| Where Ideas Live! The AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo™ | | Join the experiment!
 AAM's 103rd Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo ™
Philadelphia, Thursday, April 30 - Monday, May 4.
Be sure to register early and take advantage of the
Early Bird registration rate.
Early Bird Deadline, Friday, January 30.
Register online and save an additional $15.
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| Finding Calm in Crisis: A Museum Survival Guide | |
Looking at the economic forecasts for 2009 does not give one much optimism for the year ahead. Navigating this uncertainty is difficult, but we believe you should not have to weather this storm alone. Now more than ever, AAM is committed to providing the resources you need.
NEW!
Museum Survival Forum is an online community, available to AAM members and registrants of the Straight Talk: Museums Rising to the Financial Challenge web conference. Give & get ideas. Share your perspective. Help AAM be your voice as we speak with the media, Congress and other funders.
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| Straight Talk: Museums Rising to the Financial Challenge | New: 4-Part Web Conference!
March 18-19, 2009
Financial challenges are confronting all of us, individuals, institutions and the field itself. Budgets are being cut, programs scaled back, staff levels reduced. What is the impact on our work and our lives and how do we respond? Join this timely four-part webinar series of 90-minute programs, each exploring issues crucial to museums in these challenging times: retrenchment, fundraising, managing human resources, and communications strategies.
Benefit from new ideas and strategies, reliable information and resource-sharing. Let’s rise to the challenge together! Fellowships available.
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| Enter the 2009 AAM Museum Publications Design Competition | |
Send your museum’s best publications by March 15.
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| AAM Constitution Amendment 2008 |
Over the past year, the Governance Committee of the AAM Board reviewed the constitution and bylaws of the organization for compliance with current practices and to provide a constitutional framework for moving forward on AAM’s Strategic Vision. Notable changes recommended by the governance committee include eliminating membership restrictions on independent professionals and creating flexibility in the size of the board to allow for greater participation by membership.
In addition, AAM’s attorneys have strongly suggested that AAM adopt the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporations Act, which became law in 1962 and replaced the older version under which AAM was incorporated. Important features are its allowance for the use of modern communication techniques (telephone and e-mail) and the use of electronic balloting, which ease communications between the board and members and save considerable costs.
At its November meeting, the AAM Board resolved to recommend to the membership of AAM that they adopt certain changes to the constitution.—Steven High, AAM Board of Directors.
Procedural Note
There is a ballot in the January/February issue of Museum magazine. To vote, return the ballot to the address specified by close of business Feb. 20. If you need a ballot, send a request to: AAM, 1575 Eye Street, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005, Attn: ballot.—Mary Bowie, vice president
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| The New Tax Form 990-Part 2: Drilldown | New webinar!
January 29, 2009
Join in this timely 90-minute webinar focused specifically on the new Tax Form 990 core form and schedules that are now due for tax year 2008. Gain the detailed 990 information you need to tackle expanded reporting requirements and to favorably position your institution with donors and charity watchdog groups.
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| Register for Museums Advocacy Day 2009! | |
Join us for Museums Advocacy Day on February 23-24, 2009 in Washington, DC. Don’t miss this chance to learn about AAM’s legislative agenda, get advocacy training and visit the offices of your members of Congress. Register online here or Download a registration form and fax it to (202) 289-6578.
Join us for a Webinar on February 10 AAM Advocacy Webinar: Listen Up Legislators!
Getting Your Message Across
Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/262457054
Registration is FREE (but required) and space is limited, so register today!
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| AAM Statement on the Closure of the Rose Museum at Brandies University | |
The American Association of Museums is alarmed and dismayed at the decision by Brandeis University to close the Rose Museum and sell the objects from its collection. Such a drastic action would be an irreparable loss to the university and its community. Present and future generations of students and the public would be deprived of a priceless educational experience.
Museums hold collections in the public trust. These collections are a part of our common heritage and belong, in a moral sense, to all of us. It is the museum’s job to preserve them for future generations. By selling its art collection for cash to the highest bidder to erase a temporary deficit, Brandeis University is in fundamental violation of the public trust responsibilities it accepted the day it founded the Rose Museum. Such a sale is also a betrayal of the donors, who generously gave art for the benefit of the students and the public, not for paying bills. This is a direct violation of the AAM Code of Ethics for museums.
If it cannot afford to maintain and exhibit its collection, we urge Brandeis University to seek another steward of it. There are many fine museums in the region capable of caring for these works, even on a temporary basis, while the university explores other options. In choosing an alternate solution to the sale and irrevocable loss of the collection that was entrusted to its care, the university would serve as a role model for its students, faculty and community. Ford NW. Bell
President
American Association of Museums | |
