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Call for Content! Repatriation, Restitution, and Reparative Practice

By Elizabeth Merritt

This year’s TrendsWatch report included a short piece about recent shifts in museum practice with regard to voluntary repatriation, restitution, and reparations. AAM’s Museum will delve into the topic more deeply in the November/December …
Techno-skepticism: Rethinking the Costs and Benefits of Digital Technology

By Elizabeth Merritt

The night before my flight to Denver for #AAM2023, I went over my slides for the annual presentation on TrendsWatch. The talk was formatted around the chapters of the latest report (access your free download here), but rather than simply …
At the Barnes Foundation, Internal Internships Support Frontline Staff

By Scarlett McCahill & Erica Simonitis

What can be even better than a museum making a successful hire? Keeping the experienced, well-trained staff it already has. The Alliance’s soon-to-be-released latest snapshot survey of our sector documents that half of museums are …
Supporting the Mental Health of Museum Staff

By Ann Fortescue

I’ve been in close communication with some of the museum directors using CFM resources—including TrendsWatch reports and the AAM Strategic Foresight Toolkit—to inform their planning and management. Today, Ann Fortescue, Executive Director …
Releasing TrendsWatch into the Wild

By Elizabeth Merritt

Heads up! The 2023 edition of CFM’s annual forecasting report is now available as a free PDF download. TrendsWatch: Building the Post-pandemic World explores how museums can emerge from the past three years better and stronger, using …
An Afrofuturist School Program Empowers Children to Envision the Future

By Nina Woodruff-Walker

Futurism is a powerful tool to share with kids—equipping them to think about the world they want to live in when they grow up, challenging them to make it better. Today on the blog, Executive Director Nina Woodruff-Walker tells us how the …
Finding the Future at #AAM2023

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’m taking a short break from prepping my materials for #AAM2023 to share a preview of what The Future will be up to in Denver. For me the conference starts on Thursday, May 18, with the latest iteration of the “Diving into Strategic …
Virgil Ortiz Revolt 1680/2180: Runners + Gliders

By Virgil Ortiz

Today on the blog, Pueblo artist Virgil Ortiz tells us about his use of futures-inflected storytelling to illuminate the past, as embodied in his latest project, Revolt 1680/2180: Runners + Gliders. If you are joining us in Denver for …
Emerging Issues in Legislation

By Elizabeth Merritt

Forgive me for being biased, but I think Museums Advocacy Day is one of The Best Museum Events in the US every year. What’s not to like about hundreds of people descending on the Capitol to tell their representatives about the …
A Short Rant About Quiet Quitting (or, Why Heroism Can Be Toxic)

By Elizabeth Merritt

One of the things that fell to the cutting room floor as I edited this year’s TrendsWatch was a short rant about the phrase “quiet quitting.” In the published version of the essay on workplace trends,* I merely noted that “confusingly [the …