Center for the Future of Museums Blog

The Center for the Future of Museums Blog shares musings on the future of museums and society.

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!

Building a Future of Social Justice

By Ann Burroughs

In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, I came across a picture (above) of a futurist installation by LA street artist Plastic Jesus. This bit of immersive fiction warned of a future in which America might repeat one of the most …
Museums and Equity: Volunteers

By Elizabeth Merritt

42% male 22% African American, Asian, or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity 66% under the age of 55 49% with less than a college degree That’s the demographic profile of volunteers in the US*. Does it describe your museum’s volunteers? For many …
Autism in Museums: a revolution in the making

By Claire Madge

As we work to increase diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility among museum audiences and in the workplace, we need to attend to the needs of neurodiverse visitors and employees. In today’s post, Claire Madge, founder of the …
Investing in the Creative Economy for Good and Profit

By Laura Callanan

When it comes to managing their endowments, museums typically focus solely on financial return. This is a missed opportunity to advance their mission-related work. Some avoid investing in sectors (tobacco, extractive energy) at odds with …
Revisiting Volunteers and Museum Labor

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’m working on an essay about museum volunteers and diversity, exploring how this issue intertwines with efforts to diversify our staff, boards, and audiences. What are the barriers to volunteering? Is the opportunity and ability to …
Talking with Visitors About the Eviction Crisis

By Dr. Sarah Leavitt

This year’s TrendsWatch profiles several museums working to educate the public about homelessness and housing insecurity. One of the exhibitions I highlighted was Evicted, presented by the National Building Museum from April 2018-May 2019. …
Building an Equitable Future: Museums and Reparations

By Elizabeth Merritt

Today is Juneteenth, commemorating the emancipation of enslaved black people in America. This holiday is a big deal here in my home town of Washington D.C. Not coincidentally, today the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates will trek up Capitol Hill to …
An Intergenerational “School of Drag” Connects LGBTQIA+ Youth and Elders

By Eli Burke

Last year, 20 organizations enrolled in a special museum cohort of Aroha Philanthropies’ Seeding Vitality Arts program. With funding from Aroha, and training provided by Lifetime Arts, these museums are developing high quality, …
Artificial Intelligence in Service of Understanding and Delight

By Dr. Hank Hine

I continue to be amazed and delighted at the ways in which museums are harnessing artificial intelligence to power their work. This week Dr. Hank Hine, Executive and Creative Director of The Dali Museum, tells us how The Dali has used AI …
Two Artists on the Future of Blockchain and Art

By Elizabeth Merritt

Every year I feature an emerging technology in TrendsWatch, and this year I dove into blockchain—the distributed, encrypted digital ledger system that supports both cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, and “crypto-art” like Primavera …