NuvoGuideDiscuss a pilot

Museums & heritage

Bring your museum's collection knowledge into the conversation

Visitors stand in front of your collection and ask questions your labels were never long enough to answer. NuvoGuide gives your team a way to share what they know, one question at a time.

Discuss a founding museum pilot
Illustrative antique brass telescope on a wooden tripod in a small gallery.

Your team knows more than the label says

Your collection has specific stories, specific provenance, and specific things that must and must not be said. General AI can recognise a type of object, but it cannot know which piece in your collection a visitor is looking at, the interpretation your curators stand behind, or that something came off display last Tuesday. Small museums feel this particularly sharply: your team of two or three is already split between front of house, loans, and tours, and the same question still gets asked five times a day.

A museum question, answered with what your team wrote

What is this, and why is it here?

Illustrative interaction. Fictional exhibit details.

Your approved information

Object
Cast bronze study of a river bird, c.1890s (fictional)
Artist
Samuel Thornton, regional sculptor. Attribution confirmed 2019.
Look for
Ringed left leg, reed-woven base, positioned facing east.
Why it is here
Commissioned to open the River Trade gallery. The town's 19th-century growth was almost entirely built on river freight.
Worth noting
The ring may reference a local conservation record. The acquisition file notes it, but this has not been confirmed.
Follow the story
Trade ledgers, case 2. Wharf photograph, east wall.
Status
On display, north room, plinth 4.

Their AI assistant

This is a bronze study of a river bird by Samuel Thornton, cast in the 1890s. The museum commissioned it to open the River Trade gallery: the town's growth in that era was almost entirely built on river freight, and Thornton wanted visitors to feel that connection before they saw the ledgers and photographs. Look at the ring on the left leg: the acquisition notes suggest it may reference a tagged local conservation specimen, though that has not been confirmed. The trade ledgers are in case two if you want to follow the story.

What you bring to a first pilot

  • A list of the objects you want to cover (one gallery is a fine starting point)
  • The answers your team already gives, or would give if they had time
  • Notes on what makes each piece distinctive: markings, colour, what it sits next to
  • A photograph of each object, if you have one and have the right to use it
  • Any note about related objects or how pieces connect to each other
  • Anything that should never be said about a piece, and what is currently off display

Starting small

Pick the gallery or room where visitors ask the most questions. Write down the answers you give already, or wish you could give. Find a colleague who can say yes or no to each sentence before it goes out. That is the starting point. No database migration, no full collection inventory, no technical team needed.

How the workflow is intended to work

Questions venues ask

Does this replace curators or gallery guides?

No. Your curators and guides write and review everything visitors hear. NuvoGuide delivers their answers to people who ask through their glasses or assistant. It does not generate interpretations, invent stories, or speak for your collection. If an object has not been documented, visitors hear that rather than a guess.

How much do we need to prepare?

A meaningful pilot can start with one gallery and ten or twenty well-described objects. You need a short description, a note on what makes each piece recognisable, and a colleague who reviews what goes out. No complete collection database required.

Why not rely on general AI?

General AI knows about things in general. It does not know which specific piece in your collection a visitor is looking at, the story your curators have approved, or that something recently came back from loan. With NuvoGuide, visitors hear what your team wrote, or they hear it has not been documented yet.

Do visitors need to own smart glasses?

We are still working through the hardware picture with our pilot venues. Glasses could be visitor-owned or venue-provided; we will work through what makes sense for your venue together. We are not asking for a hardware commitment before we have had that conversation.

Discuss a founding museum pilot

Bring your venue into the conversation.

Start with a small, reviewable catalogue. Terms are confirmed individually.

Discuss a pilot