Storytelling – American Alliance of Museums

Three Core Values That Will Boost Your Museum Writing

By Trey Whitted

Writing well is essential for communicating information in any field, especially in educational institutions like museums. However, with the wide range of roles museum professionals fill, it can be difficult to define what writing well …
How to Use Storytelling to Build and Engage Audiences

By Josette Souza

As far as museums go, the National Geographic Museum is unlike any other. With access to over 130 years’ worth of photos, footage, data, and archival materials—plus a built-in audience already hooked on the National Geographic …
The Power of a Story Well Told

By Bill Tramposch

We all know the power of a story well told. One example: the books that became the Odyssey and the Iliad were told orally long before they appeared in book form. Imagine—so powerfully memorable were those tales that even in their great …
Exploring the Sixth Extinction through Immersive Theater

By Maureen Rolla

One of the most-read guest posts of 2017 on the CFM blog shared how immersive theater helped one Connecticut museum build new audiences. Since the topic evidently struck a chord with readers, I tuned my radar to find other examples of …
When Museums and Theatre Work Together

By Elizabeth Merritt

One way museums can court new audiences is to incorporate other forms of storytelling into their mix. Combining museum experiences with poetry jams, zines, dance, music and other formats can bring potential new fans into the museum while …
#AAM2017 Preview: using comics to have difficult conversations in museums

By Elizabeth Merritt

Greetings! Sage here. I have had the pleasure of working with Smithsonian Exhibits designer and comic book artist Evan Keeling for the past two years. Now we’ve developed an amazing panel of comic artists, educators and scholars from …
Spontaneous, object-based fun with MuseumProv

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’m always on the lookout for entrepreneurs finding and filling open economic niches in and around museums. Previously, on the Blog, Nick Gray has shared how Museum Hack is building its business on the market for fun, irreverent, social …
Futurist Friday: It’s ByoLogycal

By Elizabeth Merritt

Your Futurist Friday assignment, watch this 5 minute video, and tell me whether you are willing to try the drug it touts: ByoRenew, a synthetic virus introduced in 2012 with the promise that “you might never be sick again.” …
Futurist Friday: Send in the Drones

By Elizabeth Merritt

This week smart drone manufacturer 3DR is premiering Life After Gravity, an original sci-fi series described as “a thriller on a global scale—intergalactic, really—about the blessingsand poisons of extraordinary power, the many …
Telling Tales: A Conversation with Andy Goodman

By John Strand

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2012 edition of the Museum magazine. As critical cogs in America’s educational infrastructure, museums tell the story of the country’s heritages-historic, cultural, …