Posts
Future Forecasting
The Museum System Upgrade: A Q&A with András Szántó
In the early days of COVID lockdowns, longtime cultural consultant and writer András Szántó began interviewing dozens of museum leaders around the world. As the pandemic simultaneously …
Forecasting 2023
In 2023, we, as individuals and organizations, are faced with choices that will determine what the post-pandemic future will look like. Will we try to rebuild a version of 2019, in so far …
Trendswatch: Museum Schools as Community Infrastructure
Blackbaud hosted the annual TrendsWatch webinar, this year focusing on Museum Schools as Community Infrastructure. Hear about how museums have stepped up to fill in the gaps for PreK-12 …
Planning for a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous Future
Why is foresight an essential skill for museum people in coming decades? Last week I had the pleasure of making that case at the ICOM 2022 Triennial Conference, and today I’m happy to …
Big Global Trends: An #AAM2022 Keynote by Thomas L. Friedman
Thomas L. Friedman, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, author, and journalist, opened the Museums in Society focus area of the 2022 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo with his keynote, …
Where to Find the Future at #AAM2022
We are having a real, face-to-face conference! Boston, May 19-22. I, for one, look forward to seeing you all in person (at least from the mask up), and plan to revel in the informal …
To NFT or Not to NFT: The View from Two Museums
A few weeks ago I published a post on blockchain collectibles, offering a primer on NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and exploring some factors, notably alignment with mission and values, that …
Introducing the 2022 Edition of TrendsWatch
As a child, I fell in love with museums for the good they did for me: providing a place of wonder, exploration, refuge, and, as I aged into teen-dom, an opportunity for meaningful work as a …
Introducing Your Do-It-Yourself Toolkit for Strategic Foresight
Check it out. I made something for you ↑ I’ve been teaching strategic foresight to museum people for fourteen years now, travelling around the country to give talks and lead workshops, …
Navigating a Disrupted Future at #AAM2021
How is a talk different from a written report? How is a digital presentation different from its analog kin? Earlier this week I gave my annual TrendsWatch session at the #AAM2021 virtual …
Museums as Keepers of the Future
Watch this keynote speech from Elizabeth Merritt at the Museoalan Teemapäivät Museum Theme Days seminar in Helsinki City Theatre, Helsinki, Finland. In this presentation, Ms. Merritt talks …
Three New Scenarios for Financial Survival in 2020
Support Free COVID-19 Resources for the Field: The current crisis is taking a distressing financial toll on cultural organizations, and AAM is no different. The Center for the Future …