technology. Just in
We’ve developed mobile applications.
Besser Museum
the past few years, the Besser Museum
We’ve launched the new website and
Executive Assistant
has taken quite a few really small steps,
we’re in the process of rebranding our
but altogether they’ve added up to be a
image, in addition to launching a camhuge step for the museum.
paign to install a new digital sky theater, which will allow us
With a plethora of new technological advancements, we
to build and stream state-of-the-art programs that not only
can reach out farther to the people we strive to reach. In the
teach astronomy, but other sciences, history and art.
past year, we’ve completely overhauled our digital presence
The key to the future is opening the door to the past. The
by creating a brand new website and by building a virtual mu- past 50 years have been great; here’s looking forward to the
seum online that will help us showcase artifacts that are too
next 50!
AH
Half
alf C
Century
e n t u r y ooff
History
H i s t o r y Events
E v e n t s that
t h a t Shaped
S h a pe d our
o u r Community
Community
Thank
Tha n k You
Yo u Besser!
B e s se r !
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6 - Besser Museum 50th Anniversary ~ Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Garant’s
The Founders Society has played a huge helping
role at the Besser Museum over the past 50 years.
Pictured at a recent museum reception are
Founders members, from left, Julie Usher, Pat
Melville and Barb Beem.
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