Posts
Decolonization
Taking a Stand: A Q&A with Micah Parzen, CEO of the Museum of Us
While for some museums the pandemic was a wake-up call to reimagine how they engaged and served their communities, for others it was an opportunity to go deeper. One of those museums, the …
The Messy and Vulnerable Truth about Trust and Museums
You could almost hear the cheers across the museum field early in March when Colleen Dilenschneider’s email hit inboxes announcing that “More People Trust Museums Now Than Before the …
In Good Relation: Reimagining the Grant Process for Community-Based Projects
In recent years, there have been renewed calls for museums to adopt more inclusive and equitable practices, with significant changes to the ways we work and collaborate at all levels of our …
An Afrofuturist School Program Empowers Children to Envision the Future
Futurism is a powerful tool to share with kids—equipping them to think about the world they want to live in when they grow up, challenging them to make it better. Today on the blog, …
Remarks from Benin Bronzes Repatriation Ceremony
On October 11, 2022, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art hosted a repatriation ceremony in which officials of the museum transferred ownership of twenty-nine Benin bronzes and …
‘Relationships Don’t Have an End Goal’: A Q&A with the Burke Museum’s Decolonization & DEAI Team
Some of the newest, and most defining, jobs in the current era of museums are those focusing on decolonization and diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. In recent years, as more …
A Long Way Home for ‘Looted’ Art Is Getting Shorter
The New York Times examines the increasing number of calls for museums to repatriate objects suspected of being obtained illegally and how some professionals, such as the Curator of …
Recasting the Civic Imperative of the Museum
This article originally appeared in the November/December 2021 issue of Museum magazine, a benefit of AAM membership. Liberating collections from their imperialist pasts can occur through a …
Carnegie Museum asks for visitor feedback on cultural sensitivity, exhibits with complicated pasts
“I would say, within museology, that’s been a discussion that’s been going on for years. How we can appropriately display objects that represent a culture, how can we tell a culture’s …
Rethinking Our Human Resources Practices to Build a More Equitable Museum
Less than three weeks after COVID forced museums around the globe to close their doors last year, an article by Arundhati Roy in The Financial Times titled “The Pandemic is a Portal” …
Germany first to hand back Benin bronzes looted by British
“We face up to our historic and moral responsibility to shine a light and work on Germany’s historic past. The treatment of the Benin bronzes is a touchstone [of this process].” …
How Two Artists’ Transformation of a Portland Museum May Provide a Blueprint for Larger Institutions
“We did not enter into this with a desire to hold power. We see our success criteria as decentering the directorship and the museum’s authoritative voice, and leveling hierarchies to …