Museums + Society 2034 – American Alliance of Museums

Artists, Art, and Historic Sites: A Revitalization of the Past Through Present Creativity

By Elizabeth Merritt

Kate Laurel Burgess-Mac Intosh is an independent museum professional whoshares her research on contemporary art/historic site mash-ups on theblog Revitalizing Historic Sites and on Facebook. Sheis Chair of the Young and Emerging Museum …
Futurist Friday: Agenda 2026

By Elizabeth Merritt

To paraphrase Churchy, from Pogo, “Futurist Friday comes on a Thursday this week.” I am delighted to find that our museum association colleagues in the Netherlands—the Nederlandse Museumvereniging—produced a report last year that parallels …
When Trends Collide: The New Gilded Age Meets the Rise of the Amateur Expert

By Elizabeth Merritt

Museums have long struggled to resist pressure from wealthy donors or sponsors who want to call the shots. How might this play out in a future in which museums loosen their grip on curatorial authority and actively encourage participation …
Practical Futurism: a Case Study

By Elizabeth Merritt

This week’s guest blogger is Bill Martin, director of the Valentine Richmond History Center in Virginia. Bill was one of our panelists on the session “Practical Futurism” at the AAM annual meeting in Houston last week, and shares how his …
By Elizabeth Merritt

Andrew Masich is the director of the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, and a member of the AAM Accreditation Commission. Andy’s narrative illustrates the recent research by Reach Advisors, exploring how childhood memories influence …
Foreseeing the Future through Fiction

By Elizabeth Merritt

Good fiction tells the truth about something that never happened. Good futurist fiction tells the truth about something that may yet happen. That being so, reading (or watching) futurist fiction is a valuable part of scanning and …
Beyond the Talking Heads: an experiment in format at the AAM annual meeting

By Elizabeth Merritt

You may have noticed, when submitting session proposals for conferences, that everyone seems to be encouraging something more creative and interactive than the usual “talking head” panel format. My favorite responses to this challenge are …