In Good Relation: Reimagining the Grant Process for Community-Based Projects
In recent years, there have been renewed calls for museums to adopt more inclusive and equitable practices, with significant changes to the ways we work and collaborate at all levels of our institutions. As a grants manager, I think about …
The Who, What, and Why of Storytelling in Museums
Watch this conversation between Adina Langer, Gina J. Wouters, and Colleen Higginbotham as they discuss how to make museum storytelling as engaging a…
Trusting the Process: The Collaborative Journey to Reframing a Problematic Object
“Put it in storage.” “Replace it with something else.” “Put up a new label.” “Do nothing.” These were some of the solutions offered up when the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison began exploring how to confront …
What Does a Curator of Sustainability Do? A Q&A with Chris Hobbs
In recent years, sustainability has gone from a buzzword for museums to an action step, as our organizations increasingly confront and prepare for the adverse effects of climate change on their sites and, more importantly, their …
“Wait, What? Toddlers in an Art Museum?”
Caitlin Mock Wilson, a mother of two young children and a Clyfford Still Museum (CSM) member, often went to museums with her parents as a young child. When she had her own children, she said it “felt natural” that she would also bring them …
Remarks from Benin Bronzes Repatriation Ceremony
On October 11, 2022, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art hosted a repatriation ceremony in which officials of the museum transferred ownership of twenty-nine Benin bronzes and the National Gallery of Art transferred ownership …
A New Site of Conscience: Sing Sing Prison Museum
Five years ago, CFM’s TrendsWatch report examined how museums are helping society confront the need for criminal justice reform. Historic sites play an important role in this work, with institutions like the Eastern State Penitentiary in …
Looking Back to Move Forward: Examining Institutional Racism in Reprising “Afro-American Images 1971”
In February 1971, a newly formed Delaware organization, Aesthetic Dynamics Inc., presented its first major undertaking: an exhibition of over 130 works of art—drawings, prints, photographs, paintings, and sculpture—by sixty-six African …
The Peabody Essex Museum’s Climate + Environment Initiative Seeks to Create a Different Climate Future
As the director of an interactive art and nature space, I’ve included climate change as a topic in many shows and programs over the years. But until recently, I had convinced myself that focusing an entire exhibition on climate change …
How the Delaware Art Museum is Centering Community Voices in Interpretive Planning
In 2018, the Delaware Art Museum (DelArt) began a radically inclusive approach to reinstallation planning, integrating community voices at every stage through focus groups, iterative prototyping, and community-created content. But before …
