Introducing the new PMA website!

Hey there—welcome the new PMA website.

Today we’re launching a new portlandmuseum.org, designed to improve the museum’s online experience. Here’s a little background on the new site.

Why launch a new website?

Good question! The simplest answer is that our previous version was outdated. Things move fast in the online world, and things have changed a lot since we launched our last update in 2014. 

What’s changed?

You can think about websites in two major areas—technology and experience. The first is pretty straightforward: we needed a website that was flexible, could integrate new tools as the came to market, and worked well on mobile devices. Our previous version was…well…let’s just say it wasn’t those things. It was difficult to maintain and update, lacked functionality that the PMA needed, and was a bit clunky when it came to functioning across devices.

The second area of emphasis is experience, and we needed to make a major update because we’re a different museum than we were in 2014. In the nearly six years since we last updated the site, we’ve reinstalled the collection and completed Your Museum, Reimagined, relaunched PMA Films and docent program, reorganized internal departments and divisions, and increased attendance by about 30,000 per year—and that’s not even half of it!

In order to keep growing, we needed a website that prioritized getting people into the museum, through exhibitions, programs, and events. We needed a website that could tell better stories, immerse visitors in exhibitions, and support our membership program and leadership circles. And we needed a website that could integrate audio, video, and multimedia more easily. 

We’re excited to see how our audiences use the new website and continue to improve the experience.

So, this is it for the website for now?

Not at all! In fact, one of the major reasons we redesigned the website was so that we could continue to work on it. 

Think of the website as a garden. We’ve improved the soil quality, added some fertilizer, diversified our crops, and moved things around so they can grow better—but we still have to tend to it to make things grow. 

We intend to continue to make improvements to the website in the days, weeks, and months ahead, and you can help us too!

How can I help?

Tell us what you think! Are you able to find what you’re looking for? Have a suggestion for a page, event listing, or section? Find a typo?

Fill out the form below and we’ll check it out. We may be able to make the change quickly, or we may need to think about your suggestions in a larger context with other staff or departments, but we’re listening and want to hear from you.