Today, City Pulse Lab launched Resonance Bridge Practice, a first-of-its-kind model for museum collaboration. At a time when cultural institutions are asked to do more with less, this low-cost approach helps museums grow their reach without growing their budgets.
One exhibition. Two or more institutions. One shared cultural connection. Expanded audience impact.
Museum collaboration has traditionally meant exchanging physical objects, an expensive and rigid process. Resonance Bridge Practice offers a different path. It’s built on a simple idea: one exhibition can bridge two institutions without moving the artwork.
The hosting museum partners with another institution around a shared cultural connection. That could be an artist, a genre, an exhibition theme, an architect, a sister-city relationship, or another meaningful point of overlap. Through joint talks, public programs, and events, partner institutions extend the reach of a single exhibition through that shared connection.
Partner museums gain richer content with minimal investment. Host museums broaden their reach at a moment when even major exhibitions are seeing softer attendance.
“It’s a new model for museums,” said Hannah Davis, founder of City Pulse Lab. “Museums everywhere are searching for ways to break the cycle of shrinking attendance and rising costs. The first institutions to embrace shared audience engagement won’t just respond to the moment. They’ll help define what’s next.”
Earlier this year, City Pulse Lab brought the Resonance Bridge Practice model to the University of San Francisco as the basis for a student proposal. Stephen Kraus, Co-Director of the USF Malloy Group, said the project reflects the program’s commitment to applying business innovation to real-world challenges.
“Our student consulting team developed a practical implementation proposal for bringing City Pulse Lab’s Resonance Bridge Practice concept to life across world-class museums,” Kraus said. “Led by Jean Luc Reyes, Karen Jabson, and Nischal Divecha, the team remains actively engaged in supporting the initiative as recent USF graduates.”
Resonance Bridge Practice also creates a strategic, low-cost opportunity for destination marketing organizations to engage with the cultural sector.
City Pulse Lab invites museums and destination marketing organizations interested in exploring a Resonance Bridge partnership, or in obtaining a how-to guide, to contact info@citypulselab.com.
About City Pulse Lab
City Pulse Lab is a Charlotte, N.C.-based research and innovation lab that develops low-cost, easily implemented best practices to build robust arts audiences, cultural communities, and visitor destinations. Two living labs fuel the work: Queen City Culture Vultures, one of the largest independent arts groups in the U.S., founded in 2020, and Uptown Funk Tour, a 5-star, first-stop visitor experience launched in 2023. Both turn academic research and real-world testing into practical tools for museums, DMOs, and cultural partners. Learn more at citypulselab.com.
About the Malloy Group Program
The Malloy Group at the University of San Francisco is a student-led, faculty-supervised consulting group. It teaches students how to apply design thinking principles to real-world challenges presented by leading organizations. Through applied research, strategic analysis, and collaborative problem-solving, students develop practical solutions with measurable impact.
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