How can your organization stay true to its mission and values in the face of funding constraints and mounting partisan pressure? What practices can make volunteering rewarding and accessible to people confronting their own challenges of time, money, and mobility? I hope you will join me on October 15 and 16 to dive into both these critical issues at The Museum Summit, exploring potential responses and learning from colleagues pioneering good work.

This is the third year AAM has offered a virtual summit in the fall, and this year will be the best yet. We’ve improved the format with feedback from past attendees, recruited fabulous speakers, and amassed additional resources to share with you.

We’ve kept the keynotes (which people have loved), and this year we will hear from:

Attendees tell us they wanted more specific, actionable advice about the issues we explore, so each day’s keynote will be followed by three case studies selected through a competitive call for proposals. The resulting sessions will be, if I may say so, amazing and inspiring. On day one we will hear from staff and partners of the Irving Archives and Museum, about mounting a LGBTQ+ history exhibit in a deep red state; from the U.S. Marshals Museum, which has navigated conflicting expectations about the stories they tell about law enforcement and history; and from Scott Stulen, director of the Seattle Art Museum, sharing his experience leading institutions through complex political landscapes. (You might enjoy this 2018 essay from Scott, on his journey from artist, to educator, programmer, curator and then director at the Philbrook Museum of Art.)

When we issued the call for proposals I had a wish list of case study topics related to volunteerism, and the final roster checks every box. On day two, the Cook Foundation and Fine Arts Museum of Gloucester will present on how they reshaped a traditional volunteer program to one rooted in community engagement; the Fort Worth Botanic Garden will talk about how they built a united cadre of volunteers after years of working with fragmented, independent volunteer groups; and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art will discuss how they have reshaped their program through technology to support inclusive, accessible volunteering across a multi-museum academic campus.

Another new feature this year is workshops—90 minute training sessions led by experienced facilitators sharing concrete guidance on how your organization can respond to the day’s theme. Each afternoon, you will have the opportunity to choose which of three workshops you want to attend. (Read the full descriptions in the program.)

Registration

Despite the astounding size of the AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo (we average about 4 thousand attendees each year!), that’s only one-one hundredth of the people who work in our field. Given that, I find it tremendously encouraging that the majority of The Summit attendees are folks who don’t usually attend the annual meeting and tell us that the virtual conference is a more accessible and affordable way to engage with their colleagues. 

You can register for just one day of the Summit ($99 member/$125 nonmember) or for both days ($195 members/$245 nonmembers). That price includes access through December 31 to the recordings for the dates you’ve selected. If your museum would like to purchase 5 or more full-program tickets, reach out to our membership team at membership@aam-us.org for $25 off each registration.

That’s it from me, for now. I hope to see your digital self at the conference next month. Meantime, hang in there, do good work, and let me know if you have stories to share.

Warmest regards from the future,

Elizabeth Merritt, Vice President Strategic Foresight and Founding Director, Center for the Future of Museums, American Alliance of Museums