Special Projects

The Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships provides advisory services to cultural nonprofits, including strategic planning, interpretive planning and exhibit development, and other museum/collections-related services.

The Lenfest Center assembles a team designed to meet the partner’s specific needs, drawing from Center staff, external advisors, Drexel faculty in a range of disciplines, and student involvement and support when appropriate.

Get Involved

Contact the Lenfest Center at mrc337@drexel.edu if you are interested in working with us on a project.

Contact the Lenfest Center at mrc337@drexel.edu if you are interested in participating in a project or collaborating on a proposal.

For related opportunities (e.g., research assistants) we typically connect with students through faculty in appropriate programs. The Lenfest Center also offers opportunities for students through co-ops, classes, and faculty research projects. Or contact the Lenfest Center at mrc337@drexel.edu if you are interested in being considered for future opportunities.

Project Examples

Philadelphia Music Alliance

The Philadelphia Music Book: Sounds of a City, 2023 - 25

The Lenfest Center assisted with this book project, including advising, editing, and image research. Lenfest Center senior Drexel advisors James McKinney and Brent White -- both assistant professors in Music and Music Industry at Drexel's Westphal College of Media Arts & Design -- contributed as writers.

Alice Paul Center for Gender Justice, Mount Laurel, NJ

Interpretive planning, 2024 - 25

The Lenfest Center produced an interpretive plan for a new permanent exhibition at Paulsdale -- an adaptive reuse of a historic site, the childhood home of suffragist Alice Paul -- working with organization staff and a group of exhibit advisors.

Audubon Center at Mill Grove, Audubon, PA

Interpretive planning, 2024 - 25, and collections management, 2022 - 23

The Lenfest Center produced an interpretive plan for Audubon Mid-Atlantic focused on expanding and improving how John James Audubon, the man, is interpreted at the site, including a museum/visitor center and historic house, where Audubon first lived when he came from France in 1803. We also produced a Collections Management Policy and Collections Plan for the site. This included developing protocols for collections care and handling, reviewing and advising on updating catalog records/software, and supporting implementation.

Historic Cold Spring Village, Cape May, NJ

Interpretive planning, 2024 - 25

The Lenfest Center produced an interpretive plan for this recreated 1800s rural village consisting of 25 historic buildings moved from various parts of Cape May County. The plan considered the challenges of narrating diverse stories of the past through the lens of the present, and ways in which the Village can become a leader in museum education and living history interpretation.

West Overton Village, Scottdale, PA

Interpretive planning, 2020 - 21

The Lenfest Center produced an interpretive plan for this historic site in Western Pennsylvania, the original site of the Old Overholt whiskey distillery and birthplace of industrialist Henry Clay Frick. This was part of a master site plan (in collaboration with Metcalfe Architecture & Design).

National Museum of Industrial History, Bethlehem, PA

Exhibit planning/development and project management, 2015 - 16

The Lenfest Center helped develop the inaugural exhibits at this new museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate based in a former repair shop of the Bethlehem Steel plant (with Metcalfe Architecture & Design). Focused on industrial history beginning in the 1800s, the exhibits emphasize diverse perspectives, including who visited (and was excluded from) the 1876 Centennial Exposition, women’s roles in industry, and activism and social reform.

Heritage Tourism Initiative, Philadelphia

Planning and project management, 2014 - 15

This pilot initiative of the Lenfest Center focused on history and heritage tourism in Philadelphia, in partnership with Visit Philadelphia, the National Park Service, and a group of stakeholder sites to rebrand and market the area around Independence National Historical Park as Historic Philadelphia, increase programs for visitors, and test a joint admissions pass. The project also resulted in an Official Trail of Philadelphia’s Historic District.

The Lenfest Center has also partnered with:

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (Exhibit planning and co-ops)
African American Museum in Philadelphia (Strategic/space planning and classes)
Andalusia Historic House and Gardens (Strategic advising)
Ardrossan (Strategic advising)
Ballinglen Workshops, Ballycastle, Ireland (Strategic advising)
Brandywine Workshop and Archives (Strategic advising, co-ops and faculty research project)
Benjamin Cooper House/Tavern / American Revolution Museum of Southern New Jersey (Interpretive planning)
CraftNOW (Strategic advising and co-ops)
Drexel University Collections (Strategic planning)
Drexel University Office of University and Community Partnerships (Transition/succession planning)
Drexel University Thomas R. Kline Institute of Trial Advocacy (Exhibit planning) (Read Drexel Magazine article about project)
Drexel University VisionForward National Gender Equality Initiative (Exhibit planning) (About this project)
Fleisher Art Memorial (Strategic planning)
The Franklin Fountain LLC (Strategic planning, seminar and student project)
Independence National Historical Park - First Bank of the United States (Interpretive/exhibit planning, class and research internships)
Reading Terminal Market (Interpretive planning and class)