TrendsWatch: Building the Post-pandemic World (2023)
Welcome to TrendsWatch, CFM’s annual forecasting report. This year the report explores how museums can use the profound disruptions of the past three years as opportunities to create a better, more equitable, and resilient future. The content includes:
- The Future Workplace: How can museums build the workforce they need, while creating better, more equitable labor practices?
- The Partisan Divide: How can museums build bridges and foster tolerance to strengthen democracy?
- A Digital (R)evolution: Has the pandemic sparked an evolutionary leap in practice?
- Repatriation, Restitution, and Reparations: Are museums in the midst of a transformative shift beyond legal compliance to values-based actions?
- Changing Climate Risk
- The Metaverse and Web 3.0
This year members received first-look access to TrendsWatch in the January/February 2023 issue of Museum magazine.
Access the full report from the 2023 TrendsWatch homepage.
TrendsWatch: Museums as Community Infrastructure (2022)
This edition of the Alliance’s annual forecasting report that museums are vital public infrastructure, by virtue of their contributions to five pillars of community strength and resilience:
- Education for our children
- Livable communities for our elders
- Mental health
- Emergency response in the face of disasters
- A human-centered culture of sustainability
Access the full report from the 2022 TrendsWatch homepage.
TrendsWatch: Navigating a Disrupted Future (2021)
This edition of the Alliance’s forecasting report addresses issues museums must attend to right now, to minimize harm to their communities and ensure their own survival. The report explores:
- Redressing racial inequity
- Essential technologies for surviving the pandemic
- Caring for the most vulnerable in a time of crisis
- The impact of COVID-19 on higher education
- The vital role of strategic foresight in museum planning
Access the full report from the 2021 TrendsWatch homepage.
TrendsWatch: The Future of Financial Sustainability (2020)
This edition of the Alliance’s forecasting report provides a vital framework for museums’ survival and recovery from the pandemic-induced financial collapse. The report explores:
- earned revenue
- charitable income
- government funding
- capital (including income derived from financial investments)
Access an executive summary and the full report from the TrendsWatch 2020 homepage.
TrendsWatch 2019
This year we explore Truth, Trust, and Fake News, blockchain, decolonization, homelessness and housing insecurity, and self-care. For each of these topics we:
- explore how each trend is playing out in the world
- investigate what this means for society and for museums
- share examples of how museums are engaging with this trend
- suggest how museums might respond.
Access an executive summary, video overview, and full report from the TrendsWatch 2019 homepage.
Previous editions of the report are available as free PDF downloads, below.
TrendsWatch: The Scenario Edition (2018)
This special Scenario Edition of our annual forecasting report is designed to help organizations “futureproof” their strategic planning. Four versions of the future challenge museums to come up with creative solutions to the central challenge: how can museums thrive, in the face of diverse forces of change? Each scenario provides guidance for structuring conversations around these playful provocations, prompting readers and planning teams to ask questions that can help guide your strategic planning.
TrendsWatch 2017
Read more about TrendsWatch 2017 including trends about:
Clicking on the report’s title, above, will take you to a page asking you to provide your name and e-mail address, in return for a link enabling you to download the report.
We look forward to contacting you via e-mail, inviting you to tell us a bit about how you have used the report.
TrendsWatch 2017 is available in print edition in the AAM Bookstore.
TrendsWatch 2016
Read more about TrendsWatch 2016 including trends about:
- Labor 3.0
- The Spectrum of Ability
- Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality
- The Struggle over Representation & Identity
- Happiness
Clicking on the report’s title, above, will take you to a page asking you to provide your name and e-mail address, in return for a link enabling you to download the report.
We look forward to contacting you via e-mail, inviting you to tell us a bit about how you have used the report.
TrendsWatch 2016 is available in print edition in the AAM Bookstore.
TrendsWatch 2015
Read more about TrendsWatch 2015 including trends about:
Clicking on the report’s title, above, will take you to a page asking you to provide your name and e-mail address, in return for a link enabling you to download the report.
TrendsWatch 2015 is available in print edition in the AAM Bookstore.
TrendsWatch 2014
Read more about TrendsWatch 2014 including trends about:
Read Before Opening PDF: Apropos of two of the trends covering in this year’s report—big data and privacy—the attached PDF is different from last year’s report in a subtle but important way. Embedded in the document is a tracking code (aka, the “magic chip”) that counts when the report is opened or printed and reports these stats back to CFM. Your browser may ask you to confirm that you want to let us track your use of the report—please say yes, as tracking the distribution of the free PDF provides the information we need to attract underwriting for the report.
TrendsWatch 2014 is also available in print edition.
TrendsWatch 2013
Download a copy of TrendsWatch 2013 including trends about:
- Trends in Philanthropy
- 3-D Printing
- Micro-credentialing
- The Internet of Things
- Disconnecting from Digital Experiences
- The Urban Renaissance
TrendsWatch 2012
Download a copy of TrendsWatch 2012 including trends about:
- Crowdsourcing
- Threats to Nonprofit Status
- Mobile, Pop-up Experiences
- Alternate Funding
- Creative Aging
- Augmented Reality
- New Educational Era
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