Co-creating experiences that reflect the true richness of our communities and showcase the stories of all people.
The stories we tell about our ourselves matter. They have enduring power. They can bring us together, or they can harden divides.
At Amplifier Experience Design, we harness and expand this power. We bring forward stories and voices that have been overlooked, silenced, buried. This is our purpose and in it we find joy.
We prove that every human matters, one exhibit, one relationship, one site at a time. We expand historical narratives wholeheartedly—with intention, care, and curiosity.
Stop waiting for big organizations to ask your stories, only to get them wrong. Tell your story yourself.
Expanding the Narrative
At Amplifier, we reject the notion that history belongs to a select few. Everyone’s stories and perspectives deepen our sense of who we are. Everyone’s voice matters. Besides, revealing unheard stories is more honest and true … and simply more interesting.
Strengthening Community
When we see our stories told, we feel valued and recognized, bringing us into wider community. By elevating marginalized groups and amplifying voices that have been silenced or misrepresented in our historical narratives, we create environments where everyone sees themselves in history and knows that they belong.
Empowering the Narrators
We believe communities have the power to take control of their own stories; to reclaim and retell their stories on their own terms. We built Amplifier for exactly this. With caring, curiosity, humility, and servant leadership, we help guide communities to find their voices, unearth their truths, and make them visible to themselves and the world.
Leadership
Steve Boyd-Smith founded and leads Amplifier with a deeply personal mission: restoring dignity to people—past, present, and future—by revealing their stories. An award-winning exhibit developer, certified interpretive planner, creative director, and project manager, for the past 30+ years he has created meaningful, inclusive experiences for museums, cultural centers, and historic sites, with a focus on community-driven stories.
Collaborators
Amplifier Experience Design brings together award-winning designers, artists, writers, and experts in all aspects of storytelling and cultural resources management in a movie studio model: we build the best team to meet each project’s specific needs.
106 Group
Cultural resources & interpretation
Anders Genealogical Services
Historical research
Argentine Productions
Media production
Aurora Consulting
Audience research, community engagement
Blue Rhino Studio
Exhibit design, creative fabrication
Drumminhands Design
Design, technology
E.B. Lewis
Artist
Full Circle Indigenous Planning
Architecture, planning, engagement
Heinzen Media
4D/object theaters
Hilferty & Assoc.
Exhibit design
Richard Josey, Collective Journeys
Facilitation, interpretation, coaching
Outhouse Exhibit Services
Traveling exhibits, fabrication, project management
Seitu Jones Studio
Public art, exhibit design, mentorship
Pam Smith
Community engagement, historical research, wisdom
Wilkening Consulting
Audiences, Research, Consulting
Select Clients
Hmong Museum of Minnesota
Philando Castile Peace Garden
Dakota County Historical Society (x3)
Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition
Historic Annapolis
Ohio History Connection (x5)
Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest
Old North Church
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board
Experience Akwesasne/St. Regis Mohawk Tribe
Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium (AAACRHSC)
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (x6)
National Park Service (8+ )
Polish Cultural Institute and Museum (x2)
Bureau of Land Management
Alliance for Pioneer Square
Minnesota Historical Society (x7)
Newfields/Indianapolis Museum of Art
Smithsonian
Kathmandu Science Museum
Great Smoky Mountains Association
North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences
African American Resources, Cultural and Heritage (AARCH)