Growing up the middle of five children in Western Massachusetts, Brendan Ciecko didn’t spend his early years going to museums. Nor does he have a formal education in art. Ciecko, whose Boston-based company Cuseum connects museumgoers through technology, says his unique perspective comes from his background as a self-taught technologist and entrepreneur. “I started to design and develop technology when I was 11, and I broke into the music industry when I was 14.” At his first company, a music-focused branding and marketing company called Ten Minute Media, Ciecko “learned how to build things efficiently and have a high emphasis on user experience. It laid the foundation for the entrepreneur I am today.“
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Moving to Boston in his early 20s, he became involved in the vibrant creative community around Fort Point, one of the oldest artist communities in the country and home to the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Boston Children’s Museum. “Being in this amazing old factory building with 20-foot ceiling and a great industrial vibe is conducive to creativity,” says the member of Boston’s WeWork Fort Point. “I like the Jane Jacobs quote: ‘Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings; new ideas must use old buildings.’” Applying that same logic to Cuseum, Ciecko’s cutting-edge technology enables venerable institutions to engage visitors through videos, images, and information on their smartphones. It’s a way to attract younger audiences used to seeing the world through their devices, and help museums solve the problem of decreased attendance.
