{"id":416,"date":"2022-04-20T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T03:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museum.lavorazioni.dev\/community-infrastructure-museums-as-community-aggregators\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T16:08:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T14:08:36","slug":"community-infrastructure-museums-as-community-aggregators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/en\/community-infrastructure-museums-as-community-aggregators\/","title":{"rendered":"Community infrastructure: museums as community aggregators"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>American Alliance Museum&#8217;s 2022 report.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2022_TrendsWatch_AAM_museum_as_community_infrastructure-1024x576.webp\" alt=\"community infrastructure - Trendswatch 2022\" class=\"wp-image-1612\"\/><figcaption>Credit: American Alliance of Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Quest&#8217;anno l&#8217;<strong>American Alliance of Museum*<\/strong> ha pubblicato: &#8220;<strong>TrendsWatch2022: I musei come infrastruttura comunitaria<\/strong>&#8220;.<\/p>\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">*Organization to which we devoted an article earlier on their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/quali-sono-le-priorita-che-dovrebbero-guidare-un-museo-nel-futuro\/\"><strong>Strategic Framework<\/strong><\/a>.<\/pre>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report focuses on the potential for museums to play a strategic and instrumental role in <strong>supporting <\/strong>the diverse communities that animate the Society.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cultural realities in recent years have emerged as <strong>relevant<\/strong> &#8220;infrastructures&#8221; for the growth of their communities and for society.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, through observations and <em>case studies<\/em>, the report outlines <strong>five areas <\/strong>(called &#8220;<strong>pillars<\/strong>&#8220;) where museums can make a difference in creating <em>ad hoc<\/em> activities and pathways.<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><em>This edition of TrendsWatch makes the case that museums are <\/em><strong><em>vitally important entities<\/em><\/strong><em> in that infrastructure as well, by virtue of their <\/em><strong><em>contributions to five pillars<\/em><\/strong><em> of community strength and resilience<\/em>.<\/p><cite>Elizabeth Merritt, <em>VP Strategic Foresight and Founding Director of the Center for the Future of Museums, American Alliance of Museums<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aam-us.org\/2022\/03\/22\/introducing-the-2022-edition-of-trendswatch\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a> thus provides an <strong>actionable<\/strong> framework for <strong>cultural organizations<\/strong>, indicating how to improve the way they engage, activate and support their <strong>communities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Community infrastructure: the five &#8220;pillars&#8221; of society where museums can make a difference<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For each area investigated, the report is divided into:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The <strong>rationale <\/strong>for why museums can play a strategic role;<\/li><li><strong>Critical issues <\/strong>to date found;<\/li><li>The <strong>challenge <\/strong>to be met;<\/li><li>The <strong>tools <\/strong>and <strong>resources <\/strong>that can be deployed;<\/li><li><strong>Case studies<\/strong> and examples to take inspiration from.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Investing in education<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As is highlighted in the first chapter, developing innovative educational programs can give more support and tools to educators and teachers.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creating educational facilities such as libraries and <strong>after-school programs<\/strong> or increasing<strong>digital offerings<\/strong> are some of the examples to consider.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One possible <strong>case study<\/strong> is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/life-long-learning-la-creazione-di-una-charter-school-a-supporto-di-una-crescita-equa-e-sostenibile\/\">STEAM Academy<\/a> at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Assisting the senior community<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through <strong>collaborative projects<\/strong> with specialized entities, museums can achieve greater accessibility and take care of their older community.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One example is Arizona State University&#8217;s collaboration with the <a href=\"http:\/\/mim.org\/mims-collaboration-with-asu-will-serve-senior-community-with-new-virtual-program\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Musical Instrument Museum<\/a> that resulted in tailored virtual programming aimed at the older community.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the report, these people are the first audience to be left behind by museum projects and by 2034 will become the largest segment of society.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Mental Health<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Museums can be the nodal points of a specialized network for supporting the mental health of their community, as we also saw in a previous magazine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/well-being-e-salute-psico-fisica\/\">article<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One example to keep an eye on is the pilot-test started last September in the city of Brussels, where doctors can prescribe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2021\/sep\/02\/brussels-doctors-to-prescribe-museum-visits-for-covid-stress\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">free visits<\/a> to five public museums in the city for patients being treated for stress at CHU Brugmann Hospital.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Resilience: being able to respond to emergencies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the last period we have learned how civic unrest and natural disasters are inevitable. These incidents can directly and indirectly affect the daily life of one&#8217;s communities.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From this point of view, museums can offer their spaces for the collection of at-risk communities by redesigning architecture to better cope with natural disasters and develop proper employee training in emergency response.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Externally, museums can engage communities by offering training on emergency actions and creating a network of staff members to develop greater awareness of possible risks and critical issues.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One example is the event reviews developed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moma.org\/explore\/inside_out\/category\/rising-currents\/#description\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MoMA PS1<\/a> on promoting long-term thinking, which emphasizes the ability to develop future-oriented critical thinking.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Sustainability: reassessing what &#8220;growth&#8221; means<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the greatest threats facing society is unsustainable growth: the inequities, damage and instability created by systems that focus on quantity rather than quality.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the report, it is imperative to reevaluate the metrics used to measure the success of museums.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sustainable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/consulenza\/sviluppo\/\">development<\/a> does not always coincide with a greater influx of male and female visitors to the halls of cultural realities.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One example given within the report is the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202107\/1227857.shtml\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Uffizi Diffusi<\/a>&#8221; project developed by the Uffizi to reduce <strong>overcrowding<\/strong> inside the galleries and pushing for tourism spread throughout the region (including in lesser-known areas).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To find out about the report, &#8220;<em><strong>TrendsWatch<\/strong><\/em>: <em><strong>Museum as community Infrastructure<\/strong><\/em>&#8221; (2022), click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aam-us.org\/programs\/center-for-the-future-of-museums\/trendswatch-museums-as-community-infrastructure-2022\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American Alliance Museum&#8217;s 2022 report. Quest&#8217;anno l&#8217;American Alliance of Museum* ha pubblicato: &#8220;TrendsWatch2022: I musei come infrastruttura comunitaria&#8220;. *Organization to which we devoted an article earlier on their Strategic Framework. The report focuses on the potential for museums to play a strategic and instrumental role in supporting the diverse communities that animate the Society. Cultural [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museumstrategy.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}