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Closing the GAAP on Direct Care

By Lori Breslauer and Sarah Ebel

As lawyers with backgrounds in horticulture (Lori) and material culture studies (Sarah), we never thought we would be passionate about an accounting rule. Yet here we are. In 2015 we wrote a white paper suggesting a revision to an …
#WhyILoveMuseums: See the inspiring responses!

By Joseph O'Neill

March 13 was #WhyILoveMuseums Day, a social media movement started by Mar Dixon, a consultant who has led monthly hashtags for the cultural field from her @CultureThemes platform for almost a decade. Mar tells us that she founded …
The Mission-Driven Café: When doing the wrong thing is the right thing to do

By Larry Bain

Ask most museum directors, restaurant consultants, and other knowledgeable folks and they will tell you: “Hire an outside food-service company to run your café.” Well, that makes perfect sense—that is what most museums choose to do. The …
Four Things I Learned When I Started Thinking about Museum Accessibility

By Ryan Saglio

I first started working with the Disabilities community in 2011. Over the years, I’ve worked with individuals of all ages in their homes, at their jobs, and in their communities. The state I live in, Rhode Island, has had to …
A Place at the Table: Developing diversity and next-generation leaders

By Lynn Miller

In 2018, the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) in Ohio named Asmaa Walton, a Detroit native with a master’s degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, its first KeyBank Museum Fellow. The announcement brought a four-year process of development, …
From a Teacher: How to make your museum field trips ones to remember for students and staff

By Claudia Bartow

“That was an awesome field trip!” “That place was so much fun.” These are the statements you want to hear from students after a field trip. As an eighteen-year veteran teacher who has escorted young people on dozens of field trips, I can …
Show Congress How Vital Museums Are – Advocate from Anywhere During Museums Advocacy Day!

By Ember Farber

Right now hundreds of advocates are gathering in Washington, DC for Museums Advocacy Day 2019. But you don’t have to be on Capitol Hill to join the cause and speak up for museums. Use our updated Advocate from Anywhere tools to: …
When Dual Leadership Works, 1+1=3

By Jill Stilwell

What is dual leadership and how does it work? Recently, over coffee, I asked these questions of Cheryl Donaldson Moses and Donna Jared, the Co-Executive Directors of the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery (FCMoD). They shared their thoughts …
A Totally Inclusive Museum

By Cecile Shellman

At the conclusion of a long and productive workshop about inclusion, a museum employee asked: ”How will we know when we have reached our goal of being fully inclusive?” It was a great question, but I’m not sure anyone liked the answer. …
Museums Should Take Notes from Black Panther and Beyoncé: How to engage visitors in difficult discussions using popular media

By Stacey Ingram Kaleh

These days, when museums make it into popular conversation it’s a cause for celebration in the community. As we face increasing competition for leisure time and new challenges in audience engagement due to emerging technologies and …