The Memory Café: Creating a museum program for people with dementia

At Conner Prairie—a Smithsonian Affiliate living history museum in Fishers, Indiana—we recently debuted a program for people with Dementia and Alzheimer’s. In partnership with the Central Indiana Council on Aging (CICOA) and Dementia …

Autism in Museums: a revolution in the making

As we work to increase diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility among museum audiences and in the workplace, we need to attend to the needs of neurodiverse visitors and employees. In today’s post, Claire Madge, founder of the …

Financial Sustainability Is Everyone’s Responsibility

Prepared Remarks of Laura L. Lott President & CEO of the American Alliance of Museums Opening General Session of the 2019 Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo May 20, 2019 Good morning and welcome to the 2019 AAM Annual Meeting, the largest …

Ageism is All Around Us

Greetings! This is my second blog as Aroha Fellow for Museums and Creative Aging, and I begin by reiterating my invitation to meet colleagues who share an interest in creative aging during the 2019 AAM Annual Meeting in New Orleans this …

Outside the Collection Box: Connecting community with collections via augmented reality

Immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), and cross reality (XR) are quickly gaining momentum as a mass media tool deployable in all areas of industry and society, which has …

Four Things I Learned When I Started Thinking about Museum Accessibility

I first started working with the Disabilities community in 2011. Over the years, I’ve worked with individuals of all ages in their homes, at their jobs, and in their communities. The state I live in, Rhode Island, has had to …

A New Way to See: Looking at museums through the eyes of the blind

Let’s talk about accessibility. In the twenty-first century era of inclusivity, museums are working towards making the visitor experience a more positive and unique one, as part of efforts to increase the number of visitors to museums. In …

The A in DEAI: Seven tips for greater accessibility at events

In being a museum professional during the social media age, there are few things cooler than getting to be a Social Media Journalist for the American Alliance of Museum (AAM) conference. In my application, I spoke about how I wanted to …

Call for Nominations: Zero Project 2019

I love to see museums and museum people winning awards and recognition outside our sector. Such accolades demonstrate the ability for museums to good in world-changing ways, and buffs the reputation of our field. For example, Rick Lowe, …

Envisioning the Accessible Future of Peer Review

One of my favorite parts of putting together the recent “future issue” of Museum was asking my colleagues at AAM to imagine how their work, and the programs they staff, such as accreditation and advocacy, might be different in the year …

Latest Stories from AAM

Now Available: On-Demand Sessions from AAM 2025

Category: Alliance Blog
Couldn’t make it to Los Angeles this spring for the AAM Annual Meeting & …

Year-round Advocacy

Category: On-Demand Programs
Effective advocacy is not a “one and done” activity.  It is a continuous process, rather …

AAM Announces Latest Accreditation Awards: 48 Museums Achieve This Distinction

Category: Press Release
For Immediate Release Arlington, VA – The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the …

AAM Member-Only Content

AAM Members get exclusive access to premium digital content including:

  • Featured articles from Museum magazine
  • Access to more than 1,500 resource listings from the Resource Center
  • Tools, reports, and templates for equipping your work in museums
Log In

We're Sorry

Your current membership level does not allow you to access this content.

Upgrade Your Membership

Subscribe to Field Notes!

Packed with stories and insights for museum people, Field Notes is delivered to your inbox every Monday. Once you've completed the form below, confirm your subscription in the email sent to you.

If you are a current AAM member, please sign-up using the email address associated with your account.

Are you a museum professional?

Are you a current AAM member?

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription, and please add communications@aam-us.org to your safe sender list.