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Education & Interpretation
Assess for Success
The AAM Museum Assessment Program inspired the Janet Turner Print Museum to expand its programming, collection, and collaboration with campus and commun…
The Top Ten Alliance Blog Posts of 2021
Though 2021 was a slightly more normal year than 2020, with mostly open museums gradually regaining visitors, the pandemic still loomed large and colored most conversations. On the Alliance …
The smell of success: how scent became the must-have interpretative tool
In the beautifully lit interior of Chiswick House (pictured, top), cellist Rebecca Knight paused in her playing and put her hand to her nose. It was a pre-arranged sign for the audience …
Integrating Civic Learning Across Museum Education
For years, museums have wondered how to be more relevant and to embrace our identities as civic institutions. At a time when multiple pandemics and crises of governance face the country and …
How Can Education Programs Help Bridge the Digital Divide?
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 …
How Philadelphia Cultural Institutions Embraced Collaboration to Address Opportunity Gaps
If there is a positive outcome of the pandemic’s impact on cultural institutions, it may be the willingness to ideate and take different approaches to our work to ensure that no one is …
Telling overlooked stories at New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society Museum and Library has announced a $140m expansion of its building on Central Park West. This will add more than 70,000 square feet of space to the …
With the Help of MAP, the Manassas Museum Met Its Changing Community’s Needs
Through the Museum Assessment Program, museums gain perspective on how to improve core areas of their operations, with a combination of guided self-reflection and close consultation with an …
Picture of Health: How MFA, St. Petersburg, Reimagined the Museum Program as a Source of Wellness and Healing
As the Curator of Public Programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, my professional focus has always been the MFA’s public spaces, performing arts venue, and gardens—not the …
Creating Connections: Merging Lifelong Learning and Music Therapy
The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix, Arizona, celebrates music and world cultures through a multisensory experience—where guests can “travel” the globe through the sights and …
How a Disturbing Historical Discovery Inspired a New Mission at Old North Foundation
The enduring fame of the Old North Church in Boston began on the evening of April 18, 1775, when church sexton Robert Newman and vestryman Capt. John Pulling Jr. climbed the steeple and …
#AAM2021 Keynote: Sandra Cisneros
Sandra Cisneros is a Chicana writer and artist whose work explores the lives of the working class. Following her keynote, Carlos Tortolero, Founder and President of the National Museum of …