Scenarios – American Alliance of Museums

Revisiting Wild Times: The Loss of Nonprofit Status

By Elizabeth Merritt

In 2018 I published a scenario titled “Wild Times” set in a version of 2040 in which museums lost their nonprofit status due to a combination of political attacks, economic stress, and a global pandemic. At the time, I emphasized its …
Forecasting 2022, Part 3: Build Your Own Adventure

By Elizabeth Merritt

When I sat down to write the third entry in CFM’s scenario set for 2022, I struggled over what kind of story would most usefully round out the collection. Scenario one (A Third Year of Waves) explores a depressing but entirely possible …
The Long-awaited Tail

By Elizabeth Merritt

“With our imagination, the future is a place where anything, or one hundred things, or everything, can be different—even things that seem impossible to change today.” –Dr. Jane McGonigal, futurist and games designer I want to start …
Forecasting 2022, Part 1: Waves Ahead

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’d hoped to be forecasting the post-COVID future by this point, but that apparently wasn’t in the cards. (Forgive me a little futurist Tarot humor.) Instead, it’s entirely possible that 2022 will become Year Three of the COVID-19 …
The next COVID scenario: Delta Force

By Elizabeth Merritt

The near term future is looking much brighter than it was in March 2020, when I published my first set of scenarios exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic might play out. While the death toll in the US has surpassed 600,000 (a grim statistic …
Mapping Uncertainty in 2021

By Elizabeth Merritt

I have been wishing everyone HAPPY NEW YEAR (in all caps) because I am so relieved to see the backside of 2020. But “better than last year” is a very low bar indeed, and we face many very hard months ahead. That being so, my focus this …
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 …
Three New Scenarios for Financial Survival in 2020

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 Center for the Future of Museums is supported by AAM membership and …
Using Scenarios to Plan Your Museum’s COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Response

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 Center for the Future of Museums is supported by AAM membership and …
In Which Penny and Frank Wash Up at the Villa

By Elizabeth Merritt

The best part of futuring is inviting other folks to play along. For the fifth entry in my 2008 diary of the future, I recruited my real-life companions to contribute to the plot, and they jumped in with gusto. (Thank you Penny!) We …