Public Programming

Tearing Down Barriers

By James Monroe

With “SubSpace,” the Museum of Science, Boston is creating a more inclusive environment by pushing the boundaries of theater, technolog…
How the Greenwood Art Project United a Community in Reflection and a Vision for the Future

By Jerica Wortham, Anita Contini, and Stephanie Dockery

By 1921, the thriving Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, had generated one billion dollars of collective wealth in today’s economic terms. Nicknamed “Black Wall Street” by W.E.B. DuBois, this neighborhood on the north side of the city …
Catching Feelings for a Triceratops: How Live Theater in Museums Evokes Empathy in Visitors

By Ilana Gustafson

An excited murmur can be heard throughout the audience as they await the show to begin. When we come together to watch a live performance we expect to be moved, to be transported out of the mundane of daily life and have our imaginations …
Pivoting Your Programming: Virtual and Other Unique Options for Small Museums

By American Alliance of Museums

This is a recorded session from the 2020 AAM Virtual Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo. Learn more about how small museums are continuing to connect with their audiences, even when COVID‐19 forces museums to shut their doors. This session is …
With the Help of MAP, the Manassas Museum Met Its Changing Community’s Needs

By Mary Helen Dellinger & Rachel Goldberg

Through the Museum Assessment Program, museums gain perspective on how to improve core areas of their operations, with a combination of guided self-reflection and close consultation with an expert Peer Reviewer. One of the many museums …
Picture of Health: How MFA, St. Petersburg, Reimagined the Museum Program as a Source of Wellness and Healing

By Margaret Murray

As the Curator of Public Programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, my professional focus has always been the MFA’s public spaces, performing arts venue, and gardens—not the collection galleries. Most of the museum programs I’ve …
These Museums Helped Welcome Immigrants and Refugees to their Community, and Yours Can Too!

By American Alliance of Museums

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 Welcoming Week and is calling on museums to get …
The Peabody Essex Museum’s Climate + Environment Initiative Seeks to Create a Different Climate Future

By Jane Winchell

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 focusing an entire exhibition on climate change …
A National Collaboration Unites Black Museums in Celebration of Juneteenth

By LaNesha DeBardelaben

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 throughout the year, we celebrate cultural holidays, from …
Virtual Programs for Children—What Do Parents Want Now?

By Scott Burg & Claire Quimby, Rockman et al.

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 year, the AAM Committee on Audience Research and …