Risk Management

Reduce Uncertainty, Increase Confidence: How Internal Audit Supports Museums’ Success

By Laura Hopman, Christienne Johnson, Cynthia Liriano, and Roman Lindauer

We’ve all seen the dreaded headlines: “How many treasures have been stolen from the British Museum?” “Grief and Anger Mingle After Devastating Brazil Museum Fire” “How the Mona Lisa almost came to a watery end at the Metropolitan Museum of …
Museums with a Future: Prioritizing Climate Resilience to Respond to a Changing World

By Stephanie Shapiro

This year’s TrendsWatch report spotlights the urgent need for humanity to curb our carbon emissions if we are to stave off the worst extremes of climate change. The term “existential threat” is, IMHO, overused, but in …
How Museum Educators Are Using Strategic Foresight to Address Climate Change

By Mickey Maley and Daryl Jorgenson

In this series of posts, EdCom’s Trends Committee is taking a deeper look at emerging phenomena identified in the 2021 edition of TrendsWatch from the Center for the Future of Museums. In this post, they explore examples of how museums …
Security, Self-Care, and Terrorism Resources

By Cecelia Walls

It is our hope that in the coming days our nation will experience a peaceful Inauguration Day following Martin Luther King Jr. Day earlier in the week. However, the recent insurrection at the Capitol followed by hate-fueled incidents at …
Facing the Rising Tide: How the Whitney Museum of American Art Addresses Resiliency and Storm Preparedness Through Design

By Erin Flynn, RA LEED AP

With rising sea levels and stronger floods and hurricane seasons, priceless cultural sites and museum collections around the world are increasingly under threat from severe weather events and the impacts of climate change. A recent and …
Eye of the Storm: How Do Museums Prepare for Hurricanes during a Pandemic?

By Lori Foley and Cori Wegener

It’s a Thursday afternoon in July and the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR) is almost empty. Director Marta Mabel Pérez is in her office, leading a virtual hub of staff and other professionals through crisis management, reopening …
Is Your Museum Prepared for Ransomware?

By Elizabeth Merritt

You come into your office, juggling your gym bag and a cup of hot coffee, and boot up your laptop to an ominous red and black screen that announces: “All your files and documents have been encrypted!” Congratulations, you’ve been hacked. …
Making a Splash! 6 Things to Know about Exhibits with Water

By Trevor Cunnien

It’s no surprise that many museums choose to entertain and educate visitors with the stuff that covers 71 percent of our planet’s surface. Water can contribute greatly to a wide variety of museum exhibits and to the enjoyment of audiences, …
The Case for Digital Facility Reports

By Bernadine Bröcker Wieder

Facility management is one of the core elements of running a museum. As AAM’s core standards say, it is “incumbent upon [museums] to ensure the safety of their staff, visitors and neighbors, maintain their buildings and grounds, and …
Let it Bloom: Reconstructing a hurricane-stricken historic garden

By Adam Levine

Like many museum professionals, I am drawn to the idea that objects and places connect us to cultures throughout history. We handle the works entrusted to our institutions with extreme care, in no small part because these links to our past …