Professional Development Opportunities

Professional development is an opportunity to network, hone your skills, and better yourself as a museum professional. Here is a collection of professional development opportunities offered by various professional associations that you may find of interest, in alphabetical order:

• The Association of African American Museums (AAAM) offers an annual conference.
• The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) offers the following opportunities for professional development:
  • Annual Meeting
  • Online Webinars
  • Museums Advocacy Day
  • Professional Development Calendar of Events
• The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) offers a continuing education series of webinars, online courses, and workshops for museum professionals, as well as an annual conference.
• The Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) offers the following opportunities for professional development:
  • Annual Conference
  • Research and Practice Exchange
  • Workshops
  • Webinars
• The Association of Midwest Museums (AMM) offers an annual conference.
• The American Public Gardens Association (APGA) offers the following opportunities for professional development:
  • Annual Symposium
  • Annual Conference
  • Lectures and Webinars
  • Professional Sections, discipline-focused networking among public garden professionals sharing a common interest and to help advance the mission of the Association
• The Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) offers the following opportunities for professional development:
  • Communities of Practice
  • General Forum
  • Webinars
  • Noyce Leadership Institute
  • Resource-Sharing
• The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) offers the following opportunities for professional development:
  • Professional Training Courses
  • An Executive Leadership Development Program for those with an interest to advance to the role of Director within an AZA accredited zoo or aquarium in the next 5 years
  • A Certificate Program for AZA members interested in professional development
• The Creative Learning Factory “offers programming uniquely suited for professionals, from individual teachers and museum teams looking to expand their knowledge, all the way to administrators interested in offering district- and museum-wide professional development for their staff. Through webinars, interactive video conferencing and face-to-face workshops, the Creative Learning Factory offers professional development solutions perfect for your individual or organization’s needs.”
• The International Council of Museums‘ (ICOM) International Training Centre for Museum Studies offers a professional training program for museum professionals.
• The Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums (MAAM) offers an annual conference.
• The Mountain-Plains Museums Association (MPMA) offers an annual conference.
• The National Association for Museum Exhibition (NAME), a Professional Network of the American Alliance of Museums, “offers professional development opportunities through conference sessions and workshops at national and regional levels.
• The New England Museum Association (NEMA) offers the following opportunities for professional development:
  • Annual Conference
  • Workshops
  • Lunch With NEMA
  • Discussions
  • Networking Opportunities
• The Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) offers an annual conference as well as various professional development opportunities.
• The Western Museums Association (WMA) offers an annual meeting.

This is by no means a complete collection of professional development opportunities. If you become aware of any upcoming events that may be of interest to museum professionals, please email us at tufts.museum.blog@gmail.com so that we can share it!