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Center for the Future of Museums Blog
The Center for the Future of Museums Blog shares musings on the future of museums and society.
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Serving the Needs of the Community During a Pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, museums have proven themselves to be part of the essential infrastructure of our country, supporting their communities in myriad ways. Sometimes this support …
How museums can ethically invest their money
“Since many museums share the values of diversity, equity, inclusion and access, this is a good place to start being intentional about the endowment.” –Laura Callanan, …
Investing for Values and Mission
Editor’s Note: This year AAM’s TrendsWatch leads with a call for museums to help close the racial gaps in wealth and power that divide the United States. As the report points out, one way …
Invite Your Visitors and Participants To Be Seen in a National Research Portrait — Especially if Your Museum Serves BIPOC or Rural Communities
Sometimes “anyone can participate” isn’t as inclusive as it seems. There can be all sorts of invisible barriers, including who even hears the invitation to begin with. …
Gen Z is leaning in. Are museums ready to make room?
Change is multifaceted, and demographic change is no exception. For example, the population of the US is steadily becoming more diverse with regard to race, culture, and gender. Children …
Texas Museum Opens Doors During Historic Winter Storm
This year has exposed the vulnerabilities of so many critical systems in the US, including health care, education, and the social safety net. In the latest edition of TrendsWatch I profiled …
Opportunity! Dedicated funding for museums taking climate action
As I note in this year’s TrendsWatch, this is truly a “syndemic” year. We face multiple crises that, left unchecked, will interact to make each other worse. For example, the …
Building Equity: Reparative Practice at the Valentine Museum
Last week the Alliance released TrendsWatch: Navigating a Disrupted Future. The opening chapter of this year’s forecasting report addresses the need for museums to join with all sectors of …
New TrendsWatch! Navigating a Disrupted Future
In a normal year, TrendsWatch explores the impact emerging forces of change may have on museums in the next decade or longer. Some, such as demographic shifts, affect all museums in the …
Tales from Campus: Radical Collaboration at the Nasher Museum
In today’s guest post, Wendy Hower, Director of Engagement & Marketing at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, describes how an outdoor art exhibition became a wide-reaching way …
Crowdsourcing a Database of Permanent Museum Closings
Due to the independent nature of the nonprofit sector in the US, there no comprehensive way to track museum openings or closings (much less arrive at a definitive head count of museums at …
Mapping Uncertainty in 2021
I have been wishing everyone HAPPY NEW YEAR (in all caps) because I am so relieved to see the backside of 2020. But “better than last year” is a very low bar indeed, and we face many very …