Image: Depiction of an O’Neill cylinder’s interior by artist Rick Guidice
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Dispatches: Week of March 2
This week on the CFM blog, Marjorie Schwarzer shares four books on extraordinary risks museum workers, artists, and curators have taken to preserve their institutions’ integrity and protect cultural heritage.
Tracking Trust in Museums
from Wilkening Consulting, 2-19-26 [Research, Trends]
This Data Story shares fresh insights from the 2026 Broader Population Sampling of the Annual Survey of Museum-Goers. In 2026, there was a tie for the most trusted sources of information: friends/families and public libraries, with museums tying within the margin of error. Researchers and scientists are a little lower, but just by a bit. There is another piece of good news: trust in museums is not political! Regardless of political values of respondents, museums come in strong with the other trust “superpowers.” Conservatives and moderates showed strong trust, and liberal trust was even stronger. Additionally, across the political spectrum, the trend is towards greater trust, not less. What emerges most clearly from this data is not a collapse of trust, but a shift. People are becoming more selective about where they place their confidence, and many continue to see museums and public libraries as credible and reliable, whether or not they are actively visiting.
Exploring implications: Lead researcher Susie Wilkening notes this data reveals an opportunity to increase the relevance and effectiveness of museums, as long as they uphold rigorous standards of transparency and truth telling.
‘Non-visitors’ prepared to pay £10+ a year to keep national museum open
from Museums + Heritage Advisor, 2-28-26 [Research]
Research commissioned by DCMS [the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport] has found that people who had not visited the Natural History Museum in London in the past three years were still willing to pay an average of £11.95 [~$16] as an indefinite annual donation to preserve the museum. The results are part of research into the application of ‘non-use value’ in the context of UK culture and heritage. “Non use value” is the value individuals attribute to culture and heritage even if they do not directly consume it themselves. The report found that 781 participants who had not visited the NHM in the past three years would be willing to pay an average indefinite annual donation of £11.95. The museum said the predominant reason respondents were willing to pay is to ensure the museum was preserved for current and future generations. The most common reason given by those who were not willing to pay was due to not being able to afford it.
Editor’s note: While this research looks at UK audiences, it sheds light on the potential for US museums to tap into a large network of small donors who believe in their mission and impact.
Two Philadelphia museums cancel popular summer camps
from Axios Philadelphia, 2-25-26 [Trends]
[Drexel University’s] The Academy of Natural Sciences and [The University of Pennsylvania’s] Penn Museum have unexpectedly nixed their longtime summer camp programs. The programs were a one-of-a-kind Philly experience for a generation of kids — offering fun, reliable spaces to play and learn among world-class museum collections while school was out. Parents scrambling to find camps and programs for their children during the upcoming summer months now have two fewer options. The parent universities of both museums have faced financial challenges over the past year. In October 2025, the Drexel museum eliminated weekday hours due to low attendance and loss of federal funding. It’s now only open on weekends. The University of Pennsylvania put in place its hiring freeze along with other financial cutbacks early last year amid uncertainty over federal funding cuts from the Trump administration.
Editor’s note: This story from Philadelphia illustrates how administrative actions impacting higher education are trickling down to college and university museums and the communities they serve. AAM’s 2025 National Snapshot of U.S. Museums found that 28 percent of museums that have suffered the cancellation of government grants or contracts, or the failure to be reimbursed for existing expenditures from government grants or contracts were forced to cancel or reduce programming for the public, and 18 percent cancelled or reduced programs for students.
Explore recent weeks
This week on the CFM blog, Cory Garfin and Devon VanHouten-Maldonado share how they created an AI chat bot to help Made By Us with their goal of signing up over 250 Wish Wall hosts.
6 facts about national pride in the U.S.
from Pew Research Center, 2-17-26 [Research]
In a 2025 survey, we asked people in 25 nations to say – in their own words – what makes them proud of their country. In several ways, Americans’ answers stand out from those of people in other countries. Freedom is the top source of pride in the U.S. 22% name this as a reason they are proud of their country. When asked what makes them proud of their country, one-in-five Americans offer something negative or critical instead. Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party are four times as likely as Republicans and those who lean Republican to say something negative (32% vs. 8%). Republicans are about twice as likely as Democrats to say they are proud of freedom (32% vs. 15%). For Democrats, diversity and multiculturalism rank among the top sources of pride, but the same is not true for Republicans. Few Americans (3%) mention U.S. history as something that makes them proud of their country.
A Biologist Explains The ‘Frozen Zoo’ — The 50-Year Project That Could Rewrite Extinction
from Forbes, 2-18-26 [Museum Innovations]
Scientists at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Frozen Zoo® have spent the last fifty years banking genetic material for a future conservation crisis that hasn’t even fully arrived yet. The idea sounds like something out of a movie: thousands of samples of living cells, drawn from endangered animals and stored in liquid nitrogen, waiting for a future scientific breakthrough. The Frozen Zoo preserves living cells (typically fibroblasts grown from skin biopsies) along with gametes when available. As a 2025 study from Nature notes, modern conservationists are now facing a problem known as “genetic bottlenecking.” In simple terms, this refers to the loss of genetic diversity that occurs when populations shrink dramatically. Cryobanked cells that were collected before these severe bottlenecks occurred contain alleles that no longer exist in living populations. In theory, this means that reintroducing that diversity could improve long-term viability.
How a Groundbreaking Indigenous Treaty on Whales’ Rights Could Change National Laws
from Inside Climate News, 2-22-26 [Projections]
In one of his final acts before his death in 2024, Māori King Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero helped galvanize Pacific Indigenous leaders to sign a landmark declaration recognizing whales’ rights. New Zealand legislators this month introduced a bill grounded in the declaration, affirming whales’ rights to migrate, maintain natural behaviors and culture, and live in a healthy environment with damaged habitats restored. The bill, introduced by a member of Parliament from the Green Party, Teanau Tuiono, would recognize whales as legal persons, a status already held by corporations and other nonhuman entities. The legislation would require the government to consider whales’ rights when regulating activities that affect them and their habitats, including shipping, fishing, deep-sea mining and coastal development. Such proposals are part of the broader rights-of-nature movement challenging the conventional legal view of nature as a collection of “things” to be owned and exploited, much like microwaves or cars. Unlike traditional regulations that try to cap the harm humans can cause, a rights-of-nature approach typically creates an affirmative duty to protect the natural world’s biological integrity, treating it as kin, not a commodity—a concept drawn from many Indigenous cultures.
Editor’s note: As museums increasingly incorporate non-Western beliefs and attitudes towards the world into their work, these changes can in turn influence the public and legislators.
This week on the CFM blog, Anand Pandian, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University and artist Jordan Tierney share their experience developing The Future of Here exhibition at the Peale Museum in Baltimore.
Judge invokes George Orwell’s ‘1984’ in ordering restoration of Philadelphia slavery exhibit
from The Hill, 2-16-26 [Trends]
A federal judge ordered the National Park Service to restore exhibits about slaves who lived at the nation’s one-time executive mansion in Philadelphia, agreeing with the city that the Trump administration likely unlawfully removed the displays. U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe invoked the dystopian novel “1984” as she blocked the Trump administration from changing or damaging the site, which is now an outdoor exhibition. Philadelphia entered an agreement with the federal government in 2006 to develop President’s House, the home and working space for George Washington and John Adams when they were commanders in chief. It’s now an open-air pavilion part of Independence National Historical Park and contains exhibits about Washington’s slaves who lived there. Last month, Philadelphia sued the Interior Department and the park service after it removed the slavery references. The city said the changes were in response to an executive order Trump signed last year directing the removal of content that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” It also ushered in changes at the Smithsonian Institution.
Editor’s note: As AAM noted in a statement on the growing threats of censorship against U.S. museums, censorship is not just a concern for select institutions—these pressures can create a chilling effect across the entire museum sector. In this article from Museum magazine, scholar Janet Marstine provides a framework museums can use to navigate pressures to self-censor their content.
New Rating System Grades Foundations by Grant Making Practices, Not Size
from The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 2-6-26 [Trends]
For several years a growing number of foundations and philanthropy organizations have pushed grant makers to provide more general operating support and flexible funding to their grantees. But those efforts have shown mixed results. Now a new type of rating hopes to put a system in place to provide a simple and visible way to assess grant makers’ practices. The ratings, called the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark, sort foundations by factors like how much general operating support and flexible funding they provide and how many of their grants in the previous several years have been long-term grants of three or more years, rather than one-off, short-term project grants. This may be the first effort to provide a ranking on anything other than a foundation’s asset size or grant-making budgets. So far, seven philanthropies, many of them focused on justice and equity, agreed to be ranked in the first round.
American Optimism Slumps to Record Low
from Gallup, 2-10-26 [Research]
The percentage of U.S. adults who anticipate high-quality lives in five years declined to 59.2% in 2025, the lowest level since measurement began nearly two decades ago. Since 2020, future life ratings have fallen a total of 9.1 percentage points, projecting to an estimated 24.5 million fewer people who are optimistic about the future now versus then. Most of that decline occurred between 2021 and 2023, but the ratings dropped 3.5 points between 2024 and 2025. Americans’ ratings of their current lives have also declined since rebounding in 2021 but not as steeply as their future life ratings. And current life ratings are not at a low point; that occurred in 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Black adults — historically the most likely of the United States’ three major race/ethnicity groups to have high future optimism — had the greatest erosion in optimism between 2021 and 2024. But Hispanic adults showed a larger drop than Black adults did in the past year.
Editor’s note: As CFM director Elizabeth Merritt noted last year, research shows that cultivating optimism isn’t just a feel-good exercise, it is a practical tool and a prerequisite for making change. Revisit this post from the CFM blog for three “signals of hope” that provide realistic inspiration for positive change.
This week on the CFM blog, Ariel Waldman, Learning Project Manager at AAM shares lessons learned from her interviews with Gen Z and Millennial museum workers and gives recommendations to help build the next generation of museum leaders.
Grant Guidelines for Libraries and Museums Take “Chilling” Political Turn Under Trump
from ProPublica, 2-6-26 [Trends]
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is now accepting applications for its 2026 grant cycle. But this time, it has unusually specific criteria. In cover letters accompanying the applications, the institute said it “particularly welcomes” projects that align with President Donald Trump’s vision for America. These would include those that foster an appreciation for the country “through uplifting and positive narratives,” the agency writes. The solicitation marks a stark departure for the agency, whose guidelines were previously apolitical and focused on merit. Former agency leaders from both political parties, as well as those of library, historical and museum associations, expressed concern that funded projects could encourage a more constrained or distorted view of American history. Some also feared that by accepting grants, institutions would open themselves up to scrutiny and control, like the administration’s wide-ranging audit of Smithsonian exhibits “to assess tone, historical framing and alignment with American ideals.”
Editor’s note: Download AAM’s The Future of Museum Funding to explore the impact executive orders, policies, and actions are having on museum income streams and business models.
Spotting deepfakes: MIT Museum says ‘look again, look closely’
from GBH, 1-21-26 [Museum Innovations]
A game featured in the MIT Museum’s AI: Mind the Gap exhibit called “True or False” shows a series of short video clips. Visitors choose whether they think the clip is real or fake, and the screen reveals whether they guessed correctly and why. As videos become more and more popular, deepfakes [photos and videos created by advanced machine learning] are proliferating on social media feeds. The MIT exhibit provides tips visitors can use outside the walls of the museum to improve media literacy in real life.
Editor’s note: One pernicious use of AI generated videos is spreading misinformation about political candidates and voting. Recent research shows that “inoculating” people through text-based information and interactive games improves people’s ability to spot AI-generated video and audio that falsely depict politicians. As the MIT Museum demonstrates, museums of all kinds can help protect the public against democracy destabilizing deepfakes.
British Museum’s A.I.-Generated Post Sparks Online Backlash
from Artnet, 2-2-26 [Trends]
Several archaeologists have taken to social media to call out the British Museum for posting images containing A.I.-generated content on its Instagram and Facebook. After receiving a wave of backlash, the museum removed the posts. The British Museum’s actions “set a precedent for the rest of the field,” said Steph Black, an archaeologist and PhD student at Durham University who has been one of the most vocal critics of the British Museum post. Beck estimated that the offensive post was online for around six hours before it was removed, shortly after 3:30 p.m. GMT. While public, the post received a barrage of “really negative” comments, many of which expressed disappointment or asked the museum to apologize. “A.I. usage in heritage settings directly affects the jobs of historians, educators, and curators,” said Mya Steele, another vocal critic who is studying archaeology at the University of York. It also risks “delivering incorrect information,” she said, as well as perpetuating the biases of “datasets that are overwhelmingly Western and colonial.”
Editor’s note: As another of this week’s Dispatches stories dramatizes, AI-generated deepfakes threaten to erode trust in key civic functions. Museums might consider how their approach towards AI will affect the trust the public places in their content.
This week on the CFM blog, Ross Pristera, Historic Preservationist at UWF Historic Trust, discusses what happened when his organization was hit by a hurricane and gives recommendations to help museums prepare for natural disasters.
Young, Employed — and Unhappy?
from KQED via The Hechinger Report, 1-26-26 [Trends]
For decades, economists could rely on a comforting graph about happiness over a lifetime: It followed a U-shape, like a smile. Young people were carefree and happy. Middle age was rough but joy returned again in old age. [More recent research showed that the] young weren’t so happy anymore. David Blanchflower, a prominent British-American labor economist at Dartmouth College, has been studying this decline in youth well-being and trying to understand it. Based on large surveys of mental health, he dates the start of the deterioration in the U.S. and the U.K. to around 2013, seven years before the Covid pandemic and the isolation of lockdowns. What’s particularly new is the sharp increase in despair and misery among young workers. [Theories regarding the cause of this trend include] young people increasingly have “bullshit jobs” — work that feels pointless, insecure and disconnected from any sense of purpose; that they have declining bargaining power and vanishing career ladders, and that they suffer from the lingering effects of mental health declines that began in high school.
Museum leaders might: Be aware there are generational differences in how staff experience the workplace, and the kinds of support they need to feel supported and fulfilled. The Informal Learning Network wrote about creating healthy intergenerational work culture with learnings from AAM Annual Meeting sessions.
Nearly 1,000 may have been exposed to measles at S.C. museum
from WRDW, 1-13-26 [Trends]
The South Carolina State Museum said nearly 1,000 people visited on the same day as a person infected with measles was there. If many of them were infected, that could drastically raise the number of cases in the state’s measles outbreak. And that comes after a week when the outbreak skyrocketed by more than 200 cases after expanding at a relatively slow rate. So far, the outbreak has been concentrated in the Upstate region, but bringing the museum into the equation could spread the outbreak across the state and the rest of the region. State Epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell [said,] “People who were exposed at the museum, especially those without immunity through vaccination or previous disease, should monitor for symptoms through Jan. 23.”
Museums might: Revisit AAM’s resource on building vaccine confidence. Vaccine denialism has led to the nation experiencing over 50 outbreaks in the past year. In light of this trend, museums might monitor cases in their area, assist local health officials with public education, and review their own policies for safeguarding staff and visitors.
Majorities of Americans say it’s important to talk about the country’s historical successes and failures
from Pew Research Center, 1-26-26 [Research]
Most Americans say it is important to have public discussions about the country’s historical successes – as well as its failures, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey: 66% of U.S. adults say it is extremely or very important to publicly discuss the country’s historical successes and strengths; 66% say the same about discussing the country’s historical failures and flaws. Wide majorities of Republicans and Democrats alike view both the positive and negative aspects of the nation’s history as important to focus on. But Republicans are less likely than Democrats to say discussions of historical failures and flaws are important. Adults ages 50 and older (69%) are slightly more likely than those under 50 (63%) to say it’s important to discuss historical successes and strengths. In addition, adults with a college degree are more likely than those without a degree to view discussing both America’s successes and its failures as important. This pattern largely holds in both partisan coalitions.
Museums might: Be wary of the “false consensus effect.” As researcher Susie Wilkening explains, this effect occurs when a small group of people projects the idea that their values and attitudes are shared by the majority. A false perception can lead museums to preemptively self-censor content, and in turn, erode public trust.
A new archive of Dispatches
An archive of news stories is available if you want to browse past roundups – covering from January 2026 onward, and older than the most recent 5 weeks on this page.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Center for the Future of Museums Blog shares musings on the future of museums and society, where you’ll read posts authored by CFM director Elizabeth Merritt and guest author posts. If you have a story to share, email us at futureofmuseums [at] aam-us [dot] org.
Explore more resources from the Center for the Future of Museums in the AAM Resource Library.
The new annual TrendsWatch report has been released as the January/February 2026 issue of Museum magazine for AAM members and subscribers. Get a free preview here. It will be available as a free PDF report later this spring.
Dispatches shares summaries of recent news stories illuminating trends and events shaping society, technology, economics, the environment, and policy today. Fuel your museum’s strategic foresight by thinking about the implications of these “signals,” and the kinds of future they might create.
The most frequent categories that you’ll see articles filed under include: Tools for the Future, Museum Innovations, Projects, Trends, and Research.
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