Dedicated to cultivating collaboration and a shared vision to bring out the best in your team.
Hi, I’m Rebecca Shulman and I’m so glad you’re here. I founded Museum Questions Consulting in 2013. I bring curiorsity, skilled facilitation, and a goal-focused approach to each client engagement drawing on my 25 years of experience as a nonprofit cultural leader...I bring curiosity, skilled facilitation, and a goal-focused approach to helping organizations develop a shared vision and create actionable strategies to achieve it.
I draw on 25+ years of experience as a nonprofit leader. At the Guggenheim Museum, I transformed a longstanding but struggling program into a national model for art education, demonstrating how thoughtful collaboration extends reach and deepens relevance.
As the inaugural director of the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum, I created a multicultural, celebratory space that welcomed 75,000 visitors a year in a region with a population of 350,000. In this role, I engaged my staff in collaborative, team-building inquiry around questions that matter to the field: for example, what might exemplary play facilitation on the museum floor look like?
As the founder of Museum Questions Consulting, I’m excited to bring the same level of energy and dedication to my clients.
Driven by Curiosity
There is always more to learn - from museum practitioners at all levels, from people outside our field, and from the experiences that life brings. We demonstrate curiosity through asking questions, listening carefully, experimenting, and embracing change.
Our values drive our work
Committed to Equity
Every voice matters. As a museum director and educator my goal has been to help visitors and program participants value themselves, knowing that their voices and choices matter. We support equity in our consulting practice by creating diverse teams, building capacity at all levels, and listening closely to all voices.
Grounded in Action
It’s not enough to come up with a great idea or plan — implementation matters.
We build systems into your strategy to help you follow through with your plan of action. And if we say we will do something, we will!
Over the years, I have had the privilege to learn many things from Rebecca. Her equanimity, rigor, and thoughtfulness improve every project. I highly recommend her partnership.
-Miriam Bader, former Director of Education, Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Behind the scenes
When I’m not working, you might find me ….
→ Exploring Baltimore
Since 2022, my home has been in Baltimore, Maryland, and I am still exploring the city, finding my community and the quirky spaces that make Baltimore so special. If you are in Baltimore, please reach out and say hello!→
→ Biking
In 2022, I realized a decades-old goal of taking a solo bike trip, cycling the 750 miles from Peoria, Illinois, to Mackinaw City, Michigan. Along the way, I enjoyed nature, solitude, and lots of beer, onion rings, and ice cream. You can see my documentation of this trip on Instagram. These days, I mostly bike through city parks in Baltimore.
→ Making random things
Recently, I’ve been exploring different approaches to creation as a tracking and reflection tool (hello, geeky evaluator side!). In 2023, I asked everyone I met in Baltimore where they lived and how they felt about it, adding what I learned to a map of the city. In 2024, I crocheted all my phone calls for the month of May. I’m looking for a new project and am open to suggestions.
→ Hanging out with my kids
My two adult(ish) children are a joy to spend time with. We love visiting Cape Breton Island (in Nova Scotia) every summer, and finding other ways to gather throughout the year. My daughter lives in Los Angeles, so I’m always looking for reasons to visit California.
