Posts
Center for the Future of Museums Blog
The Center for the Future of Museums Blog shares musings on the future of museums and society.
The Mind Behind the Myth: Navigating visitor reactions at Kew Palace
During the pandemic, museums supported the mental health of their communities in creative and generous ways. Some created outdoor art installations to boost the spirits of people in nursing …
Museum Staff as Disaster Service Workers
Last month I put out a call on Museum Junction for examples of museums helping their communities plan for and respond to disasters. Among the many exceptional stories submitted by …
Exploring Museums and Trust 2021
The 2019 edition of TrendsWatch took a deep dive into the topic of trust, summarizing the global “trust deficit” and its effect on society. The subject was of particular importance to …
Digital Migrants and Digital Nomads: Reshaping Museum Communities
Hello, this is Elizabeth. I’m trying to recover from my pandemic writing rut by drafting a short post each week, commenting on the news. (Kind of like the old CFM series “Monday Musing,” …
A Self-care Practice: Spend Some Time in Utopia
“Utopia is born of the hunger for something better, but it relies on hope as the engine for imagining such a future.” –Marge Piercy The news has been pretty bleak for the past 18 …
COVID Update—Fall 2021
I had hoped that by this fall COVID-19 would be receding in our rear view mirror, and we could turn our attention to the post-pandemic future. Unfortunately, my June update, which flagged …
Pandemic Disruption as an Opportunity for Change: Intuit
A year ago, I wrote about how Venice is using their pandemic induced pause to rethink how they can create a better future of sustainable tourism rather than rebounding to the status quo of …
Same Storm, Different Boats
Sometimes, in the wake of disruptive events. the world acts like a rubber band, snapping back to its original shape. Other times, disruptions have a lasting impact—resetting our boundaries, …
Combat Ageism. Your Future Self Will Thank You.
Of the many -isms we are grappling with as individuals and as a society, one of the strangest is ageism. Strange because, in the best case, we will all reach old age. So we are effectively …
The next COVID scenario: Delta Force
The near term future is looking much brighter than it was in March 2020, when I published my first set of scenarios exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic might play out. While the death toll …
Digital Readiness and Pandemic Adaptations
On February 10, 2021, the American Alliance of Museums and the John S. Knight Foundation hosted an online conversation about “Digital Readiness and Pandemic Adaptations.” The webinar …
Navigating a Disrupted Future at #AAM2021
How is a talk different from a written report? How is a digital presentation different from its analog kin? Earlier this week I gave my annual TrendsWatch session at the #AAM2021 virtual …