Presenters: Amy Bozorth and Clara Scillian Kennedy, Albany Regional Museum; Jennifer Gritt, Historian/Independent Museum Professional; Natascha Adams, Independence Heritage Museum Creating exhibits is hard. Creating them from scratch on a limited budget is even harder. Learn from three different perspectives how to create exhibits on a budget. The Albany Regional Museum recently redesigned their entire exhibition space, from concept designs to interactives and more. As they talk through their DIY trials and errors, learn how you can build interactives like talking picture frames, turning text panels, and sliding magnifiers. Gritt will demonstrate in a step-by-step process how to effectively and sustainably create budget-friendly rotating “from the vault” exhibits utilizing frontline staff and volunteers. The Independence Heritage Museum moved locations and reopened in April 2022. Within six months, the museum’s 5,000 sq. ft. exhibit space was conceptualized, designed, and built on a $15,000 budget with only two staff members and a handful of volunteers. From these presentations, attendees will experience exhibit interactives, receive a hands-on lesson on how to build a free-standing wall and other exhibit props, and learn how to best incorporate nontraditional staff in creating exhibits.