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The Gen Z Guide to Civic Season

By Nia Mosby, Brooke Tran, and Camille Serrano

You may have heard of Civic Season, the annual civics-and-history learning sprint held between Juneteenth and the Fourth of July every summer. The program was created by, and is activated by, Made By Us, a network of more than four hundred …
Strategies for Building Community: Lessons from the “Gallery Guide Guide”

By Sydney Skelton Simon & Molleen Theodore

Hi! We are Sydney Skelton Simon, the Bradley Associate Curator of Academic Affairs, and Molleen Theodore, the Jane and Gerald Katcher Curator of Programs, at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, CT. We are colleagues in the …
Cultivating Optimism: Signals of Hope

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’ve been on a deep dive into the world of optimism lately, looking for inspiration I might share to bolster our collective mental resilience in the face of massive disruptions. As I suspected, research shows that cultivating optimism …
Message from the President: The Superpower of Trust

By Marilyn Jackson

This column introduces Museum magazine’s May/June 2025 issue, a benefit of AAM membership. Every year, AAM staff and partners go back to the drawing board to develop a theme for our Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo. What theme will be big …
Point of View: Repairing Leader-Staff Trust

By John Voiklis, Christine Reich, Bennett Attaway, Nicole LaMarca, and Elliott Bowen

Claims about integrity, benevolence, and sincerity are at the heart of many internal organizational conflicts. This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s May/June 2025 issue, a benefit of AAM membership. In an increasingly …
Don’t Miss the Full Picture

By Derick Dreher, Tyler Starkel, and Asha Vyas

A museum’s financial reports must be crafted and communicated in ways that engender trust and strategic decision-making. This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s May/June 2025 issue, a benefit of AAM membership. Imagine this …
Your Guide to the Future at AAM 2025

By Elizabeth Merritt

AAM’s annual meeting is a gigantic buffet of content, and I know from experience that navigating the offerings can be somewhat overwhelming. In this post I offer one specialized menu of sessions related to issues I’m watching with a …
TrendsWatch: Download, share, and go deeper

By Elizabeth Merritt

The 2025 edition of TrendsWatch, AAM’s annual forecasting report, is now available as a free PDF download! In this post I’ll tell you how to snag your copy and preview some opportunities to delve more deeply into this year’s topics, …
AAM Statement on the Placing of IMLS Staff on Administrative Leave

By American Alliance of Museums

For Immediate Release On March 31, the entire Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) staff was placed on administrative leave. Placing the entire staff on administrative leave raises questions as to whether the agency will be able …
Reframing History at the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt

By Shelby E. Landmark

The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site now has a disability-affirming interpretation of FDR’s life after polio. This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s March/April 2025 issue, a benefit of …