Bering Street is the place where ideas become real. The brainchild of learningscape specialist Stephanie Lile, Bering Street Studio works with museums, non-profits, schools, foundations, and exhibit designers to bridge the gap between education and the exhibit experience. We are dedicated to promoting object literacy across cultures and disciplines. In fact, the studio was named not only for the street on which it was built, more importantly, it was named in the tradition of Vitus Bering, the Danish explorer who united cultures and continents when he explored the Americas under the Russian flag.
Our approach to exhibit development is based on an understanding of how people learn, both in formal situations and informal. We work a project from concept to prototype to reality, testing and refining an exhibit UP plan from start to finish. Many people ask us what a “UP plan” is. The answer is simple, even if the concept is not. A “UP plan” is simply a “user program plan.” What that means is that we work to identify various user groups who would experience an exhibit then design the programs/uses they would need to maximize their learning, engagement, and delight in the subject and experience. This front-end approach maximizes museum/institutional resources by building both the experience and the requisite structures that make that experience possible and meaningful.
Lile’s portfolio ranges from recent exhibit projects such as “Bomber Boys: Portraits From the Front,” a traveling exhibit based on a private collection of World War II images and ephemera, to permanent installations such as the J. Paul Getty TimeScape Room, The History Lab Learning Center and Geology Gallery at the Washington State History Museum. Lile holds masters degrees in education and creative writing, and an undergrad degree in art, design and history. Her innovative curricula for museum engagement includes online kids magazines, teacher guides, and media kiosks.
We are honored to work with our past and present clients and partners: the KBL Family Collection (Bomber Boys: Portraits From the Front), Gig Harbor BoatShop (The Avalon Project), Harbor History Museum, and Marysville Historical Society.