2015 – Page 18 – American Alliance of Museums

Trust Me, I’m a Museum

By Elizabeth Merritt

Back in 2001 AAM sponsored a survey which showed that 87% of respondents viewed museums as “one of the most trustworthy sources of objective information.” We cited that figure a lot in the following decade. commissioned by the …
Your Roving Reporter: An Interview with Douglass McDonald

By Betty Brewer

CEO Betty Brewer invited Douglass McDonald to look back on his career as he retired from the Cincinnati Museum Center. Having significant accomplishments from his years in the field, she also asked him to project what we can expect for the …
When Performance is an Issue: Steps to Take

By Ellen Corradini

Today museum professionals face more numerous challenges than they have ever faced before—how best to reach, attract and communicate with varied audiences; dwindling revenue sources; ever-increasing pressure to raise funds; and the need to …
Your Museum Needs Money—Now What?

By Charlotte A. Montgomery

Finding and securing funding opportunities for your museum can help advance not only your museum’s goals, but your personal ones as well. It can be a daunting task and many give up or take a defeatist attitude saying, for example: “No one …
Internet and Cyberlaw Issues Impacting Cultural Organizations

By Elizabeth Varner

*Please note that I am not your attorney, I am not giving legal advice, and there is no attorney-client relationship. This article seeks to raise awareness of some key internet and cyberlaw issues that impact cultural organizations, but is …
Starting with the Future in Mind

By Wyona Lynch-McWhite

The start of a new calendar year is also the time when we as Museum Administrators are thinking in a more focused way about our organization’s future. It is a time of planning and reflection as we begin new tax or fiscal years, launch new …
The American Alliance of Museums Announces Museums Advocacy Day and the 2015 Great American Museum Advocates

By American Alliance of Museums

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 29, 2015 250+ museum professionals from across the country will visit Capitol Hill February 23–24 Washington, DC—Next month, more than 250 staff, students, board members, volunteers, supporters and independent …
The Multi-dimensional Museum

By Elizabeth Merritt

I was delighted to hear this story over the weekend on NPR, on how the Pacific Science Center opens early, one Saturday each month, to provide an environment tailored to the needs of visitors with autism. For this time, they turn down the …
Scouting SOTUs

By Elizabeth Merritt

Someday I hope to hear a president of the U.S. stand up in the chamber of the House of Representatives in the Capitol and give a great big shout out to America’s museums. (Perhaps citing them as critical infrastructure–on a par with …
Lost Pleasures

By Elizabeth Merritt

“If you resolve to give up smoking, drinking and loving, you don’t actually live longer; it just seems longer.” –Clement Freud There was an interesting bit of math tucked into the calorie count regulations released by the FDA late …