Community Engagement & Impact

Shhhhhh… it’s a surpise!

By Elizabeth Merritt

The National Museum of American History has been exploring the American Experience through the study of American food and foodways for the past 15 years through its Food and Wine History project. A signature object in the museum’s …
Updates to CFM’s 2012 Trends to Watch

By Elizabeth Merritt

Our first annual summary of Dispatches from the Future of Museums—TrendsWatch 2012: Museums and the Pulse of the Future—is getting a lot of attention and commentary, which is great. But as soon as Phil Katz (my co-author) and I sent it to …
Is a Farmers Market Right for You?

By Elizabeth Merritt

Today’s guest post is by “Chef” Betty Brewer, president & CEO, of Minnetrista, in Muncie, Ind. Lessons from Minnestrista’s hugely successful farmers market can help you assess whether a market like this might be a good fit for your …
Building a Healthier Community from the Inside Out

By Elizabeth Merritt

As I recently reviewed the wonderful stories we’ve compiled about museums, food and community, I noticed that most of our attention has focused on museums helping their audiences become fitter and healthier. Wait—what about us!? This …
Artists, Art, and Historic Sites: A Revitalization of the Past Through Present Creativity

By Elizabeth Merritt

Kate Laurel Burgess-Mac Intosh is an independent museum professional whoshares her research on contemporary art/historic site mash-ups on theblog Revitalizing Historic Sites and on Facebook. Sheis Chair of the Young and Emerging Museum …
Yarnbombing Museums: Blow the Doors Down

By Elizabeth Merritt

Today’s guest post is by Streetcolor, a knitter and yarnbomber who has blogged for CFM before about the experience of creating art outside a museum’s authority. Now Streetcolor blogs about the experience of being invited inside… Ten …
Illustrations of the Future

By Elizabeth Merritt

The AAM annual meeting is often a little bit overwhelming. And exhausting. OK, it is always a bit overwhelming & exhausting. That being so, I was particularly pleased with this year’s CFM guest artists project. As I wrotebefore the …
Report from #FutrChat

By Elizabeth Merritt

Last Thursday eighty-three futurists and museumers participated in #futrchat on Twitter, co-hosted by the Association of Professional Futurists (APF) and CFM. The tweets flew fast and furious (over 600 of them!) as our sectors exchanged …
Planning A Phenomenon: The Benefits of Consistency

By Elizabeth Merritt

Readers of this blog may already be familiar with the Philbrook Museum of Art and its savvy use of social media, via this popular poston their Cat Cam. Today Jeff Martin, online communities manager for PMA, gives us an update on their …
FLUX | AAM – CFM

By Elizabeth Merritt

This week, guest blogger Peter Kimelman, founding director of the FLUX Foundation, previews his group’s participatory art project at the upcoming AAM annual meeting. One of PK’s recent projects was conducting research on wine and design …