Publications

TrendsWatch

TrendsWatch: Navigating a Volatile Future (2024)

Welcome to TrendsWatch, CFM’s annual forecasting report. This year the report explores volatility—strategic foresight parlance for the speed of change. That speed has been increasing exponentially in recent decades. In the report:

  • Culture Wars 2.0: Last year TrendsWatch examined the growing partisan divide in the US and how museums might help repair our fractured democracy. Where Culture War 1.0 was fueled by the rise of the Moral Majority and other religious conservative movements, today’s culture war engages the progressive left as well as the conservative right.
  • AI Adolescence in Museums: What is generative AI, and what are the practical applications and implications for museums?
  • Decarbonizing the Future: How can museums reduce their own emissions and inspire the public to take action?
  • Dropping the Degree for Museum Work: It may not be a simple solution, or a magic fix, but examining when they might want to drop the degree for particular roles could be a healthy first step for museums to take on the road to effective, fair, and equitable hiring.
  • Trend Alert: Combating the Loneliness Crisis in Museums: About a third of US adults 45 and older suffer from loneliness; that figure rises to nearly 80 percent in young adults 18 to 24. Learn some of the surgeon general’s recommendations for how cultural organizations can help combat this epidemic.
  • Digital Twins and Doom Loops: A brief guide to terms that may be popping up in your news feeds.

This year’s report was released to AAM members and subscribers first as the January/February 2024 issue of Museum magazine, and the expanded report with linked and additional resources made freely available to download in May.

TrendsWatch would not be possible without the support of sponsors. Learn about sponsoring TrendsWatch.

TrendsWatch: Building the Post-pandemic World (2023)

Welcome to TrendsWatch, CFM’s annual forecasting report. This year the report explores how museums can use the profound disruptions of the past three years as opportunities to create a better, more equitable, and resilient future. In the report:

  • The Future Workplace: How can museums build the workforce they need, while creating better, more equitable labor practices?
  • The Partisan Divide: How can museums build bridges and foster tolerance to strengthen democracy?
  • A Digital (R)evolution: Has the pandemic sparked an evolutionary leap in practice?
  • Repatriation, Restitution, and Reparations: Are museums in the midst of a transformative shift beyond legal compliance to values-based actions?
  • Changing Climate Risk
  • The Metaverse and Web 3.0

In 2023, members received first-look access to TrendsWatch in the January/February 2023 issue of Museum magazine.

TrendsWatch: Museums as Community Infrastructure (2022)

This edition of the Alliance’s annual forecasting report that museums are vital public infrastructure, by virtue of their contributions to five pillars of community strength and resilience:

  • Education for our children
  • Livable communities for our elders
  • Mental health
  • Emergency response in the face of disasters
  • A human-centered culture of sustainability

TrendsWatch: Navigating a Disrupted Future (2021)

This edition of the Alliance’s forecasting report addresses issues museums must attend to right now, to minimize harm to their communities and ensure their own survival. The report explores:

  • Redressing racial inequity
  • Essential technologies for surviving the pandemic
  • Caring for the most vulnerable in a time of crisis
  • The impact of COVID-19 on higher education
  • The vital role of strategic foresight in museum planning

TrendsWatch: The Future of Financial Sustainability (2020)

This edition of the Alliance’s forecasting report provides a vital framework for museums’ survival and recovery from the pandemic-induced financial collapse. The report explores:

  •     earned revenue
  •     charitable income
  •     government funding
  •     capital (including income derived from financial investments)

Access an executive summary and the full report from the TrendsWatch 2020 homepage.

TrendsWatch 2019

This year we explore Truth, Trust, and Fake News, blockchain, decolonization, homelessness and housing insecurity, and self-care. For each of these topics we:

  • explore how each trend is playing out in the world
  • investigate what this means for society and for museums
  • share examples of how museums are engaging with this trend
  • suggest how museums might respond.

Access an executive summary, video overview, and full report from the TrendsWatch 2019 homepage.

TrendsWatch: The Scenario Edition (2018)

This special Scenario Edition of our annual forecasting report is designed to help organizations “futureproof” their strategic planning.  Four versions of the future challenge museums to come up with creative solutions to the central challenge: how can museums thrive, in the face of diverse forces of change? Each scenario provides guidance for structuring conversations around these playful provocations, prompting readers and planning teams to ask questions that can help guide your strategic planning.

TrendsWatch 2017

Read more about TrendsWatch 2017 including trends about:

Clicking on the report’s title, above, will take you to a page asking you to provide your name and e-mail address, in return for a link enabling you to download the report.

We look forward to contacting you via e-mail, inviting you to tell us a bit about how you have used the report.

TrendsWatch 2017 is available in print edition in the AAM Bookstore.

TrendsWatch 2016

Read more about TrendsWatch 2016 including trends about:

Clicking on the report’s title, above, will take you to a page asking you to provide your name and e-mail address, in return for a link enabling you to download the report.

We look forward to contacting you via e-mail, inviting you to tell us a bit about how you have used the report.

TrendsWatch 2016 is available in print edition in the AAM Bookstore.

TrendsWatch 2015

Read more about TrendsWatch 2015 including trends about:

Clicking on the report’s title, above, will take you to a page asking you to provide your name and e-mail address, in return for a link enabling you to download the report.

TrendsWatch 2015 is available in print edition in the AAM Bookstore.

TrendsWatch 2014

Read more about TrendsWatch 2014 including trends about:

TrendsWatch 2014 is also available in print edition.

TrendsWatch 2013

Download a copy of TrendsWatch 2013 including trends about:

  • Trends in Philanthropy
  • 3-D Printing
  • Micro-credentialing
  • The Internet of Things
  • Disconnecting from Digital Experiences
  • The Urban Renaissance

TrendsWatch 2012

Download a copy of TrendsWatch 2012 including trends about:

  • Crowdsourcing
  • Threats to Nonprofit Status
  • Mobile, Pop-up Experiences
  • Alternate Funding
  • Creative Aging
  • Augmented Reality
  • New Educational Era

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