The average Student Manager customer has been with ACEware for eight years. Worcester Art Museum improves on that statistic, having been a customer just over eleven years.

"I've been in the Education Department for eight years, in my current position for three" says Elaine Pusateri Cowan. "In this time we've seen tremendous change and growth. For one thing, our web registrations have increased from 10% to somewhere between 30 to 40%, exceeding our original goals for web registration. In fact, we've had two transactions just while we were talking!"

Worcester Art Museum knows a thing or two about time. WAM opened their doors in 1898, and today their collection represents 51 centuries of art including the Hunt Mosaic, the largest mosaic in North America. They also know a little about affiliations working with such diverse partners as local schools, colleges, universities and ACEware.

"Please remember," says Pusateri Cowan "that we work in an art museum and not everybody is a techie, we are "right brainers" "WAM has even offered a course Based on the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain!"

I'm impressed by the support we get from ACEware. "I swear Michael has an Elaine to Techie translator, because I will ask for something totally non-traditional or seemingly impossible and Michael will somehow make it work, he has been fabulous! With so many people using the system in so many different ways I'm a report maniac, but we have what we need. Other departments in the museum use software for various purposes, but none have an assigned tech that knows them. I've never experienced anything like this. It's refreshing."

WAM's mission encompasses exhibitions, collections, a café, a shop, a non-circulating library, special events (including catering) and of course, education.

"We require a ton of reports. Our programs run seven days a week and because we are in a Museum we require on-site security. Protective services needs to know if a model is expected for a class, if a workshop is meeting in a gallery after hours or if extra assistance is needed for a student with special needs. As a result we're making extensive use of the room use and web calendar features in Student Manager. It wasn't easy to translate all that to a database, but Student Manager now keeps us all on the same page."

Cowan says there's still lots to explore in Student Manager and things they'd like to make happen. "We'd like to beef up our website, do a better job of budgeting, and get everybody on board with financials, but 400 classes, workshops and tours per year keep us pretty busy."

ACEware Software

Student Manager, Email Module

Database

54,695 plus names

Programs

An extensive year-round studio arts program enrolls 6,000 adults and youth students each year.

Unique Programs

Encaustic Painting - a form of painting using heated wax to which colored pigments are added.

"WAM launched Green Membership on June 20th and one of the first 10 registrations came in via ACEWEB!"