Bea is a journalist specialising in entertainment, attractions and tech with 15 years' experience. She has written and edited for publications including CNET, BuzzFeed, Digital Spy, Evening Standard and BBC. Bea graduated from King's College London and has an MA in journalism.
The Museum of Cambridge in England has announced it will reduce its opening days and staff due to rising costs.
From 30 March, the museum will close for an additional two days per week and reduce its staff by one third in a bid to reduce costs.
Instead of opening six days a week during term time, the Museum of Cambridge will open from Friday to Monday.
During school holidays, it will open for an additional day, from Thursday to Monday.
Rising costs, reduced footfall
“Although this is something we would rather not have to do, increasing closure days at this time gives us an opportunity to act strategically and focus on what we do next, to ensure the long-term future of the museum," said Alex Smaridge, director of the Museum of Cambridge.
"We are independent, and like many museums in the sector, we are facing rising operational costs and reduced footfall."
The museum will continue to offer events and activities during the school holidays, and ensure that Cambridge residents "can continue to explore their local history", Smaridge said.
The Museum of Cambridge, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary in November, shares the stories of the people of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire.
Museum to assess strategy
Roger Lilley, chair of trustees at the Museum of Cambridge, said the museum "has worked very hard coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure its future".
However, "in the face of increased costs, the board of trustees agree that this is the right moment to assess our strategy", Lilley added.
"Most importantly, we’d like to reassure everyone that they will still be able to access the museum, attend our events and learn about their local history," Lilley said.
Bea is a journalist specialising in entertainment, attractions and tech with 15 years' experience. She has written and edited for publications including CNET, BuzzFeed, Digital Spy, Evening Standard and BBC. Bea graduated from King's College London and has an MA in journalism.
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) has called for the protection of museums and cultural heritage sites amid the recent conflict in Iran, the Gulf region and the Eastern Mediterranean.
In a statement, ICOM said it is expressing "serious concern" over the conflict's humanitarian impact, as well as the risks facing museums and cultural heritage sites.
"We are alarmed by reports of serious damage to cultural sites in the region, confirmed by intergovernmental organisations such as UNESCO," it added.
ICOM said it is closely monitoring the situation alongside its national committees and partners in the region and internationally, "in line with its core commitment to the protection of cultural heritage".
"We remain attentive to the safety and well-being of our members in the affected areas as well as all professionals working to safeguard cultural heritage," ICOM added.
"ICOM underlines the need to respect international humanitarian law and to ensure the protection of civilians."
The organisation is calling on all parties to respect their obligations under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its protocols.
ICOM, which said it supports any statements published by its partner organisations, has reiterated its call to all parties to comply with international legal obligations to safeguard cultural heritage.
Reports of damage to cultural sites
It is also referring to the ICOM Statement for Peace, and its declaration on the protection of archives, libraries, museums and heritage places during armed conflicts and political instability.
"The destruction of heritage is not only a local tragedy; it is a loss for all humankind," ICOM said.
"We must come together, through dialogue, cooperation, and respect to preserve the cultural bridges that connect our shared past to a more peaceful future."
Last month, ICOM released the full programme for the ICOM UK 2026 Annual Conference, Museum Diplomacy in Action, which will be held in Oxford from 16 to 17 April.
Lead image: National Museum of Iran, Creative Commons
At the museum, visitors can engage with digital avatars of historical figures who shaped Saratoga Springs and the institution itself.
Using their smartphones, guests can chat with these AI figures, ask them questions, and explore the city's past.
In select exhibits, visitors can also speak directly to portrait-based avatars for an immersive, face-to-face experience with history.
The AI tour guide software was created in-house by the museum's director of communications, L.F. Leon, as part of a project to combine innovation and accessibility.
Among the AI tour guides are John Morrissey, who helped to establish Saratoga as a leading destination in American culture.
Morrissey founded the Canfield Casino (now home to the museum) and created the Saratoga Race Track.
AI-powered museum experiences
Another AI tour guide is Frank Leslie, a pioneering publisher and advocate for women’s suffrage, whose legacy contributed to national conversations around women’s rights.
Also appearing as an AI guide is civic leader and founder of the Saratoga Historical Society, Ellen Hardin Walworth, who played a pivotal role in shaping local and national history.
"This reopening marks an exciting new chapter for the Saratoga Springs History Museum," said the museum's executive director James Parillo.
"We are honoring our past while embracing the future, using innovative technology to create meaningful connections between our visitors and the people who shaped this city."
The AI tour guides are included with museum admission and available to all guests.
SSA Group has been working on a transformative approach to operations. By weaving its signature 452 Hospitality ethos, rooted in a legacy of welcome and human connection, into Scout, a new AI-driven operating system, the company demonstrates how AI can enhance rather than replace the human side of hospitality.
For nearly 60 years, SSA Group has been a staple in the cultural attractions sector, collaborating with zoos, aquariums, and museums to provide comprehensive guest services. As a family-owned business, the company has continually adapted, but its core mission remains centred on a simple, powerful concept: hospitality.
We speak with CEO Sean McNicholas and vice president of people and culture, Jason Stover, to unpack Scout's mission and learn how it can open the door to both greater efficiency and more memorable moments.
SSA reimagines the industry
Starting by looking at the bigger picture, McNicholas says: “What I love about SSA and our family business is our curiosity for continuing to reimagine the industry.
"Those are pillars of our plan. We approach 60 years as a family business in 2030, and what’s exciting to us is continuing to innovate, not just our business, but the guest experience for our clients and partners.”
Sean McNicholas and Jason Stover
This culture of curiosity is what prompted McNicholas and Stover to investigate the potential of artificial intelligence long before it became the industry buzzword it is today.
"Five or six years ago, Jason came to me as one of the early adopters of AI. We started talking about it, and the more we looked at tools like AI, we asked a very simple question: what one, two, or three areas could AI positively impact our business?"
For SSA, the goal was not to replace staff or remove the human element from the museum or zoo experience through automation. Instead, the emphasis was on liberation.
"The thing that became clear was how tools like AI could help us become more efficient with data, back-end systems, and administrative work," adds McNicholas.
"If we can be more efficient there, we can spend more time meeting guests where they need us, which is on the front line.”
The outcome of this exploration is Scout, an AI-assisted tool and ‘unified intelligence layer’ designed specifically for cultural attractions.
Scout is positioned not as a replacement for human workers, but as a co-pilot. It is an operating system that gathers data from across the industry to provide real-time insights. Unlike general-purpose AI tools, Scout has been built for the sector's operational realities.
"AI is trending now, but it’s not new," says Stover.
"I’ve been with SSA for almost 30 years, and my journey with AI in this company has existed since day one. When I first became a manager, we were already experimenting with predictive analytics, trying to forecast attendance and staffing.
"That was AI at the time."
However, the leap to generative AI offered a new opportunity to support SSA's secret sauce: its people.
Stover employs a cinematic analogy to describe Scout’s role within the workforce:
"I compare it to Tony Stark," he says. "He’s brilliant, but he doesn’t become Iron Man until he has Jarvis. That’s what Scout is. It’s a co-pilot that takes away routine, monotonous work so our people can focus on what matters."
Real-time, useful insights
Designed to support guest-journey walkthroughs, the platform collects real-time observations and converts them into actionable insights tailored to each attraction.
The tool was created in accordance with SSA’s core belief that technology should never replace connection; it should enhance it. The idea is that data and design can collaborate to create memorable guest experiences.
This supports SSA’s wider focus on innovation, which aims to turn curiosity into meaningful change that advances partners' missions. By automating data analysis, Scout helps operators make more informed decisions about designs, platforms, and revenue strategies.
"Guest expectations are evolving faster than ever," says Stover. "Scout was built to meet this moment as a tech-forward AI tool that allows us to keep experiences deeply personal.”
The heart of the system: 452 Hospitality
Although the technology is impressive, the engine driving Scout remains entirely human. At the centre of Scout’s design is 452 Hospitality, the cultural ethos that defines SSA Group’s purpose and character.
Named after 452 Leyden Street, the Denver home where SSA’s founders first lived and practised hospitality, 452 has since become both a numeric and philosophical code for what the company stands for: a spirit of welcome, belonging, and genuine human connection.
At 452 Leyden Street, anyone could come in for a meal, a chat, or a place to rest. And that sense of genuine warmth now lives on in every SSA service encounter.
Today, 452 Hospitality reflects SSA’s ongoing dedication to creating authentic, memorable moments that uplift guests, partners, and colleagues alike.
That same spirit guides Scout’s purpose: rather than replacing people, the AI system aims to enable staff to embody 452 Hospitality more fully, freeing them from administrative burdens so they can provide the personal engagement that makes guests feel welcome and valued.
In practice, this involves a particular method for engaging with guests and monitoring operations. Scout develops a digital framework for this using the SOQ model: Observation, Opinion, and Question.
"Scout is being trained by the entire zoo, aquarium, and cultural attraction industry," Stover says. "Every conversation, every audit, every partner insight gets ingested and shapes how Scout operates.”
Within the Scout ecosystem, there are various ‘agents’ dedicated to different tasks, such as labour optimisation and inventory management. However, the ‘452 agent’ is unique.
"It has vision and voice capabilities. As you walk through operations, it analyses images and observations in real time and evaluates them against our hospitality standards. It acts as a co-pilot for auditors and operators, making observations, offering insights, and matching them with best practices and solutions.
“You might miss something as a human, but Scout won’t.”
Scout in action
The deployment of Scout is already producing tangible outcomes, progressing from theoretical ideas to solving complex on-site issues. This highlights SSA’s focus on turning insights into action by combining data, technology, and human connection.
McNicholas emphasises that the team is "continually evolving Scout by testing it across multiple attractions," noting that "every new site adds more data and sharper insights.”
Stover offers an example of Scout’s operational intelligence in action from a working session with the Detroit Zoo. The team was exploring a complex “what-if” scenario: opening a new entrance near a new exhibit while navigating compliance considerations, budget constraints, and a nearby rail track.
“Using Scout as a sandbox alongside their team, we pressure-tested the constraints, surfaced relevant regulatory considerations, explored alternative approaches like repurposed shipping containers, and generated rough-order cost ranges. It was less about committing to a final plan and more about accelerating discovery.”
“What’s exciting is that every audit surfaces a new real-world question, and we ask: Should this become a new sub-agent? That’s how Scout keeps evolving.”
Another success story comes from the Dallas Zoo, where Scout was instrumental in helping the zoo team explore their own AI journey while SSA conducted an inter-department relationship audit.
Scout is tailored to each user’s psychology
What makes Scout different from typical business AI tools is its incorporation of behavioural psychology. Acknowledging that strong operations don't happen by accident, SSA has combined leadership development with its technological roadmap.
Stover, whose background is in people and culture, insisted that if they were to create co-pilots, they had to understand the humans who would use them. So, instead of providing generic recommendations, Scout adapts its guidance to each leader's thinking and communication style.
"One of the first things we decided was that if we were going to build AI co-pilots, they needed to integrate Behavioural Essentials," Stover says. "We already use behavioural assessments that give leaders a 21-point profile, with strengths, tendencies, and blind spots. We’ve now incorporated that into Scout.”
This means that when a manager logs into Scout, the system is tailored to their specific personality profile.
"It understands how I communicate, where I might need softer language, or where I might need more structure," Stover says.
He adds that McNicholas served as the ‘guinea pig’ for this feature:
"We merged his traits and blind spots into Scout as he was working through our future roadmap. Scout isn’t just an AI tool; it understands your psychological makeup and helps cover your blind spots as you operate in your role.”
The future of the workforce
A common concern about AI is the risk of job displacement. However, SSA’s leadership firmly states that their investment in technology aims to safeguard, not eliminate, their workforce.
"As CEO, culture is my responsibility, and culture starts with values," McNicholas says. "Hospitality, human-to-human interaction, has always been our foundation. I don’t want a world of all robots and automation. I love people too much.
“That’s why Scout exists. It helps us live what we love to do: creating special moments for people.”
Stover shares this view, considering AI as a safeguard against the decline of interpersonal skills observed in other industries:
"We have to be proactive in shaping the future. Many companies will use AI purely to impact the bottom line. That’s their choice. But SSA has always been people-focused. We’re adopting AI safely and intentionally to better our people. As interpersonal skills decline elsewhere, we’re protecting them by freeing people up to reconnect.”
The efficiency gains are clear. Stover notes that tasks like scheduling, which previously took hours to analyse against weather and sales history, now happen in seconds. "That frees managers up to spend time with their team. That’s the point.
“We’re hospitality people. We want to be in front of guests, not behind a screen.”
A vision for 2030
Looking ahead, SSA has set bold goals for the next five years. As the company approaches its 60th anniversary in 2030, the vision is for a fully enabled workforce where each employee has a digital partner.
"By 2030, every person in our company will have a co-pilot that helps them be more efficient," predicts McNicholas. "We’ll also bring a unified revenue strategy to attractions, something the industry lacks.”
He also believes the metrics of success are shifting. It is no longer enough to simply count heads at the gate:
"The future metrics won’t just be attendance. They’ll be revenue, guest experience, and fulfilment," he says.
"There’s more competition than ever, and we have to be the place where guests leave thinking, 'That felt right.' To do that, our people need tools like Scout so they can spend more time creating those moments.
“That’s how we reimagine the industry.”
The future of hospitality
Summing up the benefits, COO Travis Kight says:
"AI is the future of hospitality, but not in the way most imagine. We see AI as a co-pilot, not a replacement, designed to protect the human connection that defines our industry.
“Tools like Scout allow us to turn data into real-time insights, freeing our teams from repetitive tasks so they can focus on creating unforgettable guest experiences.
"As Sean mentioned, by 2030, our vision is for every team member to have a digital partner that amplifies their strengths, covers blind spots, and helps us deliver hospitality at a level the industry has never seen.
“AI isn’t about automation. It’s about empowerment.”
As SSA Group looks towards the attractions of tomorrow, its message is clear: the path to the future is built on data, but the goal remains human connection.
By anchoring Scout in 452 Hospitality's philosophy of creating meaningful, human-centred moments, SSA isn’t just adopting AI for efficiency. It’s enhancing its ability to deliver heartfelt experiences that define its brand and shape the future of the guest experience.
"That’s the foundation of Scout," Stover says. "If a tool doesn’t protect hospitality or make us better people-facing operators, it doesn’t get built.”
The City of Amsterdam and the National Slavery Museum Foundation nonprofit have launched an international design competition to build a National Slavery Museum.
Located at Amsterdam’s Java Island, in the eastern harbour area, the new museum will provide an in-depth exploration of the Dutch history of slavery, serving as a place for reflection and education.
Its central point of reference is the history of transatlantic slavery, but the National Slavery Museum will "tell the whole story", an open call says.
"It is a story of hope and strength, but also of pain and trauma," it adds.
The competition calls for a design team comprising an architect and a landscape architect, supplemented by early-career designers, historians or contextual experts from other disciplines.
It is inviting designs for a 96,000-square-foot museum building within a 270,000-square-foot park, which could include space for programming, visual art and events.
New museum to "tell the whole story"
Additionally, design teams should represent diverse communities and have a personal relationship with the history of slavery in the Netherlands.
The City of Amsterdam will appoint a local engineering team to carry out the technical development of the design.
"The building of the National Slavery Museum is more than just a building: its appearance must do justice to its exceptional purpose, in terms of architecture, expression, materials, form and setting," the call says.
"For the recognition of the history of slavery, a dignified and meaningful building is therefore required. A building that houses and conveys the full story of the Dutch history of slavery in different ways. A building that is easily accessible and occupies a prominent location."
Architectural teams must submit their designs by 7 April 2026, with a shortlist of 10 teams to be announced in June.
The National Slavery Museum is due to open as early as 2030.
'Project Coral and the Journey of Hope' features images from the Hope Reef in Indonesia alongside behind-the-scenes photos at the Horniman Aquarium.
The display spotlights some of the people and communities working together and shows "how hope can travel from research tanks to living reefs", a press release says.
The aquarium team's Project Coral has been a world-leading coral breeding programme since 2012, pioneering new ways to reproduce corals.
These Project Coral discoveries are now giving reefs a fighting chance and protecting ocean wildlife.
Restoring reefs through innovative techniques
Additionally, since 2006, the Mars Coral Reef Restoration programme has worked to help restore coral reefs through innovative techniques such as reef stars – hexagonal, sand-coated steel frames that are installed on damaged reefs to provide a stable platform for rapid coral growth.
The Hope Reef is the flagship reef restored using this approach, and the Horniman's Dr Jamie Craggs is working with Mars to help bridge the gap between research and restoration.
Craggs, principal aquarium curator at the Horniman and senior marine science officer for Mars Sustainable Solutions (MSS), said: "As well as our landmark breakthrough in coral spawning, this display shows how the Horniman Aquarium team is developing innovative photographic techniques to better understand developing corals."
"Alongside are photos taken on the other side of the world, of Indonesian communities leading coral restoration programmes, working with Mars to rebuild the reef," he said.
"I’m lucky to play a role in both and see for myself this journey of hope for the future of corals – now visitors can see it too, here at the Horniman."
Ikoz (Muhammad Rizky Madjid), Indonesia marine programme officer and photographer for Mars Sustainable Solutions, added: "These photographs tell a story of hope beneath the sea."
Horniman Museum and Gardens
The images "capture the journey of damaged coral reefs as they slowly recover through the care and collaboration" of MSS in Indonesia, scientists and local communities.
"Each small coral fragment planted is a step in this journey – showing that even fragile ecosystems can be given a chance to grow again," he said.
"Hope is not just a word here; it is a shared commitment."
Ikoz (Muhammad Rizky Madjid)/MARS Sustainable Solutions
Ikoz (Muhammad Rizky Madjid)/MARS Sustainable Solutions
Horniman Museum and Gardens