Skip to content

Posts

Point of View: In Defense of Volunteerism in Museums

Volunteers play a vital role for museums, and museums need to prioritize their voluntee…

Welcoming Change at the USC Pacific Asia Museum

The USC Pacific Asia Museum took a trust-building approach to working with docents on an evolving education program for stu…

Valuing Our Volunteers

This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s March/April 2024 issue, a benefit of AAM membership. While you may know me as the editor in chief of this magazine, I have another …

Point of View: A Renewal in the Rebuilding

Docent programs that evolve with the times will continue to serve their museums and commun…

Slowing Down With Intention at the Long Island Children’s Museum

Through reflective practice, the Green Teens volunteers at the Long Island Children’s Museum develop programming for visitors—and lifel…

Pride of Place at the Quincy Valley Historical Society & Museum

The Quincy Valley Historical Society & Museum is a community jewel that runs mainly on volun…

Rethinking the Status Quo

What does museum volunteer retention look like in a post-pand…

Steering Your Museum’s Search for a Volunteer Management System

This tipsheet was developed by Elisa Kosarin, CVA, a Volunteer Engagement Specialist at TwentyHats, and Abbey Earich, Lead Volunteer Coordinator for the Smithsonian Office of Visitor …

Yes, I’m a Real Person! Adapting Your Volunteer Program during Instability

This is a recorded session from the 2021 AAM Virtual Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo. As it cautiously reopened after closing for COVID-19, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum …

Volunteers Want to Give: How to Respectfully Cultivate Donors from Your Corps

If you ask museum leaders, their advancement teams, and volunteer program staff about cultivating volunteers as donors, you’re likely to get a mix of reactions, ranging from enthusiasm to …

The Top Ten Alliance Blog Posts of 2021

Though 2021 was a slightly more normal year than 2020, with mostly open museums gradually regaining visitors, the pandemic still loomed large and colored most conversations. On the Alliance …
Show more stories in this category

Upcoming Events

View All Events

Latest Stories from AAM

Consensual Curation and Our Common Future

Category: Center for the Future Of Museums Blog
The best thinking about potential futures explores the full span of the Cone of Plausibility. By expanding our understanding of what is possible, we expand our choices regarding what is …

Supporting Staff Well-being in a Partisan Time

Category: On-Demand Programs: Human Resources
Growing partisan tensions and increasing public tendencies to engage in hostility and rudeness are adding to the stress faced by museums’ frontline staff. How can museums protect …

The Longevity Strategy Designing Sustainable Digital Content

Category: On-Demand Programs: Digital Programming
Museums often create great digital content that lasts only until the funding runs out or the point person moves on. How can we create digital platforms and programs that will last? This …

Subscribe to Field Notes!

Packed with stories and insights for museum people, Field Notes is delivered to your inbox every Monday. Once you've completed the form below, confirm your subscription in the email sent to you.

If you are a current AAM member, please sign-up using the email address associated with your account.

Are you a museum professional?

Are you a current AAM member?

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription, and please add communications@aam-us.org to your safe sender list.