With Strategic Focus, TikTok Creates New Opportunities for Cultural Institutions to Inspire Critical Thinking and Constructive Dialogue
In September of 2021, TikTok surpassed one billion users, making it the fastest-growing social media app. The video-sharing platform allows users to post short-form videos, which are then shared around the world by an algorithm that …
Why I’m Going to Boston
“It’s so good to see you!” How much new meaning has that simple phrase taken on over the last two years? Last September I attended my only in-person conference since the beginning of the pandemic (the AASLH Annual Meeting in Little Rock, …
What’s Your Sign?: Using Your Astrological Personality Traits to Plan Your AAM Annual Meeting Experience (Really!)
Attending a huge conference like the American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo can be overwhelming! With the plethora of session and poster offerings and a limited amount of time, how can you tell what will be most …
Recruiting Strategies: How to Find Community Members for Research Studies and More
Despite the ongoing effect of COVID-19 on museums’ daily operations, the national Measurement of Museum Social Impact (MOMSI) project has been forging ahead with thirty-eight museum participants since January 2021. The perseverance of the …
How a Rapid-Response Pop-Up Inspired New Notions of Audience and Community
The events of 2020 and 2021 forced museums to innovate in ways and at a speed that would have been unthinkable prior. Our hope is that 2022 brings about a time of reflection, where we take the time to process what we created under …
How the Greenwood Art Project United a Community in Reflection and a Vision for the Future
By 1921, the thriving Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, had generated one billion dollars of collective wealth in today’s economic terms. Nicknamed “Black Wall Street” by W.E.B. DuBois, this neighborhood on the north side of the city …
Catching Feelings for a Triceratops: How Live Theater in Museums Evokes Empathy in Visitors
An excited murmur can be heard throughout the audience as they await the show to begin. When we come together to watch a live performance we expect to be moved, to be transported out of the mundane of daily life and have our imaginations …
Crafting a Post-Disaster Experience: How Visitor Experience Staff Have Adapted to the Pandemic
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, museums everywhere have become more people-centric. Top-line conversations have centered on the thoughts and feelings of our visitors as we have reopened under new safety standards and societal norms. …
Looking Back to Move Forward: Examining Institutional Racism in Reprising “Afro-American Images 1971”
In February 1971, a newly formed Delaware organization, Aesthetic Dynamics Inc., presented its first major undertaking: an exhibition of over 130 works of art—drawings, prints, photographs, paintings, and sculpture—by sixty-six African …
Anti-Racist by Design: How the Oakland Museum of California Is Building Equity into Its Practices
At the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA), diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and anti-racism are commitments that have long been a part of our DNA, both internally and in our work with our community, partners, and other cultural …
