Museum Magazine

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Short Take: Cultivating Compassion

By Elizabeth Merritt

“Compassion is a bridge, helping us move forward by finding common ground and understanding across divides. Our collective decision to act with compassion is the antidote to division, polarization, and hate.” …
Securing the Future of the Nonprofit Sector

By Elizabeth Merritt

How can we defend the nonpartisan nature of nonprofit status and empower the public to support our work? “The work that nonprofits do is like air, and no one appreciates air until it’s gone.” — Vu Le, writer, speaker, and activist The …
The Looming Leadership Crisis

By Elizabeth Merritt

How can museums successfully develop the next generation of leaders? “Success without a successor is a failure.” — John C. Maxwell, American author and pastor People in leadership positions across the for-profit and nonprofit sectors …
Trend Alert: Museum Insurance and Climate Disruptions

By Elizabeth Merritt

Climate risk is disrupting the insurance industry at an accelerating pace, affecting the cost of insurance for museums and, for some institutions in high-risk areas, making it difficult to find coverage at all. This article originally …
For Your Radar: Outrage Fatigue and Model Collapse

By Elizabeth Merritt

A brief guide to terms that may be popping up in your newsfeeds. Outrage fatigue: a state of emotional exhaustion, apathy, cynicism, or hopelessness caused by over-exposure to news or events that provoke anger or disgust. In the evolution …
The Philanthropic Future

By Elizabeth Merritt

How can museums build a healthy stream of charitable support? “Philanthropy is an exercise of power. The question is not whether it is good or bad, but how we ensure it aligns with democratic values.” — Robert Reich, American professor, …
Reading the Room: Designing effective exhibitions with emotional impact in mind

By Jacque Micieli-Voutsinas, Angela Person, Silvina Fernandez-Duque, and Christopher Black

When museums design exhibitions with the nervous system in mind, they create more effective spaces. How can museums create emotionally powerful exhibitions that support sustained visitor engagement? How do we design spaces that …
What Teens Want: Tips from a high school senior and museum intern

By Geva Avnet

Research shows that teens want to engage with museums—if they provide the right programming. In today’s social media era of shortened attention spans and fast-paced trends, teens can see museums as out of touch and antiquated. But …
Going Straight to the Source: Using interactive interviews to create engaging programming

By Devin Dotson and Lilly Andersen

The US Botanic Garden conducted interactive interviews with children to create new and engaging programming for families. When families wander the vibrant gardens of the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) in Washington, DC, they …
When Dinosaurs Meet Deep Oceans: Exhibition planning at the California Academy of Sciences

By Christina Klingenberger-Valdez

In a bid to increase attendance, the California Academy of Sciences shook up its exhibition schedule and marketing. Tourism is the lifeblood of many museums and cultural attractions. Earlier this year, as the California Academy of …