Opportunities – Page 4 – American Alliance of Museums

Are Natural History Museums Ready to Become Superheroes?

By Elizabeth Merritt

Look at the tagline at the top of this page: “because museums can change the world.” I can make a credible argument that natural history museums have the greatest potential, among their brethren in art, history, science, to play global …
Museumers, meet Futurists; Futurists, Welcome to the World of Museums!

By Elizabeth Merritt

I have a new line on my resume—possibly the coolest one yet. I am now a proud member of the Association of Professional Futurists. In the spirit of CFM’s role as an über-connector for the museum field, I’ve ginned up a way to introduce you …
Innovation Lab for Museums: Tips for a Successful Application

By Elizabeth Merritt

Thank you, MetLife Foundation! I did a Snoopy Happy Dance when I got the good news that you are funding a second round of Innovation Lab for Museums. AAM and EmcArts have just released the Request for Proposals. You can read about the Lab …
How a Cookbook Can Help Your Museum Engage with Food

By Elizabeth Merritt

I hope you’re planning to join us for the free Feeding the Spirit webinar, Friday, Feb. 17, 1:45-5 p.m. (ET). To help you plan your discussions before, during or after the webcast (as well as your menu for your potluck) we’ve assembled the …
The Curation of Collaboration: Experiments in Mobilizing Museum Archives

By Elizabeth Merritt

This guest post is by Gaurav Vaidya, Andrea Thomer, Rob Guralnick and David Bloom. Gaurav, a graduate student at CU Boulder, has been editing Wikipedia since 2002. Rob is a biodiversity informatician, museum curator and collaborative …
The Next Frontier of Museum Ethics

By Elizabeth Merritt

Here at CFM, we’re wrapping up Round Three of Forecasting the Future of Museum Ethics. The survey closes Dec. 9 (there’s a link below if you still haven’t participated) and I can hardly wait to compile the input from our Oracles and the …
The Third Rail of Museum Ethics: Selling Collections to Pay for…What?

By Elizabeth Merritt

Is it ethical for a museum to use the money it gets from selling collections to fund general operations? How about using the proceeds from the sale for “preservation” (the term used by AASLH’s Statement of Professional Standards and …
Forecasting the Future of Accessibility: Please Touch or Don’t Touch?

By Elizabeth Merritt

I wish I could preview my Inbox from 2036. How come Outlook doesn’t have an option for that? As a member of AAM’s staff Ethics Taskforce, I help answer plaintive, irate, indignant and panicked questions that come over our email. So I have …
Ethics Forecast Round 3 & the Future of Museum Standards

By Elizabeth Merritt

This week we launch Round 3 of Forecasting the Future of Museum Ethics. As with previous rounds, the public is invited to weigh in at the same time (on a parallel track) as our recruited “Oracles.” This round delves into six issues …
Civic Duty Calls

By Elizabeth Merritt

In this blog post, AAM Director of Government Relations and Advocacy Gail Ravnitzky Silberglied explores why advocacy—like voting, jury service, and paying taxes—is a civic duty that furthers our nation’s democracy and prepares us and our …