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A Big COVID-19 Pivot: The Museum Assessment Program Goes Virtual

By Anastasia Wallace & Dr. Matthew White

The Museum Assessment Program (MAP) is one of the most valuable programs offered by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) for emerging institutions, museums undergoing structural change, or organizations looking to improve one or more …
Why Museum Store Sunday Matters More Than Ever This Year

By Susan Tudor, Emily Kowalski, and Stuart Hata

Museum Store Sunday, the Museum Store Association’s (MSA) signature advocacy initiative, is fast approaching, happening this year on November 29 during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. While this year’s event will look different due to …
The Shifting Sands of Excellence: A Q&A with Accreditation Leaders

By Joseph O'Neill

One of AAM’s closest-watched programs is Accreditation, the flagship program on a continuum that measures and confers excellence, giving museums an external seal of credibility which helps further their ambitions. The process, in …
Running with Scissors: Creating a Sustainable History Experience (2017-2020)

By Franklin D. Vagnone

You may know that Old Salem Museums & Gardens (OSMG) and The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, have been making considerable changes over the past four years. What you may not know is …
How to Start an Accessibility Movement at Your Museum

By Katy Menne

Think back to a childhood trip to a museum, aquarium, or historic home. Chances are the first thing you heard was a directive: “Hands in pockets and do not touch anything.” Today, we still see similar interactions in museums …
A Q&A with George Corsillo, Designer of This Year’s Winner for Excellence in Publication Design

By American Alliance of Museums

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 Excellence in Publication Design, recognizing it as the …
The Promise of Virtual Education Programs: Cross-Cultural Exchange, School-Museum Collaborations, and STEAM Learning (and Lemurs!)

By Susan Dorsey

To continue providing meaningful experiences for pre-K through twelfth-grade audiences in the era of COVID-19, museums must re-envision educational practice for the virtual realm. By sharing about a pre-COVID virtual education program I …
Essential Evaluators: What’s in Your Soup?

By Rose Jones, Laureen Trainer, and Andréa Giron Mathern

Essential Evaluators seeks to gather evaluators in a common space to dialogue, reflect, and support each other in a world upended by COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protest movement. This is a time of uncertain and unknown expectations …
How Will Museums Haunt Us This Halloween?

By Joseph O'Neill

If you’re up for an extra dose of eeriness in this already odd year, you’re in luck! Halloween is imminent, and even in a pandemic museums have plans to mark the occasion. Whether via virtual or in-person festivities, …
The Keys to Sustainable Online Programming? Partnerships and Professional Development

By Megan Ennes

Recently, I’ve been analyzing the efficacy of museum-developed digital programs over their thirty-year history, and I’ve noticed a common theme: Every study extols the benefits of such programs, including increased outreach and engagement …