Posts
Public Programming
These Museums Helped Welcome Immigrants and Refugees to their Community, and Yours Can Too!
Welcoming America’s annual Welcoming Week enlists organizations around the country to welcome new immigrants and refugees into their new communities. This year, AAM is a national partner of …
The Peabody Essex Museum’s Climate + Environment Initiative Seeks to Create a Different Climate Future
As the director of an interactive art and nature space, I’ve included climate change as a topic in many shows and programs over the years. But until recently, I had convinced myself that …
A National Collaboration Unites Black Museums in Celebration of Juneteenth
African American museums across the country bear a glorious responsibility to educate and engage, to inform and inspire, to bring together and build. As anchors for this engagement …
Virtual Programs for Children—What Do Parents Want Now?
After of year of chaos, anguish, and reflection, the world is entering a new phase—perhaps “post-pandemic,” maybe the “new normal”—it will take a while to settle on the right label. Last …
Thriving as a Virtual Museum: The National Museum of American Jewish History’s Playbook
Like many museums, the National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH)’s doors have remained closed to the public since March 2020. Our physical doors, that is. Our museum is very much …
How the Frazier History Museum Is “Bridging the Divide” in Its City
The Frazier History Museum is located on Main Street in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky, at the corner of Ninth Street. What makes our address significant, historically significant, is that …
Running with Scissors (and a Mask!): COVID-19 Responses at Old Salem Museums & Gardens
Just as flexible buildings can withstand hurricane-force winds and earthquakes, flexible institutions can withstand monumental challenges like a global pandemic. Because of our four years …
Attracting Charitable Giving through Education Programs
In this series of posts, EdCom’s Trends Committee is taking a deeper look at emerging phenomena identified in the 2020 edition of TrendsWatch from the Center for the Future of Museums. In …
How Will Museums Haunt Us This Halloween?
If you’re up for an extra dose of eeriness in this already odd year, you’re in luck! Halloween is imminent, and even in a pandemic museums have plans to mark the occasion. …
The Keys to Sustainable Online Programming? Partnerships and Professional Development
Recently, I’ve been analyzing the efficacy of museum-developed digital programs over their thirty-year history, and I’ve noticed a common theme: Every study extols the benefits of such …
Don’t Be Surprised, Be an Ally: Better Security Planning for Virtual Programs
It was my ninth virtual program of the COVID era that prompted this essay. The first eight had gone relatively well. After some low numbers and awkward silences early on, later events …
Earning Income from Education Programs during COVID-19
In this series of posts, EdCom’s Trends Committee is taking a deeper look at emerging phenomena identified in the 2020 edition of TrendsWatch from the Center for the Future of Museums. In …