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Financial Stability

Assess for Success

By Laura Nice
The AAM Museum Assessment Program inspired the Janet Turner Print Museum to expand its programming, collection, and collaboration with campus and commun…

A Children’s Museum’s Partnership With Local School District Brings in Revenue — and New Ideas

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Leaders at the Children’s Museum of Fond du Lac got to see different teaching techniques in action when it hosted a charter school for the 2020-21 academic year. The money that the …

We’re a Group of Museum Directors Who Pooled Resources During the Pandemic. Here’s Why Others Should Consider Doing the Same

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How six museums formed the Philadelphia Collaborative Arts Consortium to jointly tackle pandemic challenges. One core project: developing structures to jointly fundraise and equitably …

Monthly Subscriptions Make Membership Easy to Say Yes To

By Rosie Siemer & John Lewis
As cultural organizations continue to face declining membership and significant lost revenue during the pandemic, many are seeking ways to engage new audiences and retain existing members. …

Running with Scissors (and a Mask!): COVID-19 Responses at Old Salem Museums & Gardens

Headshot of Franklin Vagnone, wearing a flower crown
By Franklin D. Vagnone
Just as flexible buildings can withstand hurricane-force winds and earthquakes, flexible institutions can withstand monumental challenges like a global pandemic. Because of our four years …

The Top Ten Alliance Blog Posts of 2020

By Joseph O'Neill
If 2019 was a “whirlwind year,” 2020 was a full-blown tornado. Forces that had been gathering speed in the museum field—like growing emphases on digital content and diversity, equity, …

National Gallery charging for virtual tour of Artemisia exhibition

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The National Gallery (UK) is charging for an online tour of Artemisia, an exhibition dedicated to Artemisia Gentileschi, the first retrospective of a Renaissance or Baroque woman …

Downsizing Our Museum in the Face of a Pandemic

Logo of Center of the Future of Museum's Space Slug
By Elizabeth Merritt
According to the Alliance’s first COVID snapshot of museum operations, conducted this past summer, one-third of US museums expected to lose over 40 percent of their annual operating income …

Lessons Learned from SARS (and Strikes) at the Ontario Science Center

Logo of Center of the Future of Museum's Space Slug
By Elizabeth Merritt
Often the best way to foresee the future is to revisit the past. In March, professor Marjorie Schwarzer offered an overview of how US museums responded to three pandemics in the 20th …

Regional Museums Struggle to Survive After Closing Because of Coronavirus

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For more than 20 minutes, Akron Art Museum director Mark Masuoka stared into the cerulean recesses of Sky Hook (1981), a somber painting by Gene Davis. Masuoka searched for solace in the …

In Times Like These: Managing Museums Through Crises

Headshot of Christy Coleman
By Christy S. Coleman
On March 23, I sent out a tweet thread to encourage museum peers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little did I know those simple tweets would resonate with so many. I wrote: Having led museums …

How Nonprofits Can Apply for Loans and Other Emergency Benefits

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Nonprofits interested in taking advantage of new emergency loans and other aid programs should get their papers in order, contact their local FDIC-insured bank, and prepare to move …

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