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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 …
Is It Time to Break Your Museum’s Organizational Mold?

By Mark Sundlov

Over the course of the twentieth century, and into today, museums have witnessed dramatic changes in their organizational and funding environments—some driven from within the museum field, others from outside of the field. It’s clear that …
A Snoopy license plate delivers more than mere peanuts to California museums

By Phil Kohlmetz

A special interest license plate is certainly an unconventional way to raise money for museums, and Snoopy’s path to plate-dom was certainly unconventional. But in late 2015, after nearly fifteen years of effort, California got its first …
The Power of a Paid Internship: Creating pathways to careers in museums

By Makeba Clay

In 2015, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation issued a report on diversity in art museums that reinforced what is obvious to anyone working in or affiliated with the industry: non-Hispanic white men dominate leadership positions, and there is a …
Creating Engaging Virtual Reality Experiences for Your Museum Collection Might Be Easier Than You Think

By Brady Lund and Shari Scribner

May Massee is a literary legend. She was a key player in the development of children’s literature in the United States, establishing the “junior books” division of Doubleday, Page, Inc. in 1923 and at the Viking Press in 1933. The May …
Museums and AI: Is There a Ghost in the Machine?

By Seema Rao

What are the ethical implications of AI? What role do museums play in the global conversation about data privacy? How can bias impact AI systems? This post, one of three on the topic of artificial intelligence in museums, explores those …