COVID-19 – Page 3 – American Alliance of Museums

Why We’re Staying Closed

By Judy Gradwohl

Many museums are struggling with when, and whether, to open, reclose, and reopen. These enormously difficult decisions may determine whether the organization survives the current crisis. After experiencing the first two stages of this …
“My Primary School is at the Museum…During the Pandemic”

By Elizabeth Merritt

One challenge facing communities around the globe is providing safe spaces where children can continue their education as normally as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the UK, Labour party leader Keir Starmer recently called for …
Open Source Solidarity: Starting a Mutual Aid Fund at Your Museum

By Elizabeth Merritt

Earlier this month, I wrote about the role self-organized mutual aid groups are playing in our nation’s response to the financial damage inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Today on the blog, staff from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, …
Mutual Aid in a Time of Crisis

By Elizabeth Merritt

The upheavals of 2020 are drawing more attention to a venerable form of community self-help: mutual aid societies. These self-organized support groups arose in the eighteenth century as a way for communities to provide their members with …
Essential Evaluators: In the Fog of War

By Rose Jones, Laureen Trainer, and Andréa Giron Mathern

Essential Evaluators seeks to gather evaluators in a common space to dialogue, reflect, and support each other in a world upended by COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protest movement. This is a time of uncertain and unknown expectations …
How Chinese Museums Closed and Reopened During COVID-19

By Yiru Zhang

What Chinese museums did during their month-long closure Almost all Chinese museums closed immediately on January 24, only one day after the city of Wuhan locked down, to reduce the risk of infection in crowded places. Beginning in early …
Reinventing Museums: Pandemic Disruption as an Opportunity for Change

By Elizabeth Merritt

Looking for some good things in a terrible time, people have pointed out that air pollution plummeted as the world locked down, sea turtles are nesting undisturbed, managers are realizing telecommuting actually increases productivity, and …
Supporting Museum Professionals During a Time of Need

By Ryan Bourke

One of the best pieces of wisdom I’ve ever received came from a former boss of mine who later became a good friend. The year was 2009, almost a decade after our professional paths converged, and like so many folks during the Great …
Museums in Service to Society: A Museum in Colombia Responds to the Needs of its Community During the Pandemic

By Isabel Dapena and Armando Perla

The global crisis caused by the arrival of COVID-19 has not only forced us to rethink our daily lives and the way we work, but also the systems under which our societies have functioned. Moreover, the pandemic has exposed the shocking …
COVID-19 and Museum Volunteers

By Elizabeth Merritt

Support Free COVID-19 Resources for the Field The current crisis is taking a distressing financial toll on cultural organizations, and AAM is no different. The Alliance Blog is supported by membership dues and donations. In these …