Exhibitions

The Pains and Pleasures of Being a First-Generation Museum Person

By Jojo Galvan

Every few months or so, there’s a family gathering. From a birthday celebration to a family cookout, my family never seems to have a shortage of reasons to gather. At the time of this writing, I am twenty-six years old, making me the right …
Designing a Watershed Experience at the Ontario Museum of History and Art

By Miriam Valle-Mancilla & Marissa Kucheck

With its exhibition on water, the Ontario Museum of History and Art aims to educate and empower its community and address its wellbeing. This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s May/June 2024 issue, a benefit of …
Probing Grief at Historic House Museums

By Callie Hawkins and Rob DeHart

Historic house museums can connect their physical spaces with personal experiences, including grief. This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s May/June 2024 issue, a benefit of AAM membership. Historic house museums often focus …
Beyond the Mannequin: Indigenous Bodies, Presence, and Textiles in Two Exhibitions at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca

By Ariadna Solís and Hector M. Meneses Lozano

Who decides how a body is represented inside a museum? This article first appeared in the journal Exhibition (Spring 2024) Vol. 43 No. 1 and is reproduced with permission. Museums, as institutions that sustain a certain visual order, have …
Climate Solutions: How Audience Research Helped Us Support Visitors in Envisioning Alternate Climate Realities

By Katie Chandler, Jen Kretser, & Stephanie Ratcliffe

This article first appeared in the journal Exhibition (Spring 2024) Vol. 43 No. 1 and is reproduced with permission. Solutions to climate change exist. We have the knowledge. We have the technology. What is required now is the …
You, Me, We: Tackling Identity and Discrimination with Young Audiences

By Melissa Higgins and Lok-Wah Li

In February 2023, Boston Children’s Museum opened a new exhibition called You, Me, We, which encourages families to connect with each other around questions of fairness in the world, reflect on and express their identities, explore …
Seizing the Moment: How Museum Outreach and Programming Can Champion Overlooked Communities

By Deborah Ziska

Sometimes, instead of waiting for an invitation, overlooked communities will come knocking at your door. If so, is your museum ready to be fearless, seize the moment, collaborate, share narratives, and maybe even have some fun? One such …
Climate Action Heroes: How National Children’s Museum Is Empowering the Next Generation of Climate Innovators

By Meredith Hamme & Paige Childs

African American students walking out of school to march for equal rights in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. Eight-year-old activist Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins climbing out of her wheelchair and up the steps of the US Capitol to support the …
9 Colossal Exhibit Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

By American Alliance of Museums

A Comprehensive Tipsheet to Thoughtful Curation, Engaging Exhibits, and How to Limit Headaches When Bringing Museum Experiences to Life. This tipsheet was developed by Elizabeth Skrabonja of EK SKRABONJA Exhibition Design and Shawn Jeffas, …
Seeding the Future at the New Children’s Museum

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’m a huge fan of speculative fiction—stories with the power to immerse us in the daily reality of possible futures deeply and viscerally. We can fall in love with fiction in a way we rarely love academic research or formal foresight. As a …