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Alliance Blog
The Alliance blog provides the museum community with a place to share stories and insights, in their own voice, reaching thousands of people across the global museum field.
Why Well-Being Is at the Heart of Museum Experiences
For nearly half a century, I have been thinking and theorizing about museum experiences—why people use museums, what they do during those experiences, and what they take away, including the …
On the Ground: How Visitor Experience Teams Are Teaching Front-Line Staff to Be DEAI Advocates
In the museum experience world, making visitors feel welcome is serious business. Our goal is to exceed guests’ standards for positive experiences, and nothing undermines that goal like a …
The Top Ten Alliance Blog Posts of 2021
Though 2021 was a slightly more normal year than 2020, with mostly open museums gradually regaining visitors, the pandemic still loomed large and colored most conversations. On the Alliance …
Building a More Just and Equitable World: Introducing AAM’s 2022-2025 Strategic Framework
The museum field, like society at large, is at a pivotal moment of reflection and rebuilding. As the collective museum community, the choices we make in the coming months and years about …
After MAP, KidsPlay Children’s Museum Is Ready to Build Community Bridges
Through the Museum Assessment Program, museums gain perspective on how to improve core areas of their operations, with a combination of guided self-reflection and close consultation with an …
Applying Art History to Workplace Safety: Saving Lives and Growing Revenue at the Toledo Museum of Art
Over the course of its distinguished 120-year history of art education, the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) has offered classes that extend beyond simple drawing and painting into topics ranging …
How Can Education Programs Help Bridge the Digital Divide?
In this series of posts, EdCom’s Trends Committee is taking a deeper look at emerging phenomena identified in the 2021 edition of TrendsWatch from the Center for the Future of Museums. In …
How Philadelphia Cultural Institutions Embraced Collaboration to Address Opportunity Gaps
If there is a positive outcome of the pandemic’s impact on cultural institutions, it may be the willingness to ideate and take different approaches to our work to ensure that no one is …
Museum Store Sunday—Five Years and Going Strong!
Is your institution ready for Museum Store Sunday, taking place this year on November 28 (the Sunday after Thanksgiving)? 2021 marks the fifth anniversary of this worldwide museum retail …
A Q&A with Dirk Hiscock, Designer of This Year’s Winner for Excellence in Publication Design
After reviewing hundreds of entries every year, the jury for AAM’s annual Museum Publications Design Competition awards only one publication with the Frances Smyth-Ravenel Prize for …
“Activating Smithsonian Open Access” Proposes New Models for Interacting with Museum Collections
In February 2021, Cooper Hewitt’s Interaction Lab launched an open call for proposals for inspiring digital interactions with Smithsonian Open Access collections for people all over the …
With the Help of MAP, the Manassas Museum Met Its Changing Community’s Needs
Through the Museum Assessment Program, museums gain perspective on how to improve core areas of their operations, with a combination of guided self-reflection and close consultation with an …