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Monday Musings: Volunteers and Discrimination
Monday Musings is an occasional series of posts in which I challenge myself to spend 15 minutes or so sharing my thoughts on something I have read in the news, and the story’s potential implications. This article from the Nonprofit … -
Futurist Friday: Securing the Future
Followers of CFM may have noticed I’m on a bit of a “creepy” streak–from blogging about how museums may start surveilling their visitors, to noting the emergence of computer viruses that can leap from machine to … -
The Watchful Museum
I had the pleasure of contributing to a symposium at the National Museum of American History’s Lemelson Center last Friday. Inventing the Surveillance Society looked at the evolving balance between privacy and security in a world … -
Resources for the Future
I share a lot of resources, links and information here on the Blog. There is even more good stuff compiled in the Alliance’s newly rechristened Resource Library (which used to be called “Professional Resources”). The Resource Library is an … -
Fostering Innovation part 3: focusing on diffusion
In the introduction to this series I shared my working definition of “innovation,” and in part two I shared observations on Who are the Museum Innovators based on the Alliance’s experience with Innovation Lab for Museums. In that post, I … -
As Goes Kansas, So Goes the Nation?
Every time I travel, I come back with new perspectives to bring to bear on my forecasting. Case in point—last week I was speaking at the Kansas Museums Association Meeting, and in the course of prepping for the talk and schmoozing with … -
Engaging with a “Director of Audience Engagement”
Earlier this month I blogged about Museum Jobs that Didn’t Exist in 2003, and what they tell us about the evolution of our field. Evidently the essay hit a nerve, as it quickly became one of the most read CFM posts ever, (about 5000 page … -
How to Staff the Future
I’ve been spouting off for years about how museums need to change the way they recruit, select and train staff. Why? Because Museums say they want a more diverse workforce, but the major pipeline for future professional staff—museum … -
Inventing the Surveillance Society
When Eric Hintz called to ask if I would speak on a symposium about “surveillance,” I thought at first he had my number confused with the NSA. Eric is an historian with the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and … -
Who Makes the Best Advocate for the Future of Museum Funding?
Good futures scanning should include all the STEEP categories. As I’ve confessed before, I sometimes have trouble with the P—political/policy trends. Today, Gail Ravnitzky Silberglied, the Alliance’s vice president of government relations …
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How to respond to new threats to nonprofits
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Center for the Future of Museums Blog
Last week, I learned that the IRS is planning to propose regulations that would give it …
Take Action to Protect the Independence of the Smithsonian Institution and America’s Museums
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Advocacy Alert
Advocacy Alert – July 20, 2026 AAM statement on the independence of the Smithsonian …
AAM Statement on the Independence of the Smithsonian and America’s Museums
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Press Release
The American Alliance of Museums condemns the Administration’s continued attacks on the …