There’s an App for That: Grounds for Sculpture Goes Mobile

“My Dad owns a chalet in southern France. We’re thinking of going for a week or so in May; you guys want to come?” It was like something out of a dream. I’m sorry; did you say you have access to free lodging in southern France? The land of wine, cheese, and lavender, that recognizes the SC driver’s license as internationally valid (Seriously, South Carolinians, look it up). How could we resist?

Before we left, I downloaded this nifty app – Tripit – which synced up with my email to store all of our travel details: flight schedule, hotel locations, confirmation codes, dinner reservations, and more. I also downloaded quite a few travel guides, so that unlike our honeymoon, Eyewitness Travel Guide wouldn’t sneak its way into all of our pictures. I even downloaded a few guides to museums. This way, I was led around the coliseum in Arles, Pont du Gard, and the Palais des Papes by my phone, rather than renting one of those clunky audio guides.

Technology has made travel (and being a tourist) so much easier. Download all your travel guides to your phone or Ipad; use your GPS to navigate walking path or read about museum exhibits from a downloaded app. Grounds for Sculpture, located in Hamilton NJ, has taken advantage of this technology, offering a guided tour application to their visitors. You just have to head over to iTunes or the Android market to download.

They’re saving time and money (and the environment) with fewer paper maps and guides, a reduction in lost audio guides to replace, and less special exhibit pamphlets to print. They can just update the map and features on their app! Oh, and their app is snazzy. Unlike printed maps or audio devices, apps are interactive and use multimedia – point of interest maps, slideshows, audio clips, and videos, all changing based on what the user would like to see. They can also be intuitive, changing based on where the user is, using GPS tracking. Grounds for Sculpture even has a digital Spring Summer Event Guide, making sure that their visitors (or potential visitors) are able to access their schedule from anywhere!

Still not convinced you need an app? Check out this Infographic from Go-Gulf to see stats on smartphone usage. A couple highlights:  there are 91.4 million smartphones in the US alone, with 69% of smartphone owners using downloaded apps.

So as a recap:

1. Mobile apps will save your organization time and money.

2. Mobile apps use multimedia to offer a dynamic and intuitive experience for your patrons.

3. Many of your patrons already use mobile apps.

Now I just need to download a couple travel guides and museum apps for our trip to Germany in September!

About Grounds for Sculpture:

Grounds For Sculpture is a 35-acre public sculpture park located in Hamilton, NJ. It was founded in 1992 on the site of the former New Jersey State Fairgrounds by J. Seward Johnson to promote an understanding of and appreciation for contemporary sculpture for all people. Visitors to the park can enjoy the outdoor permanent collection, indoor seasonal exhibitions, and learn about contemporary sculpture through a variety of educational programs including workshops for adults and children, artist residencies and lectures, tours for adults, schoolchildren, toddlers, as well as touch tours for the blind. In addition, the park also offers various events, a 35-acre arboretum, shopping and dining, including the high-rated fine dining destination known as Rat’s Restaurant. In 2009, over 100,000 people visited Grounds for Sculpture. In accordance with its mission, Grounds for Sculpture presents visitors with an evolving permanent outdoor collection, seasonal exhibitions, and educational programs designed to facilitate the understanding of and appreciation for contemporary sculpture.

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