The Empathetic Museum Pop-Up Session: AAM 2014

  A small but enthusiastic group met슠on May 20 in “The Unconference Room” 슠at the American Alliance of Museum’s 2014 meeting in Seattle to continue discussions on The Empathetic Museum that began at AAM’s meeting in Baltimore in 2013: Janeen Bryant VP for Education at the Levine Museum of the New South; Karen Hasselflet, Cultural…

Radical Open Authority: When Life Happens and Museums Respond

Open Authority is a phrase thats everywhere in museum blogs, tweets, and conferences these days.슠 What exactly does it mean?슠 At the recent Museum Computer Network (MCN) conference in Montreal슠 Ed Rodley and a panel explored this question in Defining Open Authority in the Museum, proposing that developments in the realm of accessibility have dovetailed…

Museums and the Marathon Bombings: New Perspectives

Last week I posted a reflection슠on the varied responses of museums in Boston in the immediate aftermath of the Marathon Bombings–from closing in honor of the victims to free admission in solidarity with the community 슠to direct outreach to the injured children and families.This week I direct you to two thoughtful and heartfelt posts, Our…

Museums and the Boston Marathon Bombings

Compassion+Systems in Place+Timeliness=Community Impact In the midst of the international outpouring of support and sympathy for the victims of the two bombs that went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15,2013, what role did museums, especially Boston museums, play in their beleaguered community? As readers of Museum Commons know, I…