With 4 million visitors annually, the NMAH is a 2 hour pilgrimage destination; our goal became rethinking how “the American Experience” could be presented. In order to foster innovation, the process first required suspension of many pre-conceived notions of ‘how’ and ‘what’ visitors would learn. A new direction emerged:  a museum of galleries literally centered around a space for sharing experiences to draw visitors from their own views towards a shared identity with common values - and audacious idea in a polarized political environment.