In the field of Exhibit and Program Development we can offer leadership and collaboration with your staff in the conceptual planning, design development, final design and fabrication and installation of exhibits of any size. During the process our team can address related interior and exterior building renovations, climate control, security, artifact selection and conservation. In program development we can play a major role in recruitment of presenters, budgeting, marketing and audience development. Below are some examples of our work in these areas.

Steve Germann served as Project Director of Wheelwise, Not an Ordinary Exhibit, an exhibit of 35 antique and vintage bicycles, which opened at Carillon Historical Park, Dayton, Ohio in April, 2003. Steve directed the curation and the program planning by client staff, and contracted with Wyatt Design, of Helena, Montana for the graphic and three-dimensional design of the exhibit. He also contracted with Vista Color Labs in Cleveland, Ohio for label and graphic production, Haller Displays of Dayton for exhibit fabrication, and local vendors for electrical and heating ventilating and airconditioning systems.
(client - Carillon Historical Park)

Germann served as Project Director for Time Flies - Catch It in the Act, a 17-day living history program presented at Carillon Historical Park and at the other sites of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. During this 18-month engagement, Germann negotiated management agreements with the National Park Service, the United States Air Force, the Ohio Historical Society, and the City of Dayton as well as numerous commercial contractors. Working with the Aristic Director, Margaret Piatt, who supervised scriptwriters, directors, and actors, Steve was responsible for budget, personnel management, marketing, food service, merchandising, security and creating the physical infrastructure (tent theaters, sets, stages, seating, parade floats) necessary to make the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the invention of powered flight by the Wright brothers a success. (client - Carillon Historical Park)

While serving as Museum Director at the Alfred P.Sloan Museum, Flint, Michigan, Mr. Germann was the Project Director for the building renovation of a 10,000 sq.ft. warehouse building (including the installation of new heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems,) and the planning and fabrication of the exhibits, archival storage and research areas for what the museum, in partnership with Buick Motors Divison of General Motors Corporation, christened the Buick Gallery and Research Center.

Also at the Sloan Museum, Germann acted as Project Director for Flint and the American Dream, a 10,000 sq.ft. permanent history exhibit. Mr. Germann contracted with an independent historian, Sandra Shapiro, and an independent exhibit designer, Geoffrey Wyatt, Wyatt Design, to fill in the specialties not available on the Sloan Museum staff, and then coordinated their work with staff curatorial and exhibit construction employees to build this major exhibit on the history of Flint in the 20th century. He also contracted with Vista Color Labs, Cleveland, Ohio for graphic production, and local carpentry firms to fabricate portions of the exhibit.

While serving as Museum Administrator at the Montana Historical Society, Germann was Project Director on Montana Homeland, a 10,000 sq.ft. permanent exhibit on the history of Montana from prehistory to the mid-20th century. In preparation for this exhibit, Mr. Germann supervised the planning and construction of a conservation laboratory, and hired a conservator and staff to prepare hundreds of objects for the exhibition. While working on conservation lab planning, Germann served as a key MHS staff liason with the architects and contractors building not only the laboratory, but also exhibit galleries, and museum, archival and library storage areas in a new 20,000 sq.ft. addition to the MHS headquarters building.

Also at the Montana Historical Society, Germann was the Project Director on F. Jay Haynes, Photographer, a 5,000 sq.ft. permanent exhibit on the life and work of Haynes, who was the official photographer for both Yellowstone National Park and the Northern Pacific Railroad, from 1880 to 1916. In both of these projects he directed primarily in-house staff for interpretive planning, exhibit design, fabrication and installation.