Tweetchat alert! Building on Museum 2040

Posted on Mar 22, 2018

I’m writing to invite you to contribute to our ongoing exploration of this future in a CFM tweetchat next Thursday, March 29, from 3 – 4 pm ET, hashtag #Museum2040.

CFM’s most recent publication is the “future” issue of Museum magazine we published last November. Much of the content for Museum 2040 was crowdsourced via a call for authors through the Alliance’s professional networks. The writers based their pieces of future fiction on a CFM scenario called “A New Equilibrium,” which explores the future we might find ourselves living in if current trends in the economy, policy, culture, etc., continue on their current course.

I’m getting ready to publish the scenario itself as part of a planning tool for museums. Just as this story of the future inspired our authors to envision how museums can thrive in coming decades, A New Equilibrium, along with other scenarios we’re creating this year, will help museum boards and staff, as well as funders and stakeholders, “futureproof” their planning.

Here’s where you come in: next week’s Tweetchat will invite you to contribute content we’ll use to round out and enliven the scenario. Posed in traditional tweetchat format, the questions will be:

Q1: What’s a headline you can imagine reading in 2040, that captures an important aspect of this future?

Example A1: In This Small Town, Most Toddlers Attend Preschool in the Local Museum

Q2: Tweet something you overhear in 2040: could be in the board room, in the exhibit gallery, online. (OH is tweet-speak for “overheard.”)

Example A2: OH this morning in the coffee shop “I told my doctor I was feeling down all the time. He prescribed 3 hours a week at the art museum. So I’m asking my insurance company to cover it…”

Q3: @adamrozan’s article in Museum 2040 envisions the rise of “hybrid organizations” that incorporate elements of museums, schools, wellness centers, eldercare, social service providers, houses of worship, and more. What real-life museums are already exploring this “hybrid” future?

Example A3: The Museum of Street Culture in Dallas runs a homeless services agency called the Stewpot.

Q4: @sarahsutton’s article in Museum 2040 sees a future in which museums are major influencers when it comes to climate resilient. What real-life museums are already helping their communities plan how they will adapt to climate change?

Example A4: The @museumofnaz devoted several of their Future of the Colorado Plateau Forums to community discussions of climate change, including water needs and impact on tourism and recreation.

Q5: @oeatonmartinez’ article in Museum 2040 explores museums’ role in truth and reconciliation in the US. What real-life museums are fostering dialogue around the US’s history of oppression?

Example A5: the @EJI_org’s new Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, explores the evolution of racial terror lynchings and legalized racial segregation and racial hierarchy in America.

You can read the scenario synopsis before the chat, and/or revisit Museum 2040 to put your brain in the right time frame. When I’m getting ready to participate in other tweetchats, I like to write some of my answers in advance, so I can easily copy and paste them into Twitter during the live conversation.

And, of course, you can use #Museum2040 to tweet me any replies or examples you have to share between now and 3 p.m. on March 29.

I look forward to seeing your tweets about this future!

A Quick primer on Tweet Chats

If you don’t already have a Twitter account, visit twitter.com and set one up.
Sign up to “follow” CFM (Twitter name @futureofmuseums.) Ok—you don’t have to do this to join the TweetChat, but do it anyway.
You can participate in the tweet chat by following @futureofmuseums on Twitter, and responding to the questions as I tweet them, or by creating a search for #Museum2040
Another way to participate is to use a platform called TweetChat. Before the Tweet Chat starts at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 29, sign in to the TweetChat site using your Twitter name and password, and enter the hashtag #Museum2040 when directed. This will take you to a “dedicated chat room” that makes it easier to follow the conversation, and will automatically attach the #Museum2040 hashtag to any tweet you contribute to the conversation

At 3 p.m. I will throw out the first question for discussion (Q1), and the conversation will be underway. During the next hour, I will tweet the other questions. If you are responding to a particular question, prefacing your tweet with the corresponding answer number (e.g., A1), makes the conversation easier to follow.