Last month, in a 21st century move, the National Portrait Gallery conducted an on-line contest for the public to pick the next portrait to be showcased on the museum's prominently situated "Recognize" wall, located in the lobby. 

As part of the contest, the museum asked the public to select from a hodgepodge of three prominent Americans – (1) artist Georgia O'Keeffe, (2) civil-rights activist James Meredith, and (3) singer Bette Midler.  After a two week open vote, O'Keeffe won with 43% of the vote. 

This type of public outreach is exactly the kind of out of the box thinking a bricks and mortar museum needs to do in order to increase attendance and keep the public interested.

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