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Opinion

Why we need museums now more than ever

In today’s uncertain times, museums can act as an anchor in the storm. To those who aren’t as passionate about the power of museums as...

Job Hop or Career Climb: Let’s stop demonizing non-linear career paths

As another college semester finishes, I reflect over the summer on the next generation of students graduates to emerge into the workforce as fluid job...

How can the Arts #StandwithUkraine on social media? 

During a time when the freedom and peace in a country are abruptly disturbed. What do you do as a museum, artist, gallery or institution?...

The future of working together: purposefully deconstructing why we gather

Context The phrase ‘going to work’ is so ingrained in me that I had never really stopped to think about it. I got my first...

Courage + Trust: Self-Leadership and Museum Wellbeing

I’m Lara Day, a transformational coach, yoga teacher, mother, and former museum worker. I’d like to share with you two mantras:  I trust the path...

How to Make a Museum out of Your Own Life  by Rachel Morris

One day a couple of years ago I was asked by my publishers to write a book about the history of museums.  It’s a huge,...

A Life Lesson for Art Museums

There’s an old adage that everything we need to know we learned in kindergarten. One thing we were taught was to share. But how well...

How are Museums crowdsourcing collective memory

Let’s return our collective memories to November 2019 when the first known case of Covid-19 was traced in China. This was the recorded beginning of...

What museum objects and Sesame Street have in common

On 6 November, Big Bird, a beloved character on Sesame Street received the COVID-19 vaccine, as announced on the Muppet’s Twitter account. This may seem...

The Lesser of Two Evils: The Ethical Conundrum of Deaccessioning

It was a case of the lesser of two evils, but a year on its worth looking back at the case of Baltimore Museum of...

Thinking beyond the walls: learning from the V&A’s pivot to virtual learning environments

As a Microsoft employee I’m often moved to sing the praises of the tools and technologies we offer to museums and galleries. Yet I know...

Museums must harness their data estates in order to survive

In her latest article for MuseumNext, Microsoft Strategy Leader for Libraries and Museums, Catherine Devine, examines the opportunities and challenges presented by big data today....

Repatriation: why Western museums should return African artefacts

A large number of artefacts held in Western museums and libraries are known to have been appropriated over the ages through conquest and colonialism. The...

Collectivism in a crisis

Partnerships are going to be more important than ever as we start to re-emerge from lockdown, Together for Museums harnessed the collective efforts of members,...

Museums should not be empty

Museums are for the people. But they have not always been that way. Blake Gopnik’s recent opinion piece in the New York Times argues that...

Museums and the Covid-19 Culture Shock

Museums are secure active public arenas where human societies can turn to in search of answers in times of cultural identity crisis. As cultural institutions...

Challenging how schools teach history to engage all communities

The idea that all museums work to represent all diverse communities is a subject that poses multiple questions, as this is not as straightforward as...

Here’s why the public will be rushing back to museums

As we await the return of normality around the globe, there’s a sense of anticipation building for millions of people who are desperate to get...

Rethinking Where We Exhibit in Light of COVID-19

It’s November 2020, and the public is still locked out of the museums in Los Angeles. As an independent exhibition designer, the COVID-19 pandemic has...

We are the Guardians of History

History is under fire every day. I read stories in the paper about an angry mob taking down a monument; about an institution voting to...

A more guided visit – how to reopen museums and galleries safely

Museums and galleries in the UK will be able to open their doors to the public in July. But reopening will be conditional on their ability to...

Museums Are More Than Buildings

Much has been written about the reopening of Museums after their closure as part of social distancing measures. It’s a joy to see our cultural...

A Prime Director for the Natural History Museum?

Shock, outrage and incredulity best characterise the reaction by some in the museum Twitter community at the announcement of Doug Gurr as the new director...

Plating the Museum

As we come to consider transmedia thinking as a possible way forward for the post COVID-19 museum, we have come to think of technology as...