In partnership with the Yale School of Management, AAM will present an executive education seminar for museum leaders on August 9–12 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Led by four world-class faculty from the Yale School of Management, the seminar will provide a class of 30–40 museum executives with business skills to address the current and future challenges of running a museum.

Harold Skramstad, president emeritus of The Henry Ford and a consultant specializing in strategic and interpretive planning for museums and cultural organizations, will serve as moderator. Skramstad sees the Yale-AAM partnership as "a wonderful opportunity for aspiring museum leaders to work intensely with their colleagues and faculty members of the Yale School of Management to explore a variety of critical issues facing museums."

"There is nothing more important to the future of museums than the continuing development of museum leaders," he noted. Skramstad, with his wife, Susan, is author of A Handbook of Museum Trustees (AAM Books, 2003).

The seminar will introduce new methods of analysis applicable to museums through group exercises, discussions and activities. To sharpen skills critical to daily operations and strategic thinking, Yale faculty members will draw on real-life case studies and peer-to-peer interaction customized to meet participants' needs. Participants will use these concepts and approaches to tackle challenges and develop action plans for their home institutions.

Issues to be addressed include: competitive strategy and the creation of value; political, economic and social analysis of communities to develop financial strategies and communicate public value; financial analysis techniques to aid in financial reporting and risk assessment; and complexities of the decision-making process.

A competitive selection process will be used to build a class of directors and executive team members at museums of all types and sizes. Applications and more information are available on the AAM website; the deadline for submission is June 15. Tuition for this four-day program is $1,500 plus lodging. A block of hotel rooms has been reserved at the Radisson Plaza-Warwick Hotel for those accepted into the program at a special rate of $169 single/double occupancy plus applicable taxes.—Helen Wechsler