Building Audiences

How the Frazier History Museum Is “Bridging the Divide” in Its City

By Rachel Platt

The Frazier History Museum is located on Main Street in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky, at the corner of Ninth Street. What makes our address significant, historically significant, is that Ninth Street has long been known as the “Ninth …
An Unconventional Museum Education: Prioritizing Community Need

By Sarah Henderson

Ever since I was a student of museum studies at Georgetown University, I’ve been interested in how to embed museums into their communities in more useful and necessary ways. Now, at the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library …
Rebuilding Pathways: How DEAI and Creative Aging Intersect at the Speed Art Museum

By Toya Northington, in conversation with Marjorie Schwarzer

As museums work to become more diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive, one community is often left out of the discourse: people over the age of fifty-five. This may be because they already appear to be well-represented. After all, …
For Post-Pandemic Success, Get Creative with Distributed Museum Models

By Theresa M. Genovese, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB

As the global pandemic has put a halt to in-person visitation for much of 2020 and brought long-held planning and operational models into question, museum leaders across the country have been grappling with challenges of how to prepare for …
With Rapid Response Collecting, Who Are We Responding To?

By Carol Ghiorsi Hart

After the start of protests over the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent looting of businesses, hundreds of plywood boards went up in Greensboro, North Carolina’s downtown. But these boards, which could have been an angry reminder …
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 …
Setting A Higher Bar

By Josh Barr

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2020 issue of Museum magazine, a benefit of AAM membership. Since its inception, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum has focused on universal accessibility. Well before the …
The Digital Awakening

By Nik Honeysett

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2020 issue of Museum magazine, a benefit of AAM membership. Global disruption has demonstrated the need for a digital-first approach to online engagement. Those of us who have spent …
Emerging From Crisis

By Arthur Cohen

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2020 issue of Museum magazine, a benefit of AAM membership. One of the largest audience research studies aims to help cultural institutions remain relevant through the pandemic and …
Pandemic-Friendly Ideas for Welcoming Immigrants and Refugees to Your Community

By Joseph O'Neill

Welcoming Week is an annual event from Welcoming America that seeks to unite recent immigrants and refugees with longer residents in communities. Along with other organizations of all stripes, museums have been involved for years, hosting …