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5 Ways Museums Can Engage Generation Z

By Niko Kluver

Technically speaking, Generation Z refers to those of us born between the late 1990s and early 2010s, but the term comes with a lot of extra ideas and stereotypes. Some call us “Generation Disaster,” some define us as “not old enough to …
Transforming Museums with Immersive Sound

By Maglyn Bertrand

Sound is a potent force. When harnessed with intention and care, its impact can be substantial. As a trained ethnomusicologist with experience working in museums like the Louis Armstrong House Museum, I have long been fascinated with the …
Strategic Budgeting: Eight Ideas to Help Finances Power Your Priorities

By Kristine Zickuhr

Every dollar that enters your museum has the power to advance your mission. It can fund your highest priorities, create goodwill with your community, and engage your staff. Why, then, is a single dollar ever wasted or diverted? One reason …
Museums and the Living Wage: How Filoli Developed a Bold Pay Equity Initiative

By Kara Newport

Each year CFM’s TrendsWatch brings attention to bear on critical issues for museums, challenging our sector to think about how we might adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Examining a future in which museums may create healthier …
How Do You Design a Fair and Effective Compensation Program?

By Katherine McNamee

At AAM, we were fortunate to have leadership’s support from the very beginning, and although the analysis did require a significant time commitment, it has been a worthwhile investment. Discussing compensation practices enabled deep …
The Best Museum Bathrooms, According to Museum People

By Joseph O'Neill

When you think of all the memorable, thoughtfully designed spaces in museums, the bathrooms may not be the first thing that come to mind. They aren’t usually considered the feather in an architect’s cap, and they can often feel more like a …
How Museum Educators Are Using Strategic Foresight to Address Climate Change

By Mickey Maley and Daryl Jorgenson

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 this post, they explore examples of how museums …
Blues on the Block: Connecting Communities through Live Music, Rhythm, and Public Health

By Erin Simon

The National Blues Museum was one of ninety-one museums, libraries, and cultural or tribal organizations that leveraged their position as trusted community partners to help bolster vaccine confidence in their communities as part of …
Transferring Trust: An Art-Based Public Health Campaign Reveals the Key to Community Resilience

By Vida Mikalcius

It’s no secret that the pandemic hit certain communities harder than others. Disasters—be they environmental, social, or public-health-related—often have this effect, exposing inequity both in who can shield themselves from impacts and who …
Immersive Experiences in Museums: A Look at Art Windsor-Essex’s “Against the Current”

By Maglyn Bertrand

To say that a lot has changed for cultural institutions and museums in the past few years is an understatement. This is a time when visitors, who have spent the last two years enduring a global pandemic, are consuming professional and …