FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 19, 2015
ARLINGTON, VA – The American Alliance of Museums has announced that five museums were newly accredited and six museums earned re-accreditation at the October 19-20, 2015 meeting of the Accreditation Commission. The newly accredited museums are among the first class of museums accepted into the program since the streamlined program was relaunched to new applicants in 2014.
Through a rigorous process of self-assessment and review by their peers, these museums have demonstrated they meet National Standards and Best Practices and shown themselves to be core educational entities that are good stewards of the resources they hold in the public trust.
As the ultimate mark of distinction in the museum field, accreditation signifies excellence and credibility to the entire museum community, to governments and outside agencies and to the museum-going public. Developed and sustained by museum professionals for 45 years, the museum accreditation program is the field’s primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation and public accountability. Accreditation helps to ensure the integrity and accessibility of museum collections, reinforce the education and public service roles of museums and promote good governance practices and ethical behavior.
“Accredited museums are a community of institutions that have chosen to hold themselves publicly accountable to excellence,” said Laura L. Lott, Alliance president and CEO. “Accreditation is clearly a significant achievement, of which both the institutions and the communities they serve can be extremely proud.”
Skip over related stories to continue reading articleThis group of accredited museums is representative of the diversity of America’s museums. It includes large and small museums focused on Latin American art, the Westward Expansion, and the history women in the United States Army with governance types ranging from private non-profit, to university, to government.
The following museums were awarded accreditation. First-time accredits are indicated with an asterisk:
Alaska State Museums, Juneau and Sitka, AK
Clarke House Museum, Chicago, IL
Glessner House Museum, Chicago, IL
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis, MO
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, OH
Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA*
Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, MA*
Tampa Bay History Center, Tampa, FL*
The History Museum, South Bend, IN*
Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block, Tucson, AZ
U.S. Army Women’s Museum, Fort Lee, VA*
Of the nation’s estimated 35,000 museums, 1,054 are currently accredited. To earn accreditation a museum first must conduct a self-study, and then undergo a site visit by a two-person team of peers. The Accreditation Commission then considers these results to determine whether a museum should receive accreditation.
For more information about the Alliance and the Accreditation Program, including statistics and a list of accredited museums, please visit www.aam-us.org.
About the American Alliance of Museums
The American Alliance of Museums has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community. Representing more than 30,000 individual museum professionals and volunteers, institutions and corporate partners serving the museum field, the Alliance is the only organization representing the entire scope of the broad museum community. For more information, visit www.aam-us.org.
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Press Contact:
Erica Nash-Thomas
Phone: 240-535-6548
Email: enashthomas@aam-us.org
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