Financial Stability

A Children’s Museum’s Partnership With Local School District Brings in Revenue — and New Ideas

Leaders at the Children’s Museum of Fond du Lac got to see different teaching techniques in action when it hosted a charter school for the 2020-21 academic year. The money that the …

We’re a Group of Museum Directors Who Pooled Resources During the Pandemic. Here’s Why Others Should Consider Doing the Same

How six museums formed the Philadelphia Collaborative Arts Consortium to jointly tackle pandemic challenges. One core project: developing structures to jointly fundraise and equitably …

Monthly Subscriptions Make Membership Easy to Say Yes To

Rosie Siemer & John Lewis

As cultural organizations continue to face declining membership and significant lost revenue during the pandemic, many are seeking ways to engage new audiences and retain existing members. …

Running with Scissors (and a Mask!): COVID-19 Responses at Old Salem Museums & Gardens

Franklin D. Vagnone

Just as flexible buildings can withstand hurricane-force winds and earthquakes, flexible institutions can withstand monumental challenges like a global pandemic. Because of our four years …

The Top Ten Alliance Blog Posts of 2020

Joseph O'Neill

If 2019 was a “whirlwind year,” 2020 was a full-blown tornado. Forces that had been gathering speed in the museum field—like growing emphases on digital content and diversity, equity, …

National Gallery charging for virtual tour of Artemisia exhibition

The National Gallery (UK) is charging for an online tour of Artemisia, an exhibition dedicated to Artemisia Gentileschi, the first retrospective of a Renaissance or Baroque woman …

Downsizing Our Museum in the Face of a Pandemic

Elizabeth Merritt

According to the Alliance’s first COVID snapshot of museum operations, conducted this past summer, one-third of US museums expected to lose over 40 percent of their annual operating income …

Lessons Learned from SARS (and Strikes) at the Ontario Science Center

Elizabeth Merritt

Often the best way to foresee the future is to revisit the past. In March, professor Marjorie Schwarzer offered an overview of how US museums responded to three pandemics in the 20th …

Regional Museums Struggle to Survive After Closing Because of Coronavirus

For more than 20 minutes, Akron Art Museum director Mark Masuoka stared into the cerulean recesses of Sky Hook (1981), a somber painting by Gene Davis. Masuoka searched for solace in the …

In Times Like These: Managing Museums Through Crises

Christy S. Coleman

On March 23, I sent out a tweet thread to encourage museum peers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little did I know those simple tweets would resonate with so many. I wrote: Having led museums …

How Nonprofits Can Apply for Loans and Other Emergency Benefits

Nonprofits interested in taking advantage of new emergency loans and other aid programs should get their papers in order, contact their local FDIC-insured bank, and prepare to move …

Tips for Fundraisers

Amy Rogers Nazarov

In the unforgiving economic environment in which museum fundraising staff find themselves these days, it can be tempting to throw in the towel and wait until conditions improve—and whenever …

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Latest Stories from AAM

A Q&A with Dirk Hiscock, Designer of This Year’s Winner for Excellence in Publication Design

American Alliance of Museums

Alliance Blog

After reviewing hundreds of entries every year, the jury for AAM’s annual Museum Publications Design Competition awards only one publication with the Frances Smyth-Ravenel Prize for …

Pushing the Boundaries

Ashley Rogers

Museum Magazine

The Whitney Plantation Museum confronts the truth of its history in all facets of its …

Beyond the Museum Walls

Heryte T. Tequame