Last December, Mannequin Madness was invited to lead a flower crown workshop as part of First Thursday offering at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
First Thursday is a monthly program when the museum is open until 8pm and offers live performances, community experiences, and hands-on creative activities for visitors.
Mannequin Madness was one of five vendors in the creative arts invited to lead interactive activities inside the White Box room on the museum’s fourth floor. The space had been transformed into a holiday-themed Gift Lab where guests had the chance to make holiday themed gifts by hand.
Usually our setup accommodates 15 to 20 participants at a time on a rotating basis. But the demand for our activity was so high the museum added an extra table on the spot so that people would not have to wait in a long line for a chance to make a flower crown.
We always bring extra mannequin heads – the canvas they use to design for their flower crowns – for situations like this.
By the end of the evening, over 100 people had created flower crowns. Given that there were so many other activities and exhibits competing for the attention of the guests, we were thrilled that our offer was so popular.
The theme was seasonal, so participants worked with holiday-inspired materials including greenery, berries, and warm textured embellishments in addition to faux flowers in a variety of styles and colors.
The crowns people created reflected that individuality and creativity. Guests left wearing them and many said that they were going to wear them to holiday parties.
Our flower crown workshops are designed to be accessible regardless of craft experience for all genders and people over the age of 8. This makes it very appealing for high traffic public events like this one.
The activity is social and tactile, making it a natural fit for museum programming where visitors can slow down, connect, and leave with something personal they created themselves.
Chloe Kwiatkowski, the producer of community-driven experiences at SFMOMA, gave us this google review:
“They provided high-quality materials and were wonderful to work with. I was delighted to see what our museum visitors created and to watch them leave with something they were proud of, wearing big smiles.”
Although though she was the producer of the event and had a million tasks to tend to, she took time to make her own flower crown which you can see here:
Museums, cultural institutions, event producers, and community organizations are increasingly looking for experiences that feel interactive, welcoming, and memorable rather than passive.
First Thursday at SFMOMA is a great example of what can happen when the right creative activity meets the right audience.
Interested in bringing a flower crown workshop to your museum or community event? Send us an email at sales@mannequinmadness.com or visit this on our website.
Visit our website to shop for mannequins and dress forms, rent display pieces, or recycle your old mannequins.
