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The Path to Financial Recovery and Resilience: An #AAM2022 Keynote by Michael Bobbitt

By American Alliance of Museums

Michael Bobbitt, Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council, opened the Financial Wellness focus area of the 2022 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo with his keynote, “The Path to Financial Recovery and Resilience,” followed …
Museum as Lightning Rod: Innovation and Invitation—An #AAM2022 Keynote by Jake Barton

By American Alliance of Museums

Jake Barton, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Local Projects, opened the Innovation focus area of the 2022 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo with his keynote, “Museum as Lightning Rod: Innovation and Invitation,” …
Speak the Truth and Point to Hope: An #AAM2022 Keynote by Sandra Jackson-Dumont

By American Alliance of Museums

Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Director & CEO of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, opened the Organizational Culture focus area of the 2022 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo with her keynote “Speak the Truth and Point to Hope,” …
What University Museum Educators Have Learned from the Pandemic

By Lori Kartchner and Abby Newkirk

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 survey university museums across …
Family Interactive Spaces: Are They Necessary or Just Nice?

By Julia Forbes and Marianna Adams

Cultivating a strong family audience is critical for museums, and as practitioners we use many different strategies to do this, including special family days and festivals, workshops, tours, backpacks, gallery guides, labels, in-gallery …
With Strategic Focus, TikTok Creates New Opportunities for Cultural Institutions to Inspire Critical Thinking and Constructive Dialogue

By Samantha Smith

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

By Sean Blinn

“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!)

By Dianne Choie

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

By Laureen Trainer and Michelle Mileham

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

By Jeni O’Malley & Maggie Schmidt

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 …