Museum Studies Blog at Tufts University

This seems sadly apropos for a week in which funding for the NEA and NEH has been cut again. AAM is doing two free museum advocacy webinars next week.

Two FREE Upcoming Advocacy Programs – July 12 and July 13

AAM will offer two FREE programs next week, and we invite you to participate:

August is Congress’s District Work Period: Now’s the Time to Plan a Site Visit
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 2pm EDT
Members of Congress typically spend the entire month of August back home, meeting with constituents and doing site visits. This is the perfect time to arrange a visit to your museum! We’ll show you how easy it is to set up a meeting, a site visit, or another event involving your elected officials. And we (almost) guarantee that your elected officials will jump at the chance to visit your museum.
Register now or learn more about AAM’s Online Advocacy Training Series.

Museum Benchmarking Online Demonstration
Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 2pm EDT
Want to see how your museum compares with others while also creating meaningful advocacy data? AAM will demonstrate its new benchmarking tool – Museum Benchmarking Online (MBO) – the 21st century successor to AAM’s Museum Financial Information survey, long considered the most comprehensive source of data about America’s museums. MBO is easy to use, totally secure, and fully online. Museums can use it to generate instant, customized reports to help make their case.
Register now or visit www.aam-us.org/MBO to learn more.

“AAM’s new online benchmarking is a powerful tool for strategic planning, board and funder presentations, and public communication efforts,” said AAM President Ford W. Bell. “Museums that can compare themselves to other similarly structured museums will have a competitive advantage in making their case to elected officials, foundations, educators, and the public. I invite my colleagues across the museum field to join us for these free webinars.”