Carys Kunze

Museum Research

I am the Research & Data Manager at the American Alliance of Museums. In this role I conduct research about museums, sharing actionable data insights with the museum field through reports and presentations. This work includes writing survey instruments, fielding surveys and conducting focus groups, analyzing quantitative and qualitative data, creating data visualizations, and writing reports that translate data into understandable and actionable insights for the field. For large-scale projects, I collaborate with external partners to shepherd complex initiatives. Recent notable projects include AAM's Annual National Snapshot of United States Museums and Museum Board Leadership: A National Report. Additionally, I provide research and data expertise for departments throughout AAM, conducting market research and post-event surveys to inform AAM's broader work and support the Alliance's goals. I have worked at AAM since 2022.

Experience Across the Museum Field

I worked at Glenstone Museum in Maryland from 2019 to 2022, first as a Guide and then as Assistant Manager of Visitor Experience. In this role I managed Glenstone’s post-visit survey, analyzing data and creating visualizations to disseminate survey results to organizational leadership and the institution’s full staff via easy-to-understand monthly reports. I also managed part-time visitor-facing Guides, including creating complex daily schedules for a team of 40-50 visitor-facing Guides. I directed onsite Visitor Experience operations as ‘Leader on Duty,' including addressing unexpected operational challenges.

I served as Stingray Supervisor in the Education department of the Saint Louis Zoo in 2018, where I supervised daily exhibit operations at a busy touch exhibit featuring stingrays and sharks, including coordinating exhibit logistics, supervising public-facing Interpreters, and delivering educational content to the public.

From 2015 to 2017 I was the Program Specialist for Music and Art at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Kentucky. Utilizing onsite archives, I conducted original research on the music of the Shakers to support public programming. I also developed and implemented educational programming on the daily life of Shakers at this 19th century historic site.

Music

In 2016 I independently recorded "Wisdom’s Voice: Shaker Songs Recorded in the 1820 Meeting House," a solo voice CD of historic Shaker music written at Pleasant Hill. Listen to Wisdom's Voice here!