Clearly Artwork Archive teammates Elysian McNiff Koglmeier and Cassidy Cole had a blast at the AAM Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo.

Conference season is upon us and Artwork Archive is here for it!

The Artwork Archive team was lucky to have the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) conference in its backyard last month. The 2023 AAM Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo was hosted in Denver, Colorado from May 18-22th.

Nearly 4,000 museum professionals gathered around this year’s theme–social and community impact. We all came together to share how museums are weaving themselves into our communities and addressing social and environmental issues like climate change, demographic transformation, and Indigenous equity. 

As a thought partner and respected tool and resource, Artwork Archive was thrilled to attend the conference. Here are some takeaways from the jam-packed six-day learning and networking fest.

 

What do our communities need? Well-being and connectivity.

The conference centered around the crucial question: How can more museums build thriving, relevant institutions that people consider essential? 

The AAM Annual Meeting website outlined how we’re moving past being just an institution located IN a community and rather being a place FOR and OF the community. It reads: “The value of museums to society transcends their traditional focus on collecting, preserving, and interpreting. At their best, museums are vital infrastructure, sustaining healthy, inclusive, and resilient communities by enriching education systems, bolstering economies, strengthening societal cohesion, improving peoples’ well-being, and beyond.”

Woven throughout sessions, networking and workshops was the reminder and challenge to improve our communities’ well-being–from the individual to the collective.

 

“Thriving people make thriving communities.”

House of Shine, a nonprofit interactive museum in Grapevine, Texas, led in-depth conversations about the growing role of mental health education in museums. Presenters shared how their children’s museum created programming focused on the well-being of young visitors. The programming delivers the vital message that they matter in the world and provides tools for them to identify and express emotions. 

House of Shine staff strives to unearth the uniqueness of the individual and defeat negative self-talk and imposter syndrome. By starting with our youth, they hope to build the foundation of a thriving community. 

 

Our job within museums is to make connections, not to just inform.

Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) fosters social impact through a re-envisioning of how they present their objects. Instead of merely informing the public with didactic text, the museum engages its audiences by encouraging conversations with staff.

Here is an example: Imagine a clock on a pedestal. A visitor looks at it and asks the security guard what year the clock was made. Instead of simply answering the inquiry with the answer, the museum guard instead replies back with dialogue that helps the visitor make a personal connection – have you seen a clock like this before? What does it remind you of? 

OMCA wants to tap into awe. It has been proven that levels of happiness are elevated when you have moments of awe.

 

Community feedback is a loop and not simply an end goal.

For the past three years, OMCA has defined and begun measuring its social impact. Within their session, “From Framework to Practice: How OMCA Fosters and Measures Social Impact,” OMCA leadership and staff shared their perspectives on how OMCA’s social impact has informed their work – and a big takeaway was that feedback is not an end to a means; it is a continued conversation. 

Photo taken during Gregg Deal's keynote address.

 

It is critical to incorporate Indigenous voices, perspectives, and contemporary arts in museum exhibits to reveal historical truths, vibrant contemporary culture, and hopeful futures.

When the keynote address adjourned, the convention center was buzzing with energy.

Multi-disciplinary artist, activist, and “disruptor” Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe) led a thought-provoking keynote address and dialogue. 

Through his powerful artwork and activism, Deal challenges the ahistorical and stereotypical depictions of Indigenous peoples in American culture and advocates for an inclusive, nuanced, and sustainable approach in museums. 

Deal joined in a conversation with Virgil Ortiz, Artist, and Indigenous Futurist; C.J. Brafford, Director of the Ute Indian Museum (Lakota Oglala Sioux Indian Tribe); John Lukavic, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Native Arts, Denver Art Museum; and moderator, Dawn DiPrince, Executive Director & State Historic Preservation Officer, History Colorado that explored contemporary museum practice of representing the past, present, and future of Indigenous peoples.

The panel represented a piece of Colorado's history and progress–how the state is leading the way with Indigenous equity. 

 

Hospitals at a museum conference? But of course!

We weren't surprised to see hospitals represented in a conference focusing on well-being.  

Artwork Archive was proud of its client, NYC Health + Hospitals, for representing the profound possibilities when hospitals partner with museums to bring their artworks and impact into healthcare settings. Their AAM session, “Healing Healthcare: Art as a Tool to Support Well-being of Hospital Staff,” outlined their work with the Brooklyn Museum.

Knowing that arts reduce stress and healing time, and build resiliency, NYC Health +  Hospitals embarked on a partnership with the Brooklyn Museum to promote staff wellness. Their program “Art and Empathy” focuses on hospital staff so that they in turn can provide better service to the patients.

Here is a bit about the Art and Empathy program:

• Provides a space to experience art and connect with others

• Builds a community of care

• Creates a forum to process loss and loneliness

• Fosters a sense of respite and resilience

Is it working? The proof is in the pudding. Initial data collection shows that the program reduces stress in staff and fosters more connections between staff and patients.

 

When establishing a new program, how do you get buy-in within the museum? 

An important question was posed at the end of the Healing Healthcare session: How do you get buy-in?

Arts in Medicine Program Director at NYC Health + Hospitals, Monica Mariño, stressed that it took time to build buy-in. She encouraged attendees to “allow for time.” 

After patience and commitment, the Arts in Medicine team is expanding its reach and partnering with the Whitney Museum of American Art. 

 

Create a space of care. 

One important takeaway from the NYC Health + Hospitals presentation is the importance of the physical space in which we are inviting participants and visitors.

When the Arts in Medicine team hosts their workshop participants, they intentionally host their sessions in a light-filled room. They provide lunch. They offer the session during the workday so that they are paid for their time. 

The same can be considered for our museum spaces. Are we making them inviting? Do they encourage visitors to stay, contemplate and engage?

Speaking of creating an intentional space, AAM invited Denver-based interactive and immersive artist Thomas Detour Evans to share his works and process outside of the Exhibitor Hall. Detour has been an incredible resource and partner to Artwork Archive–serving as a juror for our Artwork Archive Art Business Accelerator Grant and sharing content for our blog.

What will the future hold for collections specialists' professional development with the end of the AAM Collections Stewardship Professional Network? 

Leading up to the AAM conference it was announced that AAM is dismantling the professional committees. Artwork Archive attended the Collections Stewardship Leadership Committee meeting which honored the work of the volunteers and also spoke to the possibilities for the future.

Artwork Archive will continue to participate in the AAM's Museum Junction and provide free webinars and articles on the topic of collection management to contribute to the work of collections specialists.

 

If only we could be in multiple places at one time...

Unfortunately, we could not attend every session though we wish we could. You can learn more about the panels and workshops from 300+ presenters here.

To the museum professionals we met in sessions, at the NeighborHub, over drinks at our Artwork Archive Happy Hour and at collections management networking events–we were thrilled to meet you and learn more about your museums!

Next year’s theme is about museums and well-being. Given our commitment to all collecting institutions–like museums and hospitals–we’re excited about this theme.

We hope you’ll join us next year for the 2024 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo in Baltimore!

 

Sign up for our newsletter to stay connected with Artwork Archive and learn about upcoming professional development events.