One of the largest community college museums in the country hopes a rebrand will help it stay relevant and financially sound well into the future.

The Dennos Museum Center, opened in 1991, sits on the campus of and is operated by Northwestern Michigan College. Despite this connection, it’s funded almost entirely by its own earned revenue (public and private donations, memberships, sponsorships, store sales and more).

Dennos leadership tells The Ticker the Dennos is in the middle of a comprehensive rebrand that will overhaul how the museum looks, feels and connects with visitors, the latest step in a process that was first stalled – and then very much accelerated – by the COVID pandemic.

As one data point, the museum now sees nearly 10x the amount of participation in its programs compared to before the pandemic. There have also been several new programs added since then that aim to meaningfully engage with visitors instead just showing them nice things to look at.

“Before it was: “We're going to design these programs for you and we're not going to pay attention to….what's going on outside. We're just going to deliver knowledge to you” Audience Engagement & Communication Manager Chelsie Niemi says. “Now it’s: Does it feel community centered? Does it spark a conversation? Does it inspire us to change something in a new way or in our community? Does it give us a call to action?”

The shift in focus and the far larger crowds has the museum’s 17-year old branding (visuals, messaging and more) “lagging behind the work that we’re actually producing,” Executive Director Craig Hadley says.

Ultimately, in an era where there is intense competition for people’s time and attention, better branding and messaging will help keep the Dennos top of mind, Hadley says.

“Growing our visitorship and our base is really dependent on first impressions and aligning those first impressions with the work that we're already doing,” Hadley says. “This new visual system of communicating will be critical to helping us to attract new members and retain existing members. And ultimately, that affects our bottom line.”

Hadley and Niemi also believe the rebranding will help the Dennos secure accreditation with the American Alliance of Museums, which has long been a goal of the museum. Only about 3 percent of museums in the U.S. have this accreditation, and securing it could be a golden ticket.

“It could open us up to grants that maybe we're not open to now because we're not an accredited institution. It also builds donor trust. So that's a big, big component for us in terms of philanthropic support,” Niemi says.

Hadley and Neimi said the timing also makes sense on the heels of NMC’s recent rebrand and ahead of the Dennos’ 35th and NMC’s 75th anniversaries next year. New Dennos branding is likely to reinforce the connection between the college and the museum.

“It's really one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to make sure that all these things complement each other and speak to each other in a way that can be intentional,” Hadley says.

The Dennos hired Ann Arbor-based Phire Group for the rebrand process, which began a few months ago. Leadership sought proposals from several firms (including local firms) before settling on Phire in large part because of its work with the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Niemi says.

The $40,000 price tag is being covered completely by a Dennos donor who wishes to remain anonymous.

“Our donor was very, very supportive of the museum and the work that we'd been doing behind the scenes for quite some time,” Niemi says. “When we were trying to figure out how to fund this work and weren't able to get grant funding, they really stepped in and supported us so that we could achieve this. I think they really believed in the transformational impact it would have on the museum, and we're really grateful for it.”

Hadley says the Dennos is extremely grateful for not only that donor, but everyone who supports the museum in these decidedly tougher times.

“All of those sources of funding that we've applied for for decades have either disappeared this year or are reduced in numbers or types of grants that we can apply for,” he says. “Now really more than ever…private funding for the arts is just so critical to us being able to do the work we need to do.”

Dennos leadership will host an informational session about the rebrand this Sunday (Nov 30) from 2-3 p.m. at the museum.