Education & Interpretation

How Philadelphia Cultural Institutions Embraced Collaboration to Address Opportunity Gaps

By Barbara Wong

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 excluded—particularly low-income communities, where …
With the Help of MAP, the Manassas Museum Met Its Changing Community’s Needs

By Mary Helen Dellinger & Rachel Goldberg

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 expert Peer Reviewer. One of the many museums …
Picture of Health: How MFA, St. Petersburg, Reimagined the Museum Program as a Source of Wellness and Healing

By Margaret Murray

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 collection galleries. Most of the museum programs I’ve …
Creating Connections: Merging Lifelong Learning and Music Therapy

By Katherine Palmer and Christa Mannen

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 sounds of MIM’s geographically organized exhibits. As …
How a Disturbing Historical Discovery Inspired a New Mission at Old North Foundation

By Nikki Stewart

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 raised two lanterns as a signal that the British were …
#AAM2021 Keynote: Sandra Cisneros

By American Alliance of Museums

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 Mexican Art in Chicago, joined the virtual stage …
Why Teachers Want Virtual Field Trips to Stay

By Holly Duskin

On a virtual field trip, students search their screens for signs of movement as they try to spot the elusive macroinvertebrates lurking in a pond water sample. A grid appears over the screen with the numbers one through six in each box, so …
Finding Wonder in a Virtual World

By Rachel Serkin

Envision a group of schoolchildren standing before you, giddy with anticipation and excitement. In front of them are two elongated rectangular wooden doors, which, once opened, will transport them to another time. The doors swing open and …
The Peabody Essex Museum’s Climate + Environment Initiative Seeks to Create a Different Climate Future

By Jane Winchell

As the director of an interactive art and nature space, I’ve included climate change as a topic in many shows and programs over the years. But until recently, I had convinced myself that focusing an entire exhibition on climate change …
What’s the Connection Between Financial Capital and Museum Education?

By Kerry Sautner and Abby Newkirk

In this series of posts, EdCom’s Trends Committee is taking a deeper look at emerging phenomena identified in the 2020 edition of TrendsWatch from the Center for the Future of Museums. In this post, they dive into financial capital, with a …