Museum Visions: A Blog Space

My husband was diagnosed with cancer a few short months ago. Cancer. Even today, the word carries with it that horrible feeling of dread, the acknowledgement that, as humans, we are not invincible, the acceptance that our time here on this planet is precious, and the recognition that we all want to find meaning in our lives, however we each … Read More

Last year, attendees of the American Alliance of Museums’ Annual Meeting in Atlanta were pondering the theme of The Social Value of Museums the same weekend as the Baltimore Uprising, a series of city-wide protests in response to the police brutality that led to the death of Freddie Gray. During last year’s meeting I heard many of my fellow attendees … Read More

The American Alliance of Museums 2016 conference is almost here! This year thousands of museum professionals will head to Washington, DC over Memorial Day weekend to attend informative sessions and spend time with colleagues. We on the MER board hope that you can join us for some (or all!) of the exciting events we have planned. On Thursday May 26th, … Read More

“The Broad’s No. 1 objective from the beginning was to connect a wide audience with contemporary art. To do that effectively, we had to think about how you can be truly welcoming and engaging in new ways.” Joanne Heyler, Director, The Broad. “A New Kind of Museum Guard: Know-It-Alls in the Best Way,” New York Times (paywall), March 15, 2016 … Read More

What does moonlighting mean to you? Dictionaries define it as a second job after a main job’s hours, sometimes to earn extra income, sometimes to sharpen skills, sometimes to rebuild enthusiasm by learning something new. For me, I’ve called my five years on the Museum Education Roundtable’s Board of Directors “moonlighting” because during those years MER helped me expand my … Read More

My cell phone has been prompting me daily now for a couple of weeks (or longer?) to update it to the newest version of its operating system. Each time, I tell it to remind me later. When I stop and ask myself why I keep putting it off, there are a couple of reasons: running the update takes time away … Read More

With the hustle and bustle of the holidays behind us, I love the beginning of the New Year because it offers us an opportunity to take a step back from our work, to reflect on what has happened throughout the past year, and to look ahead to things we’d like to accomplish in the year ahead. I finally have the … Read More

Last December, while Santa was in the North Pole making his list and checking it twice, we were busy tinkering with a project of our own. 2015 would mark the publication of the 40th volume of the Journal of Museum Education (JME). It was an anniversary worth marking—but how? Last December, while Santa was in the North Pole making his … Read More