Primary Museum Type

Museum as Living Room: A Q&A with Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts’ Victoria Ramirez

By Adam Rozan

I believe museums matter because they serve as vital community spaces, where we can meet, mingle, work, learn, study, daydream, and everything in between. I came to this realization, in part, after reading Ray Oldenburg’s The Great Good …
Reframing the Collection: How a Literary Catalog Experiment Brought New Voices to Interpretation

By Derek (DK) Nnuro

The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art (Stanley) is part of the arts ecosystem at the country’s premier university for the study of creative writing. As a curatorial team, we have long been aware of the unique position this puts us …
Tales from Campus: Connecting Community in the Time of COVID

By Elizabeth Merritt

What’s it like to be an undergrad this year? The social experience of college is as important as the academic content, but many students are attending class online from their dorm rooms, and most social groups and events are on hold. In …
Downsizing Our Museum in the Face of a Pandemic

By Elizabeth Merritt

According to the Alliance’s first COVID snapshot of museum operations, conducted this past summer, one-third of US museums expected to lose over 40 percent of their annual operating income this year. Forty one percent anticipate having to …
Digital Gold: Queering Flat Spaces

By Eli Burke

As museums address issues of access to collections, galleries, and education during COVID-19, many have chosen to shift to a digital space to connect with the public and continue their missions as community and cultural institutions. As a …
“Pay As You Stay” – an alternative pricing model for museums?

By Elizabeth Merritt

This year’s TrendsWatch cites buy-ahead pricing as one tool for enhancing revenue and managing attendance. In today’s guest post, Managing Director Tom Schoessler tells us how the Weserburg Museum tried flipping that model, charging …
What Will Become of Interactive Art When Museums Reopen?

By Rachel Trusty

Support Free COVID-19 Resources for the Field The current crisis is taking a distressing financial toll on cultural organizations, and AAM is no different. The Alliance Blog is supported by membership dues and donations. In these …
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s #MuseumFromHome Strategy: Funny TikToks

By Joseph O'Neill

Ever since the rash of closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, museums have been working behind the scenes to set strategies for engaging the public through remote alternatives. Within days, two hashtags emerged on social media …
#5WomenArtists Shaping Museum Practice

By Elizabeth Merritt

Museums are among the most trusted sources of information and can use that superpower of trust to nudge society towards preferred futures. Today on the blog, Amy Mannarino, Director of Communications and Marketing at the National Museum of …
The Transformative Power of Inclusive Storytelling in Museums

By Makeba Clay

My mentor Dr. Johnnetta Cole, the former director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (NMAfA), often says, “It’s easy to live without art, but it’s hard to live well.” For me, the power of art lies in its transformative …