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Learning from the Double Diamond: How Divergent and Convergent Thinking Can Improve Collaboration and Problem-Solving in Museums

Have you ever been in a meeting and thrown out an idea, only to have a colleague start listing all the reasons it won’t work? Or maybe you’ve thought of one in your head, only to …

Resilience for Museums Strategies to Address Challenging Realities

Times of extraordinary change and disruption demand flexibility, humility, perseverance, self-reflection, and responsiveness of museum leaders. Agile leadership requires mapping out a …

What Happens When Museums Close

Watch this recorded discussion about what happens when museums close from the 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting. Senior leaders with firsthand experience at a museum that has closed (or come …

Assess for Success

The AAM Museum Assessment Program inspired the Janet Turner Print Museum to expand its programming, collection, and collaboration with campus and commun…

How a Disturbing Historical Discovery Inspired a New Mission at Old North Foundation

The enduring fame of the Old North Church in Boston began on the evening of April 18, 1775, when church sexton Robert Newman and vestryman Capt. John Pulling Jr. climbed the steeple and …

Reimagining Manchester Jewish Museum

Blooloop interviews Max Dunbar, CEO of the Manchester Jewish Museum, about a major renovation and strategic changes the institution has undertaken to become more welcoming and inviting to …

How the Museum of Science and History in Memphis Used the Pandemic to Springboard Its Strategic Plan

By the time the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, the Pink Palace Museum in Memphis had already started a radical reshaping of its image, structure, and programming. When I began as Executive …

A Futures Approach to Museum Planning

Nothing gives me greater joy than learning how the futurist materials created by CFM have helped museums and museum people in their work. Today on the blog, Ty Smith and Jeremy Taylor tell …

The Four Principles of Purpose-Driven Board Leadership

“Boards need to go beyond inviting input from those with relevant lived experience – they need to share power by ensuring that these lived experiences are embedded into the …

Point of View: The Era of Traditional Planning Is Over

“‘Inconceivable!’ You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” —Mandy Patinkin, in the role of Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride This article which appeared …

New TrendsWatch! Navigating a Disrupted Future

In a normal year, TrendsWatch explores the impact emerging forces of change may have on museums in the next decade or longer. Some, such as demographic shifts, affect all museums in the …
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Latest Stories from AAM

The 2024 Museum Store Gift Guide

Category: Alliance Blog
As cheerful as the holiday season can be, it can also be a dizzying blur of to-dos, chief among them the task of finding thoughtful, interesting gifts that will delight their recipients. …

Imaginative Learning in Museums, Part 1: A 2024 Annual Survey of Museum-Goers Data Story

Category: Alliance Blog
This visual Data Story is based on findings from the 2024 Annual Survey of Museum-Goers, a national survey of American museum visitors from AAM and Wilkening Consulting. Every year, the …

In the Line of Duty: Supporting and Training Frontline Museum Staff

Category: Human Resources
The American Alliance of Museums offers the following information as guidance. Thank you to Dorothy Svgdik and Samantha Doolin for their review and critique of the content. The information …

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