2019 – Page 9 – American Alliance of Museums

The Advantages of Being a Small Museum

By Carissa Pfeiffer

Despite visiting only rarely, I have a strong affinity for New Orleans, the “big sister” of my own hometown: Savannah, Georgia. Both were historically port cities, sites for the global movement of goods, ideas, and people (willingly and …
Time to Reassess: A university art museum plans its next chapter with the MAP program

By Tania Said

As the director of education for the David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University (DOMA) in Muncie, Indiana, I am always on the lookout for resources to help us meet new challenges. The Museum Assessment Program (MAP) offers …
2019 Award Winner for Excellence in Programming: Classroom-in-Residence at the Hammer Museum

By Theresa Sotto

Ninety-six percent of art museums offer single-visit school field trips, and many also provide professional development opportunities for teachers. While a recent study indicates that these single-visit trips have a measurable impact on …
Getting Through to Creative Agers

By Bill Tramposch

As we develop creative aging programs for museums, it behooves us to think about how to make our efforts as engaging for the audience as possible. Doing this successfully requires a heightened sensitivity to the needs and interests of …
How Museums Can Help Increase Voter Registration

By Caitlin Donnelly

Every election year, millions of Americans find themselves unable to vote because they miss a registration deadline, do not update their registration, or are unsure how to register. Our democracy suffers because of this, when participation …
A Reading Group for Building Inclusive Museums

By Rose Paquet and Janeen Bryant

Between April and August of this year, 270 museums professionals, scholars, and students joined The Incluseum and participated in the #MassActionReadingGroup. What is MASS Action? MASS Action—Museum as Site for Social Action—is a …
The Museum of Sex: What’s it like to be a for-profit museum?

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’ve long wanted to learn more about the very few museums in the US that operate as for-profit organizations. Why did their founders choose not to go the more common route of incorporating as a nonprofit? Are they actually making money? …
Senate Appropriations Report Proposes $1 Million Increase for OMS

By American Alliance of Museums

Advocacy Alert – September 20, 2019 Senate Appropriations Report Proposes $1 Million Increase for OMS This week the Senate Appropriations Committee released its draft Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Labor-HHS-Education and Related Agencies …
You’re Doing What?!: The Cañada Alamosa Project, we called it

By Dennis O'Toole

Dennis O’Toole has held leadership roles in museums throughout his career, as well as been a prominent force in the American Association for State and Local History. His column below is the first in a series of blogs I am calling, “You’re …
Decolonizing the Future: museums as agents of generational equity

By Elizabeth Merritt

“We treat the future like a distant colonial outpost devoid of people, where we can freely dump ecological degradation, technological risk, nuclear waste and public debt, and that we feel at liberty to plunder as we please.” –Roman …