Posts
Visitor Experience
Three Core Values That Will Boost Your Museum Writing
Writing well is essential for communicating information in any field, especially in educational institutions like museums. However, with the wide range of roles museum professionals fill, …
Peering into Percentages: A Q&A with Susie Wilkening
Spend enough time reading or talking about museums, and you will inevitably come across statistics that convey the vibrancy or challenges of our field. For every percentage point, there is …
Content Warnings in Museums and Galleries: Taking a Proactive Approach
I began writing and speaking about the need for trauma-informed practices in museums several years ago, and while I haven’t seen any big changes in the time since, I have seen small shifts …
What Works for Building Audiences? Let’s Review the Data.
One of the biggest issues museums face right now is diminished attendance. Years after most pandemic-induced closures have lifted, the majority of institutions have still seen only a …
The Pains and Pleasures of Being a First-Generation Museum Person
Every few months or so, there’s a family gathering. From a birthday celebration to a family cookout, my family never seems to have a shortage of reasons to gather. At the time of this …
Guiding Light: How Values Exercises Can Help You Present Challenging Content
When a visitor enters a museum, they arrive with more than just their belongings. They bring their entire cognitive framework to interpret and store knowledge, including their complex …
Designing a Watershed Experience at the Ontario Museum of History and Art
With its exhibition on water, the Ontario Museum of History and Art aims to educate and empower its community and address its wellbeing. This article originally appeared …
Faces of Baltimore Museums: Rachel Leeds
Have you heard about AAM 2024 in Baltimore this month? (We hope so—we’re doing our best!) If so, you might have seen one of our ads for this year’s edition, featuring a lovely …
Extending the Invitation: Strategies for Welcoming Visitors and Reducing Barriers to Access
In the aftermath of the pandemic and amidst ongoing calls for museums to become more inclusive and attuned to community needs, many institutions are still seeking ways to recover from …
Language/Arts: How the Verbal and Visual Intersect in Museums
A picture is worth a thousand words. Or so the aphorism tells us. What, then, is the value of a single word? That is the question I have explored time and again as an educator in an art …
You, Me, We: Tackling Identity and Discrimination with Young Audiences
In February 2023, Boston Children’s Museum opened a new exhibition called You, Me, We, which encourages families to connect with each other around questions of fairness in the world, …
Neurodivergent Needs: A Q&A with ADDitude Magazine
If museums want to be welcoming and accessible, one of the areas they must consider is neurodiversity. How do the ways we process information and stimuli differ from person to person, and …
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Latest on IMLS Court Cases
Advocacy Alert: June 10, 2025 ALA v. Sonderling On June 6, 2025, in the case ALA v. Sonderling filed by Democracy Forward on behalf of the American Library Association and the American …
Fostering Psychological Safety in Your Museum: A Step-by-Step Guide
A comprehensive guide on developing a museum workspace where staff feel comfortable and confident about expressing their ideas and concerns without worrying about negative consequences. …
Beyond the IT Office: Solving for Ethical AI in Cultural Institutions
Category:
Exhibition Journal
This article first appeared in the journal Exhibition (Spring 2025) Vol. 44 No. 1 and is reproduced with permission. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in museums is nothing new—we’ve seen …