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EO Impacts and the Next Era of Museum Funding: Part One

By Elizabeth Merritt

Earlier this month I gave a talk at the AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo on the impact presidential executive orders are having on our sector, and the implications for museum business models. Short version: not pretty, some bright …
Sharing Snippets from AAM 2025

By Elizabeth Merritt

It was lovely to see over 4,000 of you in Los Angeles last week! I hope those of you who did attend share what you learned through conversation, social media, blog posts, presentations to colleagues, etc. etc. You can search #AAM2025 on …
Join Us, LIVE FROM LA!

By Elizabeth Merritt

The recent wave of grant cancellations and other funding disruptions mean that some museum people have had to cancel their plans to attend the AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo this week. And I know that, even in the best in the best of …
Cultivating Optimism: Signals of Hope

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’ve been on a deep dive into the world of optimism lately, looking for inspiration I might share to bolster our collective mental resilience in the face of massive disruptions. As I suspected, research shows that cultivating optimism …
Revisiting Wild Times: The Loss of Nonprofit Status

By Elizabeth Merritt

In 2018 I published a scenario titled “Wild Times” set in a version of 2040 in which museums lost their nonprofit status due to a combination of political attacks, economic stress, and a global pandemic. At the time, I emphasized its …
Your Guide to the Future at AAM 2025

By Elizabeth Merritt

AAM’s annual meeting is a gigantic buffet of content, and I know from experience that navigating the offerings can be somewhat overwhelming. In this post I offer one specialized menu of sessions related to issues I’m watching with a …
TrendsWatch: Download, share, and go deeper

By Elizabeth Merritt

The 2025 edition of TrendsWatch, AAM’s annual forecasting report, is now available as a free PDF download! In this post I’ll tell you how to snag your copy and preview some opportunities to delve more deeply into this year’s topics, …
Special Screening of Repatriation Documentary at AAM 2025

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’m excited to announce that AAM has arranged a special showing of the 2024 documentary Dahomey at the upcoming AAM Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. Dahomey, directed by French Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop, explores the repatriation of 26 …
Against Efficiency

By Elizabeth Merritt

On occasion, I use this space to comment on norms and practices that I feel do active harm to our sector and our peers. (See, for example, my short rant on “quiet quitting” and the pernicious effects of workplace heroism.) Today I’m going …
Living in a Wild Future

By Elizabeth Merritt

In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic upended the world for Americans and American museums, my job shifted from focusing on the far future to the immediate present. As museum leaders struggled with urgent decisions about keeping people …