2017 – American Alliance of Museums

Aurora Regional Fire Museum’s MAP Experience

By Susan Zwerling

Susan Zwerling is a Museum Assessment Program Officer for AAM. I recently interviewed Aurora Regional Fire Museum (ARFM) Executive Director Brian Failing (BF) about the museum’s Community Engagement MAP experience. He joined this small …
Exploring the Sixth Extinction through Immersive Theater

By Maureen Rolla

One of the most-read guest posts of 2017 on the CFM blog shared how immersive theater helped one Connecticut museum build new audiences. Since the topic evidently struck a chord with readers, I tuned my radar to find other examples of …
C.J. Roberts Appointed as Accreditation Commissioner for American Alliance of Museums

By American Alliance of Museums

For Immediate Release December 18, 2017 ARLINGTON, VA – The Board of Directors of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the only organization representing the entire scope of the museum community, has ratified the appointment of C.J. …
Big Box: 8 Things to Learn from IKEA about Museum Design

By David Whitemyer, AIA

During a recent holiday shopping excursion to IKEA, while resting on a NORSBORG series chaise and with a belly full of meatballs and lingonberry sauce, I took a few minutes to pretend I was in a museum rather than an overcrowded store. The …
Statement on December 15 Rally by Save the Art – Save the Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts

By American Alliance of Museums

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 15, 2017 ARLINGTON, VA ─ The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), an organization representing the entire scope of the museum community, and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), an organization …
7 Museums to Visit During Hanukkah

By Cecelia Walls

As many of us know, we are currently in the midst of Hanukkah. As I think of my friends and colleagues celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights, I am reminded of the many museums around the country dedicated to preserving and sharing this …
Receiving the Nancy Hanks award (and what the heck is professional development, anyway)

By Emily Graslie

Emily Graslie is Chief Curiosity Correspondent for The Field Museum in Chicago, and the host, creator, and writer for its educational YouTube series, The Brain Scoop @ehmee Around this time last year I received an email from Elizabeth …
Fostering Truth and Reconciliation One Generation at a Time

By Elizabeth Merritt

In his story for Museum 2040, Omar Eaton-Martinez posits a future in which the United States establishes its own Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to deal with the “atrocities and long-term impact of the genocide of First Nation …
Don Wildman: Why does the Guggenheim Museum look the way it does?

By Don Wildman

In this second in a series, noted Travel Channel host Don Wildman discusses why the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum looks the way it does. Frank Lloyd Wright called it “organic architecture.” In his pre-construction plans, he intended the …
The Numbers Behind Museum 2040

By Elizabeth Merritt

Museum 2040—the current special issue of Museum—adheres pretty closely to the usual format of the magazine. It opens with a letter from the Alliance’s CEO, though in 2040 that CEO is a licensed psychiatrist starting a three-year stint as a …