By Mark Coddington
mark.coddington@theindependent.com

The museum is in the midst of a three-year strategic plan that's intended to direct everything from its guiding principles to how often it replaces windows in Railroad Town.

At the core of the plan is an emphasis developed through focus groups and a 1,500-piece mail survey on better reaching an area whose demographics have changed significantly since the museum was launched in 1961, Joe Black, Stuhr's executive director, said.

"The community is much, much different, and so the museum has to be different and acknowledge those changes," Black said.

At the same time, the studies revealed a strong affinity for Stuhr's wide-open, non-commercialized feel and traditions like its Christmas Past & Present and All Hallow's Eve events.

"There was definitely a desire for us to not get too far afield from what has made Stuhr Museum special in the first place," Black said.

The planning process began early last year as the museum approached reaccreditation with the American Association of Museums. A committee hired a research firm to canvass a wide variety of area residents, from Stuhr devotees to those who'd rarely been to the museum.

"We really feel like we covered every sector of Hall County," said Renee Goble, president of the museum's operating board of trustees.

Goble and Black said the opinions drawn from all walks of life were instrumental in getting a full, accurate representation of Stuhr's strengths and challenges.

That input helped direct Stuhr's leaders to possible oversights in reaching ethnic minorities along with teenagers and young adults, Black said.

The museum is hoping to bridge the age gap with more food- and music-oriented events, as well as activities that focus on social gatherings.

It's also taking what Black called "tentative first steps" in reaching the area's Hispanic and Sudanese residents. Those include printing bilingual advertisements and developing a quilt project to help link the work of Grand Island's Abbott sisters on behalf of immigrant children a century ago with the stories of today's Sudanese immigrant children.

Those efforts will pick up next year, as the plan's focus shifts to connecting with the community.

But first, the operating board is zeroing in this year on a facilities plan and honing the museum's 22-year-old mission statement.

In the plan's third year, leaders will look at how best to incorporate technology, along with several other miscellaneous issues.

This plan differs from others Stuhr has conducted in the past in its built-in six-month checks on whether goals are being met and how to adjust accordingly.

In the past, parts of a plan would be implemented, while others would sit on the shelf because of funding shortages or staff turnover, Black said.

But Goble said this plan would be effective in laying out goals and ensuring that they're met.

"I think this plan is very specific and very task-oriented," she said.

Both Black and Goble said Stuhr's end goal through the plan is to become a better educational and interpretive museum as well as one that is more connected to the public.

Black would like to see that connection help Stuhr become known as one of the pinnacle institutions within the county.

"We want to be part of the good quality of life that people can point to," he said.