One of the biggest challenges we face is generating interest and excitement despite tight and sometimes shrinking budgets.

Here's an original, innovative, compelling, and on-strategy way that TNT, the American media channel, launched in Belgium.  It's very easy to see how someone might use this same approach--perhaps toned down a bit--to bring people face to face with history and raise interest in an upcoming event or exhibit.

And note the extraordinary social media reach, with 20+ million views on YouTube since its April 11 introduction.

Updated April 2013: A similar approach, though for a very different institution:

From the note explaining the video: 

The slogan "Our Heroes are Back'" is used to announce that, after an absence of one decade, all major pieces in the Rijksmuseum's collection are back where they belong. This is what happens when they suddenly emerge in an unsuspecting shopping mall somewhere in The Netherlands. With the support of main sponsor ING, entrance to the museum is free on the 13th of April from 12:00 to 00:00.

Updated: October 31, 2014: Another creative breakthrough from the Rijksmuseum, this time with a navigation aid.

As explained in an article in Fast Co Design:

The Netherlands’ Rijksmuseum has 100 rooms, housing more than 8,000 paintings and art pieces. . . . 

To help out confused museum-goers, Marjin van Oosten, a Dutch graphic designer based in New York, created the Paper Pathfinder for the Rijksmuseum. It pops up from compact 2-D form into a miniature 3-D paper model of the museum building, giving you an instant, visceral sense of the layout of the space. It requires no tape or operating instructions, and you can fold it back into its 2-D form and stow it in your bag or pocket when not in use. The Paper Pathfinder has just won a Dutch Design Award at Dutch Design Week.