New Mexico museums are finding creative ways to engage visitors in the state's rich cultural heritage. The New Mexico History Museum, set to open Friday, is using interactive, multimedia exhibits to reach people of all ages. Programs run the gamut from the personal touch of trained docents to low-tech, hands-on learning to high-tech iPods. And, for communities far from state museums, a museum can come to them.

The star of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs' Museum Outreach Department is the Van of Enchantment. This converted recreational vehicle is a museum on wheels, transporting exhibits to far-flung corners of New Mexico since 1998.

"One of the great things about the van is no matter where you are, it's New Mexico history, and somebody has a connection to it. So it's a lot of interaction and sharing," coordinator Amanda Lujan said. People are encouraged to share personal stories and photos on the Web site, which also has an interactive feature and a collection of oral histories and songs called "Sounds of the Road" (also available on CD).

The department is currently partnering with the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the New Mexico History Museum to mount exhibits on the history of travel in New Mexico. This year's exhibit, "Riding the Rails," focuses on railroading and the Santa Fe Trail. Exhibits highlight interesting aspects of history like the amazing feats of building railroad bridges and traversing mountain passes.

The Van of Enchantment is free and can be booked by any school or organization with a level space large enough to park a 40-by-12-foot RV.

Another museum outreach program focused on outlying communities is a collection of "treasure trunks" that use touchable artifacts to teach New Mexico culture and history. Coordinator Jamie Brytowski loves hearing elders tell their own stories and seeing children get excited when they find familiar objects, such as a tortilla press in the foodways trunk or tack in the cowboy trunk.

"History and even culture can be kind of an abstract concept for young students. So to make these links with real life really brings culture and history to life. And people see how their personal culture and history is directly connected to our state history and culture," Brytowski said.

The state museums have a variety of educational initiatives. All offer docent tours, lectures and some form of interactive learning. And all are expanding Web sites to include resources like podcasts or exhibit curriculums.

Hands-on is the key word for the Museum of International Folk Art. Field trips include an interactive tour and an art project. Teacher in-service trainings use a similar approach and children create folk-art projects in after-school programs sponsored by the Ames Family Foundation. There are also artist demonstrations and intergenerational hands-on art activities like "Arts Alive on Milner Plaza," a joint effort with the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art.

"What we try to focus on in all of these activities are the cultures represented in the museum exhibitions and then open-ended art-making experiences that encourage students to express themselves," said Aurelia Gomez, director of education for the Museum of International Folk Art. "So they learn about another culture, they learn about themselves and they learn about how they relate to their own culture and the other culture, as well as gaining an appreciation of what the different art forms are."

At the Living Traditions Education Center at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, director of education Joyce Begay-Foss faces unusual educational challenges.

"Even the archaeologists and the anthropologists sometimes talk about Native Americans in the past tense. And we are still here," Begay-Foss said. "So Living Traditions is saying that Native Americans are still here and we're still thriving. During Spider Woman's Gift, when we had signage in both English and Navajo, I heard a lot of people say, 'I didn't know those Indians had a language.' I want to see how we can help change people's perspectives or even their stereotypes about Native culture and about how cultures evolve through time."

For the New Mexico Museum of Art, being the state art museum for New Mexicans is as important as introducing New Mexico art to visitors. In addition to showing historic and contemporary New Mexican art, part of the museum's outreach involves bringing art from around the world for New Mexicans to enjoy.

"Ultimately, all of our interpretive programs and educational programs are geared toward letting New Mexicans know that this is their state art museum and that they own it," said Ellen Zieselman, curator of education. "And that we hope they'll come more than once in their lifetime and that they'll drop in every once in a while."

Zieselman makes a special effort to bring underserved groups to the museum. A school program called Art is Fine is structured with that goal in mind. Students learn to be junior docents and are encouraged with a pass for a free visit to bring their families back and give them a tour. The New Mexico History Museum will have a similar program called Hands on History.

The New Mexico Museum of Art is the first state museum to introduce audio tours that include information about the art and special features, such as the piano composition written for Agnes Martin's Untitled No. 6.

While the state's older museums are finding new ways to introduce technology and interactive programming, the New Mexico History Museum is designed with that in mind. "We want to create a learning experience. And the learning isn't cough medicine. It's something people enjoy taking, we hope, every week," Garcia said. "We're trying to give exhibits a multigenerational aspect so that families can enjoy something together and learn from each other."

State-of-the-art interactive exhibits incorporate computers, videos and listening stations to provide multiple views and first-person perspectives on history, such as hearing a re-enactment of the debates over statehood. The exhibit of Segesser hide painting replicas (the originals are on display in the Palace of the Governors), for example, lets viewers obtain information electronically by scrolling over the hides.

Behind all the state's outreach programs is this goal, Garcia said: "I never want another child to walk away from the state of New Mexico not knowing where they belong, not feeling a sense of home and a sense of heritage and culture."