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 …

“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 …

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 …

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 …

Latest Stories from AAM

From the Trenches: Advice from an Emerging Museum Professional

Category: Alliance Blog
I didn’t always see myself working in museums. For most of my life, I was immersed in …

Civics on View: Using Museum Collections to Foster Greater Civic Knowledge and Understanding

At a time when much of the nation is thinking about what citizenship means, museums, …

The Formula for Relevance

Category: Center for the Future of Museums Blog
I love finding examples of museums that use their resources to boost the fortunes of …

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