-
Challenging Assumptions–Why Not Sell the Collections?
Last week I joined Gregory Rodriguez, Lori Fogarty and Jim DeMersman on air for KQED’s Forum in San Francisco to discuss the effect of the recession on museums (archived recording here.) I was generally pleased with the discussion, … -
Some Projections to End the Year
Contributed by Phil Katz, AAM’s Assistant Director for Research. Most anecdotal evidence has pointed to shrinking museum staffs in 2009. However, new projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that the demand for museum … -
“Why would you want to visit a museum?”
This week’s guest post is by Ron Chew, independent consultant and Community Scholar in Residence at the Museology Graduate Program, University of Washington. Ron is the former director of the Wing Luke Asian Museum, and a member of the CFM … -
Vetting Future Museums
I read this morning that the National Museum of Language is on the brink of closing the outpost it opened last year in College Park, Maryland. This caught my eye because almost ten years ago their founder asked me to speak to their board … -
We love Free! We love Research!
If you follow CFM regularly, you know we love Susie Wilkening and James Chung of Reach Advisors. Of course I mean we love their work–notably their CFM report Museums & Society 2034: Trends and Potential Futures. Come to think of … -
Managing Holistically—Lessons from Ecosystem Management
This is a second guest blog post from Robert Janes, editor-in-chief of Museum Management and Curatorship, Chair of the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley and former president and CEO of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Canada. Read his … -
Quick Thoughts from the CFM Lecture
My mind is still reeling from the boffo lecture Gregory Rodriguez delivered for the Center for the Future of Museums Wednesday night at the Embassy of Canada here in Washington, DC. It is going to take some time to process all these … -
The Museum of the Future—your vision reflected here?
A friend who works with, but not in, museums has asked me for predictions regarding characteristics of the museum of the future. He is working on an interesting project to create a prototype of the “future museum” in order to generate … -
What’s Innovation Look Like? And How Do You Measure It?
A few weeks ago, we used this spaceto invite museums to participate in the Nonprofit Listening Post Project at Johns Hopkins University. Reminder: the LP Project is a national research initiative designed to identify the challenges facing … -
Towards a New Mainstream?
Museums & Society 2034, this figure always makes museum folk sit up and take notice. Changing composition of America (U.S. Census Bureau/Reach Advisors) It dramatizes the growing disconnect between the population of the U.S., which is …
Center for the Future of Museums Blog
The Center for the Future of Museums Blog shares musings on the future of museums and society.
Read Dispatches from the Future of Museums online!
Get more resources from the Center for the Future of Museums.
Explore all Publications from the Alliance.
Explore the AAM Resource Library by topic, and further filter by subtopic or resource types to find what matters most to you!
Latest Stories from AAM
Tracking Trust in Museums: 2026 Update
Category:
Alliance Blog
This visual Data Story is based on findings from the 2025 Annual Survey of Museum-Goers, …
Mining the National Archives: New Exhibition Sparks Personalized Discovery with AI
Category:
Center for the Future of Museums Blog
CFM’s summer dive into artificial intelligence has included scenarios of potential …
From Fragmentation to Alignment: Project Management in Museums
Category:
On-Demand Programs
Project management in museums is often misunderstood as task tracking or administrative …