Building Community and Connection: Guidelines for Museum Educators Teaching Memory Care Programs
In the words of renowned museum educator and empathy expert Elif Gokcigdem, “Museums are safe, informal learning spaces, uniquely equipped to help audiences explore and imagine our human heritage and collective experiences.” Museum …
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 …
An Interpretive Plan for a Castle in the Clouds
Every year, dozens of museums around the country participate in AAM’s Museum Assessment Program (MAP), offered in a cooperative agreement with the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Through guided self-assessment exercises and a …
A Counterpoint to “Witch Kitsch”: Peabody Essex Museum’s New Salem Witch Trials Walking Tour
At 11:58 am, my finger hovered above the record button. I had set out on a hot August day to capture the noon bell chimes of the Immaculate Conception Church in downtown Salem, Massachusetts. My goal was to weave these ambient sounds into …
Museums Can Help Transform Education
Last week I spent an inspiring afternoon in a Zoom workshop dedicated to envisioning “liberatory futures” for P-12 education. How can we collectively create an educational future that is rooted in equity, self-determination, and the right …
A House Museum Built for the Digital Age
The museum sector went into the pandemic ill-prepared to use digital strategies to keep themselves afloat, but many museums that had begun to experiment with how digital could enhance or replace existing practices found themselves at an …
Get Your Geek On! How Museums Can Host Mission-Driven Community Conventions
Did you know that a freight elevator can just barely fit a life-size Tyrannosaurus rex puppet? We happened to learn this while getting ready for the Geek Con, an annual event held by the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science in …
How Museum Educators Are Using Strategic Foresight to Address Climate Change
In this series of posts, EdCom’s Trends Committee is taking a deeper look at emerging phenomena identified in the 2021 edition of TrendsWatch from the Center for the Future of Museums. In this post, they explore examples of how museums …
What University Museum Educators Have Learned from the Pandemic
In this series of posts, EdCom’s Trends Committee is taking a deeper look at emerging phenomena identified in the 2021 edition of TrendsWatch from the Center for the Future of Museums. In this post, they survey university museums across …
