One from each Category: Part 2
Time for a brain stretch. This is part two of a quick review of recent scanning hits in five STEEP categories of forecasting—this one covers economic, environmental and political developments. (You can read part one, on social and …
Checks and Imbalances: The Challenges of Presidential Libraries
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2012 edition of Museum magazine. Presidential libraries are in fact archives and museums. They display exhibitions, both permanent and temporary, and serve as public forums for …
Forecasting Giving to Museums in 2012 Through the Giving USA Data
Museums watch current economic trends with a combination of fear and fascination. Every major source of museum income has been undermined in recent years, including private philanthropy (which accounted for a median of 36 percent of museum …
Water Under the Bridge: Crystal Bridges Defies Critics, Wins Hearts
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2012 edition of the Museum magazine Billionaire Businesswoman Alice Walton amassed a fortune because her father’s company helped Americans buy merchandise for less. While Walmart is …
A More Perfect Union: Museums Merge, Grow Stronger
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2012 edition of the Museum magazine. Museums are living through extraordinary times, suffering from strained budgets, a drop in philanthropic support, dwindling government funding, …
The Reluctant Optimist on the Difficulty of Writing Bright Futures
I recently taught a forecasting workshop at the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections’ 27th annual meeting in New Haven, Conn. To seed our conversations, I recruited a few twisted brilliant collections managers to …
Updates to CFM’s 2012 Trends to Watch
Our first annual summary of Dispatches from the Future of Museums—TrendsWatch 2012: Museums and the Pulse of the Future—is getting a lot of attention and commentary, which is great. But as soon as Phil Katz (my co-author) and I sent it to …
Artists, Art, and Historic Sites: A Revitalization of the Past Through Present Creativity
Kate Laurel Burgess-Mac Intosh is an independent museum professional whoshares her research on contemporary art/historic site mash-ups on theblog Revitalizing Historic Sites and on Facebook. Sheis Chair of the Young and Emerging Museum …
Our Broken Economic Model
Every so often I realize I am having the same conversation so frequently, I might as well write it down and share it with everyone. Today’s conversation is “How Museums Are Like Newspapers and What We Can Learn from That.” I haven’t come …
A Rising Tide: The Changing Landscape of Risk Assessment
In my time heading the Excellence Programs at AAM (including MAP and Accreditation) it was always a challenge to coax, cajole or even gently bully museums into producing well-tailored risk management plans. AAM staff tried disseminating …
