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.

Explore all Publications from the Alliance.

Explore the AAM Resource Library by topic, and further filter by subtopic or resource types to find what matters most to you!

With Their Subject Matter in the Crosshairs, What Should Museums Do?

By Kevin Jennings

My parents were part of the generation that fought and won World War II. As their children, it was common for us to ask them, “What did you do during the war?” We wanted to be reassured they had stood up and done the right thing when it …
Lessons in Cross-Cultural Partnerships for Mid-Sized Museums

By Nannette V. Maciejunes

On paper, the relationship between Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) and the Dordrecht Museum in the Netherlands looks like a typical museum partnership. For our recent exhibition Life in the Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Masterpieces from the …
Get Out of Town: Travel programs for creative agers

By Bill Tramposch

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.” – Mark Twain An increasing number of museums are introducing travel options to their members. Such …
Partnering with the Blind to Make Exhibits More Accessible

By Carrie Christoffersen, Anil Lewis, and John Olson

The opportunity to experience photography, art, and other museum exhibits can be life-altering to a blind person. “As a blind person, when I can experience a painting on my own without asking for help, that represents increased freedom, …
Welcoming Service Dogs to Your Museum

By Kristi Moore

Service dogs are becoming more common as the years go on, and as museum professionals it can be a challenge to welcome them in among our collections. We worry about hair and dander, physical damage, and health code violations. Most of us …
How the MAP Program Helped the expERIEnce Children’s Museum Move Full Steam Ahead

By Ainslie Brosig

When I became the executive director of the expERIEnce Children’s Museum in 2013, the museum was seeing tremendous growth in attendance and reinventing itself in the community. With these changes afoot, it was important to me and the rest …
Sofa So Good: A word on behalf of older folks

By Bill Tramposch

I don’t know about you, but a career in museums has made it very difficult for me to be a satisfied museum visitor. I find that I am always peering into “how the sausage is made,” as it were, noticing how the front-of-house staff interact …
What Can a “Manifesto Against Ageism” Teach Museums?

By Bill Tramposch

Prior to the publication of Ashton Applewhite’s “manifesto against ageism,” This Chair Rocks, one reviewer proclaimed that the book would do for our society’s view of aging what Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring did for the environment. Before …
What to Expect from the Core Documents Verification Process

By Luanne Kanzawa

In 2018, the Japanese Friendship Garden Society of San Diego (JFG) decided to embark on museum accreditation, taking the key step of participating in the Core Documents Verification program. The Japanese Friendship Garden is an institution …
2019 Award Winner for Innovation in Museum Education: Vizcaya’s Urban Farming School Program

By Diana Peña

The EdCom Award for Innovation in Museum Education recognizes, encourages, and celebrates new, creative ways of engaging with audiences. Vizcaya Museum and Gardens‘ Urban Farming School Program was lauded by the judges for engaging …