If your Museum is not accredited or is about due for reaccreditation, please take a look at the new, streamlined process. If you are not accredited, the new Core Documents Verification program must be completed first and will prepare you for accreditation. Museums applying for reaccreditation start with the new accreditation self-study. The self-study is 75 percent shorter than its predecessor and is completed online. The new web-based submission saves trees—museums no longer have to submit reams of paper, and AAM no longer has to ship “tubs” of paperwork to visiting committees and commissioners.

Having been through the accreditation process numerous times as a museum director, director of sciences, curator, visiting committee member and accreditation commissioner, I can testify to the demonstrated internal and external value of the process and the status. Completion of the self-study strengthens staff-board-community communication, mission definition, planning and assessment of your impacts.

On the external side, accreditation increases credibility with other museums and educational institutions, your community, parent organization and governing board, donors, funders and policy makers. It provides an external assessment of your operations and community impacts by peers and the independent Accreditation Commission. It is a great tool for ensuring that you are following national standards and best practices and that you are achieving your mission and having positive impacts. It is a mark of distinction that builds institutional solidarity and increases your credibility with the outside world.

Why not move up the Continuum of Excellence?

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For more information, visit the Accreditation page.