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Meet the Jurors for the 2018 Excellence in Exhibition Label Writing Competition!

By Catherine Wood

The 2018 Excellence in Exhibition Label Writing Competition is open for submissions! Consider sending in some of your organization’s best recent labels for the chance to be featured in the competition’s display at the Marketplace of …
Giving Thanks!

By Laura Lott

As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s important to take a moment to recognize and celebrate all of the people whose unique contributions make the American Alliance of Museums such a wonderful community. First, I must thank the …
Can a Toolkit Help a Museum Manage their Volunteer Program?

By Susan Zwerling

Exciting Update (12/12/19): In response to the survey results discussed in the November 2017 blog post below, our new toolkit Designing A Museum Volunteer Program is now available! I am so pleased to be part of an effort that began as a …
Six Tips for Making Virtual Reality a Reality

By David Whitemyer, AIA

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are coming to a museum near you. The Sep/Oct 2017 cover of AAM’s Museum featured a photo of a young woman wearing a VR headset at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hall of …
The Worcester Art Museum: A Re-envision Case Study

By Valerie Fletcher

THE VISION With the arrival of a new director in 2011, the board envisioned a more accessible and inclusive museum providing physical, sensory, intellectual, aesthetic, and social access for everyone. The board also aspired for the museum …
Reimagining the Museum in Medellín 2017

By Liz Neely

This week the Reimagining the Museum Conference of the Americas kicked off in Medellín, Colombia bringing together more than 600 museum professionals, from Argentina to Canada and around the world, to discuss the role of museums as social …
Some thoughts on visitor exhibition patterns

By Beverly Serrell

In a recent thread on Museum Junction, Beverly Serrell, director of Serrell & Associates, responded to a post titled Unintended Visitor Flow Pattern with some really helpful information. There are several basic assumptions that …
Coffee, Cacti, and Collaboration: National Program Committee Kicks off #AAM2018 in Phoenix

By Sam Moore

As a professional museum nerd, I can state for a fact that there is nothing more exciting than being in a room filled with other museum nerds–which is what makes AAM’s Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo so exciting. But every fall, long …
When the global is local: building a world-class museum in Mogadishu, Minnesota

By Sarah Larsson

Our institutions are all asking that question: How can we build our museum’s audience as our communities are changing? I serve as Outreach & Development Director at the Somali Museum of Minnesota, the first museum celebrating the art …
Learning by Design: A New Era for Education at the Computer History Museum

By Lauren Silver

Here at the Computer History Museum (CHM), we are deep in the midst of planning for the opening of a new Education Center. What began as a way to create more space for our growing programs has become over time a catalyst for what I’ve …