Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion

Visitors with Vision Loss

By Nina Levent and Christine Reich

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2012 issue of Museum magazine, a benefit of AAM membership. Art Beyond Sight/Art Education for the Blind (ABS) encourages the visual arts to play a vital role in the lives of people who …
Ethics and the Distributed Museum

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’m wrestling with the draft report of “Forecasting the Future of Museum Ethics.” One of the most delightful things about this project is that, despite the constraints of format (multiple choice and free text in an online survey) the …
Choosing Roles: Facilitator or Advocate?

By Elizabeth Merritt

Would you rather be loved, or would you rather save the world? You can’t necessarily have both. I pondered this choice, as it applies to museums, yesterday morning at the last half day of the 21st Century Learning in Natural History …
It’s Up 2 You!

By Elizabeth Merritt

The best way to get your message out is through whatever format your audience is already attuned to. This is not always (big shock) a 200 word exhibit text panel. The most effective medium might be video, a blog, a game, or a graphic …
Forecasting the Future of Accessibility: Please Touch or Don’t Touch?

By Elizabeth Merritt

I wish I could preview my Inbox from 2036. How come Outlook doesn’t have an option for that? As a member of AAM’s staff Ethics Taskforce, I help answer plaintive, irate, indignant and panicked questions that come over our email. So I have …
The Workforce of the Future Starts Now

By Elizabeth Merritt

We get a lot of questions about who will be working, or should be working, in the museum of the future, and how museums should be finding, recruiting and training these future staff members. Any exploration of the future of the museum …
Bridges from School to Work

By Elizabeth Merritt

This week’s guest blog post is by Kelly Pavich, employee representative and trainer at the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities, established in 1989 by the family of J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott to enhance employment …
A Global View of the Future

By Elizabeth Merritt

Bonjour, привует, Guten Tag, سلام ! This is a shout-out to and call for input from CFM’s international followers. In the past month, the traffic to this blog has come from: United States: 5,634 France: 1,173 Canada: 334 United Kingdom: …
SWF ISO Museum Position

By Elizabeth Merritt

This week’s guest post is an interview with future museum professional Paige LaCour, student in museum management at Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies and volunteer at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. …
When Slavery Came To Stay

By Phillip Seitz

This article originally appeared in the May/June 2011 edition of Museum magazine. America needs a fresh approach to slavery. In a political climate where people shrug off their collective responsibilities by demanding “less …