From 19 – 22 May 2023, museum professionals will gather in Denver, Colorado, for the AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo. Organised every year by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), this is an opportunity for the museum community to network, share ideas and insights, and learn about the newest trends and best practices. In addition, the annual MuseumExpo will feature the latest products and services from a wide array of exhibitors.
This year, the programming will be divided into four thematic tracks: People, Planet, Power, and Possibility. Sessions will include conversations among museum people, policymakers and business leaders, as well as educators and other experts. Visitors will attend from around the US and further afield.
The agenda features over 300 speakers and sessions. It has been designed to inspire attendees and also to challenge them to amplify their impact on their communities.
Last year’s event in Boston was the first in-person meeting since the pandemic.
AAM 2023 agenda
Ahead of the official opening on Friday 19 May, registration will be open all day on Thursday 18 May, and there will be some pre-conference meetings and programming. There will also be special experiential workshops, treasure box tours and educational tours taking place.
A highlight on Thursday will be Diving into Strategic Foresight with Elizabeth Merritt, the Alliance’s VP of strategic foresight and founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums.
Friday 19 May
The action begins on Friday as AAM’s board chair Chevy Humphrey and president & CEO Laura Lott welcome attendees and introduce this year’s theme of Social and Community Impact. This opening session will also feature a poem from Colorado Poet Laureate Bobby LeFebre and a performance by the dance troupe, ArtistiCO.
Following this, concurrent roundtables and sessions will run during the morning. Topics include online collections, marketing, touring exhibitions, lighting and intergenerational programming.
At 12.30, attendees can join Exploring TrendsWatch 2023: Discussion Tables. This will dive into three main topics of AAM’s 2023 TrendsWatch report. These are the post-pandemic workforce, the digital revolution, and the partisan divide.
Sessions will also run concurrently in the afternoon, exploring AR, community engagement, DEAI, sustainability, workforce culture and more.
In the evening, the NAME Party ticketed event will take place at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Saturday 20 May
After an early morning selection of concurrent roundtables and sessions, including insights on topics like restorative history, carbon footprint measuring, engaging teens, online education, insurance and more, attendees will gather for AAM 2023’s keynote address.
The keynote speaker for this year’s Annual Meeting is Gregg Deal. Deal, a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, is a multi-disciplinary artist and activist. His work challenges ahistorical and stereotypical depictions of Indigenous people in art and is informed by his Native identity.
He will be in conversation with Virgil Ortiz, artist and indigenous futurist; Cassandra Atencio, tribal historic preservation officer of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe; John Lukavic, Andrew W. Mellon curator of native arts, Denver Art Museum; and moderator, Dawn DiPrince, executive director & state historic preservation officer, History Colorado. Together they will explore contemporary museum practice of representing the past, present, and future of Indigenous peoples.
This session is supported by Art Processors, the experiential design consultancy.
Topics explored during the rest of the day’s concurrent sessions include leadership, making mistakes, mental health education, immersive exhibits, empowering climate action, measuring social impact, storytelling, NFTs and much more.
Then, on Saturday evening, the Connect Networking Event takes place at the Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus. This is a ticketed event,
Sunday 21 May
Sunday sees a packed schedule of concurrent workshops and flash sessions. These will explore subjects like web accessibility, art therapy, joyful learning, human-centred HR policies, civic strategies, co-design, the metaverse, volunteering and much more.
The AAM Party will then take place in the evening. This ticketed event will be held at the History Colorado Center.
More ticketed events and tours will take place on Monday 22 May.
MuseumExpo
MuseumExpo at AAM 2023 will open at 10:30 am on Friday 19 May. Attendees can access the trade show floor from 10.30 am to 5:00 pm on Friday and 9.00 am to 5.30 pm on Saturday. There will also be scheduled Poster Talks and NeighborHubs on both days. A special MuseumExpo Closing Happy Hour takes place on Saturday from 4:15 pm to 5:30 pm.
Meet museum experts at AAM 2023
There will be a wide range of companies present at AAM 2023 from across the sector. This includes exhibit designers, AV providers and consultants, as well as ticketing firms and many more.
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) will be showcasing its space shows, 2D exhibitions and travelling exhibitions during the show, with a brand new project to be revealed at AAM 2023.
The team will be at booth #1045 where attendees can discover shows like T. rex: The Ultimate Predator; Nature’s Superheroes; Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids: Mythic Creatures; The World’s Largest Dinosaurs; Extinct & Endangered: Insects in Peril and more.
Attendees can also reach out to the team in advance to arrange a meeting. Jennifer Chow, director of global business development; Susan Parrs, director of operations; Matt Heenan, director of sales; Agnes Bertocci-Ruiz, director of sales, and Alejandra Castellanos, senior manager of sales & strategic development will all be present.
The $465 million Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation opened to the public earlier this month.
Art Processors
The Art Processors team will present two sessions at this year’s AAM Annual Meeting.
Firstly, Christine Murray, content director at Art Processors will join Sam Flowers, a front-of-house supervisor and community activist at the Woody Guthrie Center and Carla Herran, research and evaluation associate and co-PI at Oregon Museum of Science and Industry on Friday, at 2:30 pm for a session entitled Engagement or Partnership? Community Collaboration and Co-creation
Then on Saturday at 1.30 pm, the team will present Creating New Dimensions in Storytelling: Immersion, Storytelling, and Cutting-Edge Technologies. This will feature insights from Sarah van Haastert, group director, business development – experience design and Judd Swanson, product director.
Additionally, Murray is being recognised at the conference for her work on A Frame of Mind. This is a five-episode podcast that takes a hard look at race in America through the lens of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri.
Art Processors recently joined forces with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to reimagine the Bloch Galleries through an innovative immersive art experience called A Beautiful Disruption: Experiencing the Bloch Galleries.
D3D/Giant Screen Films
D3D Cinema and Giant Screen Films, leading providers of immersive experience solutions and services for the museum cinema and attraction industry, will be present at AAM 2023. Don Kempf and Mark Katz will be on hand to connect with friends and colleagues. To schedule a meeting in advance, attendees can email Katz.
D3D Cinema reported a busy year in 2022 with a number of new installs. This takes the company to over 100 delivered projects. It has also grown its team and will be delivering new film content as the year progresses.
Last year, D3D completed four new cinema museum installations, adding to the growing network of D3D and Cinefolio theatres.
Electrosonic
Electrosonic, a leading international audiovisual and technology services company, will be exhibiting at booth #503 at MuseumExpo. The firm’s team of technology designers, executive consultants and museum lovers will be available to discuss technology, trends, projects and all things museum.
Attendees can book a complimentary blue-sky ideation charette during the show, where the team will talk through the latest experiential technology solutions and help to unleash creativity to build the next-generation guest experience.
Electrosonic is also previewing its previsualization service offering, a powerful tool for visualizing experiential technology options that are critical to establishing project commitment and reducing risk early on by helping to communicate technical feasibility.
Recently the company completed a number of high-profile museum projects including; Mars: The Next Giant Leap at the Carnegie Science Center, The Museum of Broadway and The First Light Pavilion at Jodrell Bank.
Dapper Labs will be supporting Electrosonic on its stand at AAM as one of the firm’s technology partners. Attendees can arrange a meeting with CSO/CPO Simon Turtle via email.
See also: Technology solutions for sustainable attractions: a holistic approach with Electrosonic
Event
Jim Broughton, director of strategy at London museum planning and design studio Event, will be attending with a view to meeting potential clients, collaborators and partners. Event is an acclaimed design firm for the cultural sector, having delivered almost 300 projects since its founding in 1986.
Today, Event is a member of Chargeurs Museum Studio – a federation of firms that includes fellow designers MET Studio and project management consultants Design PM in London, Leach large format printing in the north of England, Hypsos fabrication in the Netherlands, Skira art publishing in Milan, and specialist museum contractors Design&Production Incorporated in Virginia.
To contact Broughton ahead of the show, please email. for a discussion, please email.
Event recently celebrated the opening of the Oman Across Ages Museum. For this project, it was chosen to provide masterplanning, interpretative planning, exhibition and graphic design and creative direction.
Event Network
Andrea Froehle, VP of marketing & communications at Event Network, a leading retail operator for experiential cultural attractions in North America, will take part in two panel sessions on sustainability at AAM 2023.
Both sessions are on Friday. At 2 pm, Froehle will join Cynthia J. Jones, operations supervisor at The Henry Ford; Joyce Lee, president of IndigoJLD Green + Health/AAM ECN; Charles Walbridge, lead collections photographer at Minneapolis Institute of Art and Michaeleen Gallagher of The Annenberg Foundation Trust for 60 Sustainability Ideas in 60 Minutes.
At 4.30 pm, in Sustainability in 60 Minutes: Deep Dives, she will speak alongside Christopher Hobbs, owner of Sustainable Ideas; Deborah Lucking, director of sustainability at Fentress Architects; Joyce Lee, president of IndigoJLD Green + Health/AAM ECN and Leslie Tom, chief sustainability officer at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
Last month, Event Network unveiled its latest store remodel in partnership with Zoo Atlanta
Exhibits Development Group
Exhibits Development Group (EDG), a global leader in travelling exhibitions, will be exhibiting and attendees can find the team at booth #1145.
The company has announced the debut of Dinosaurs of the Sahara at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio on 26 May 2023. This new exhibition comes from world-renowned palaeontologist and professor Paul Sereno and the team at the University of Chicago Fossil Lab, which is the top-ranked palaeontology programme in the US.
Visitors can discover some of the most important African dinosaur discoveries made by Sereno and his team over the last three decades, alongside recent discoveries from the team’s expedition to Niger in autumn 2022.
To book a meeting with the team at AAM 2023, contact Carrie O’Keefe, director of business development by email.
Flying Fish
Flying Fish, a leading producer of touring museum and science centre exhibitions, will be at booth #1051.
The company partners with the world’s leading museums and science centres to design experiences that are built to last and impact generations. From Melbourne to New York, its world-class exhibitions travel to audiences of millions. They generate new, sustainable income for clients year after year, and inspire fans around the globe.
Attendees can discover highlights of the firm’s exhibition portfolio at AAM 2023. This includes OceanXperience, Mission Astronaut, Dream Tomorrow Today, Stardust and You and Julia Child: A Recipe for Life.
Blooloop recently spoke to Flying Fish founder Jay Brown about the OceanXperience exhibition and the company’s ‘For Museums, By Museums‘ ethos.
Formula D
The co-CEOs of formula D, a producer of internationally recognised and renowned visitor experiences, will travel from Cape Town to the US to attend AAM 2023. Michael Wolf and Marco Rosa are looking forward to networking and meeting new people.
Working with museums, aquariums, science and visitor centres, formula D offers everything from set building and fabrication to AV media and software. The company provides a range of services including strategy, design and production to meet every client’s needs from inception to installation.
Attendees can schedule a meeting with them here.
Guru
Dana Duran, SVP of production and creative content at Guru Experience Co., the app specialist for the cultural sector, will take part in a panel at this year’s AAM Annual Meeting. Duran has written and produced dozens of augmented reality experiences at different levels of complexity, working closely with museum teams.
On Saturday at 2 pm, she will join Lisa Falk, head of community engagement at Arizona State Museum; Cindy Petersen, executive director, at the Taubman Museum of Art; Helen A. A. Harrison, director of Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center Presenter and Eddie Carbin, exhibit designer at The Exploratorium for a session called Engage, Innovate, Collaborate: Using AR, VR, and Immersive Experiences.
To connect with Duran and her colleague Kealy Gordon, account manager, at the show, attendees can get in touch via email.
Suzie Dergham, CEO of Guru Experience Co., recently spoke to blooloop about the company’s inception and its mission.
Imagine Exhibitions
Imagine Exhibitions, a leader in worldwide travelling exhibitions and entertainment, is a longtime sponsor and exhibitor at AAM. This year, the team will be at booth #938 and will be the lanyard sponsor.
Debbie Donohue, COO and vice president of sales at Imagine Exhibitions, has had a longstanding appointment as a board member of AAM’s Traveling Exhibition Network. In addition, Troy Rainville, the senior director of business development at Imagine Exhibitions, also holds an appointment as a volunteer on the NAME Board.
Donohue will also speak during a Traveling Exhibits-focused Session: Conjuring Sustainable Traveling Exhibitions Models without the Wizardry on Saturday at 2 pm. She will be joined by panellists from Museum EXP, Luci Creative, the Indianapolis Children’s Museum and OMSI.
Imagine Exhibitions recently announced that an immersive new experience is coming to the Las Vegas Strip. This will feature huge, lifelike animatronic dinosaurs.
Lord Cultural Resources
Lord Cultural Resources, the world’s largest cultural professional practice, will also have a presence at AAM 2023. Kathleen Brown, VP; Holly Shen, director; Eve Moros Ortega, director; Marishana Mabusela, senior consultant and Daniela Aguilar, consultant, will be at booth #1117.
Shen will also moderate a panel discussion on Friday 19 at 4.30. This is entitled Every Museum is a Community Museum: Defining and Prioritizing Communities. She will be joined by Stephanie Wilchfort, president & CEO of Brooklyn Children’s Museum and Kristian Weatherspoon, VP of digital storytelling at the Atlanta History Center.
On Saturday at 2 pm, Moros Ortega will moderate Cultural Planning for Museums: Collaborating with Culture to Maximize Impact. The speakers will be Jen Sudul Edwards, chief curator at the Mint Museum; Susan Welsh, executive director at the Museum of Arts and Sciences; Charlayne Murrell-Smith, VP of external relations & corporate development and Sonya Kitchens, countywide arts coordinator.
Recently, Lord Cultural Resources marked Women’s History Month by honouring four inspirational women each week
Mad Systems
Mad Systems Inc., the award-winning audiovisual and interactive system designer and integrator, will showcase its latest cutting-edge projects, demonstrating its dedication to technology innovation and creativity within the museum and interactive exhibition sectors.
The team will be available at booth #931 to speak to clients, project partners and new connections about the company’s patented exhibit technology as well as its technology design & build services.
Tricia Rodriguez, Maris Ensing, Paul Kent, Toni Losier, Darryl Baggley and Alex Long will be present at the show. To arrange a meeting in advance, attendees can get in touch via email.
Celebrating 25 years of inventive technology and solution development, Mad Systems Inc. was established in 1998 by Maris Ensing. The company has since grown into a global business, offering clients a strong presence in various markets within the themed entertainment and experience industry.
Morris Hargreaves McIntyre
Alexa Magladry, director for the North America division at Morris Hargreaves McIntyre (MHM), an international strategy and insight consultancy, will attend AAM 2023 and is looking forward to hearing about new trends in audience engagement and visitor research, and how museums are connecting with their audiences in 2023.
As a board member of CARE (Committee on Audience Research and Evaluation), Magladry will be attending the CARE/PRAM networking breakfast and other CARE events. To arrange a meeting, please get in touch via email.
National Geographic
Attendees can also discover National Geographic’s travelling exhibitions, and meet Cynthia Doumbia, senior director of business development, exhibitions and immersive products at booth #1138.
For more than 130 years, National Geographic has been documenting our extraordinary planet and all that is in it. National Geographic brings stories of adventure, world cultures and wild places to life in exhibitions, live events and experiences that are designed to be shared with audiences of all ages.
The firm partners with museums, science centres, universities, and galleries all over the world. From large-scale interactives to stunning photography shows, National Geographic’s travelling exhibitions are a window to the world.
Last year, Beyond King Tut, a new immersive exhibition created by Paquin Entertainment Group and the National Geographic Society, opened in New York City. North America’s first immersive experience inspired by Tutankhamun launched in NYC ahead of the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the child pharaoh’s tomb.
neon
neon, a global experience entertainment company, is a leader sponsor of AAM 2023. Attendees can arrange meetings with Troy Collins, senior vice president of neon and Jason Simmons, executive vice president of World Heritage Exhibitions, neon Group.
The firm has recently presented a number of popular exhibitions, including Avatar: The Experience and Jurassic World: The Exhibition, which have both won awards. Other touring exhibitions from the company include Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N., Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. and Pompeii: The Exhibition.
Nomad Exhibitions
Nomad Exhibitions, a designer and producer of sustainable temporary, touring, and permanent exhibitions, will also be present. Tim Pethick, CEO, and Alanna Davidson, partnerships director, will be attending AAM 2023.
Pethick will be presenting at a session titled ‘Not Just a Fairy Tale: Achieving Carbon Neutrality in Travelling Exhibitions’. In this, he will outline how Nomad designs and produces international touring exhibitions with sustainability, zero-waste and low carbon footprint as guiding principles. Nomad will also be sharing details on several new exhibition productions covering diverse subjects including Genghis Khan, dinosaurs, David Bowie, Scottish castles, and couture fashion.
To arrange a meeting, attendees can connect with Pethick by email.
Ravenswood Studio
Ravenswood Studio will be attending the AAM 2023 and attendees can schedule a time to meet with the team.
COO Mark Ewing will also be a panellist for the abovementioned Conjuring Sustainable Traveling Exhibitions Models without the Wizardry. The strain of the past few years has forced museums to rethink how and why they are producing travelling exhibitions. This session will use case studies to illustrate how various institutions and producers approach travelling exhibitions.
Roto
Roto, a leading planning & design-build firm, will return to the AAM Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo. At booth #817, the Roto team will be showcasing current projects with Nauticus, the National Museum of American History, the North Carolina Museum of History and other recently opened exhibits.
Attendees can catch Roto’s project director Sarah Lima on Saturday 20 May 20 at her 11:15 a.m. session. This is called Is ‘Immersive’ the New ‘Interactive’? Several members of the Roto team will also be available at the booth to answer questions and for meetings.
Attending from Roto are Meg Dunfee, project director; Rachel Escusa, marketing director; Katherine Heit, exhibit designer; Sarah Lima, project director; Mary Noxon, senior exhibit designer; Caitlin Sprague, senior content developer; Sean Ramsay, partner and Douaa Wadi, marketing manager.
Meetings at the Roto booth can be pre-booked online.
Roto CEO Joseph Wisne recently spoke to blooloop about trends for 2023. He focused on “supersensory” exhibition experiences which push the limits and enhance expectations around immersive media experiences.
Shipping Monster
The Shipping Monster, a provider of logistics and transportation to touring exhibitions, attractions and the entertainment industry, will attend AAM 2023 in Denver.
CEO and founder Robert Aspinall will speak during a session called Not Just a Fairy Tale: Achieving Carbon Neutrality in Traveling Exhibitions, alongside Felicity Sylvester, exhibitions partnerships manager at the Natural History Museum, Global Engagement and Tim Pethick, CEO of Nomad Exhibitions.
Ensuring a minimal carbon footprint and planning offset needs for a travelling exhibition doesn’t start at the loading dock. It starts months (or even years!) earlier, at the exhibition designer’s desk. Join this session to hear fascinating case studies and walk away with clear and concrete strategies.
Aspinall also recently spoke to blooloop about some of the trends and challenges in this sector.
Solomon Group
Solomon Group, an award-winning leader in exhibit fabrication, AV systems integration and live event production, will also have a presence at this year’s event.
Team members Raena Mayhew and John Kolesar, business development managers, and Alice Walker, managing director, business development & strategy, are looking forward to attending sessions and learning more about the state of the museum industry. They can be contacted by email.
Last year, Solomon Group was part of the project team working on Pittsburgh’s new Moonshot Museum, collaborating once more with the design and fabrication team at Luci Creative. Solomon Group provided the AV system design, procurement and integration for the museum.
See also: Exploring the future of space exploration at Moonshot Museum
Tessitura
Tessitura, a nonprofit technology company dedicated to helping arts and cultural organisations thrive, will be at booth #417.
This year, Tessitura’s team will show the platform’s streamlined new features to help museums and attractions grow and retain memberships. In addition, they’ll share upgrades to embedded analytics tools that reduce uncertainty while planning for the future.
Tessitura’s powerful, transactional CRM system brings together customer interactions across all departments, including ticketing, fundraising, memberships, marketing and education. Intuitive analytics make it easy to discover business insights, draw connections and turn data into action.
The team looks forward to discussing Tessitura’s solutions with attendees and sharing how they can help them achieve their goals. To arrange a demo at the show or to request additional information, attendees can get in touch via email.
Last month, Tessitura announced that it has joined forces with Activity Stream in a partnership which will offer marketing, engagement, and planning functionality to their shared clients.
Sponsors of AAM 2023
This year’s Visionary level sponsors are Blackbaud, Denver Art Museum, History Colorado and HTB Affinity Nonprofits. The Leader sponsors are Bonfils Stanton Foundation, The Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus, Denver Botanic Gardens and neon.
Patron sponsors are .ART, Art Processors, Amazon Web Services, Clyfford Still Museum, D&P, Denver Arts & Venues, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, ERCO, Etix, Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, HGA, Imagine Exhibitions, Kress, Next Decentrum, Northern Trust, Sage View, Smith + Howard, The Anschutz Foundation, The Colorado Health Foundation and Travelers.
AAM would also like to thank the Denver organizations that have generously contributed to ensure the Annual Meeting is accessible and inclusive for all attendees: El Pomar Foundation, Foothills Art Center, Golden History Museum & Park, Rose Community Foundation and UMB Bank.
This year’s Platinum NAME sponsors are Cortina Productions, Electrosonic, Eos Lightmedia and Reich&Petch. Meanwhile, the Gold NAME sponsors are Mapsted and Solid Light, and the Silver sponsors are Roto and The Design Minds.
AAM has announced that president and CEO Laura Lott will stand down, effective 15 June 2023. The upcoming AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo in Denver will be Lott’s final meeting as president and CEO of the organisation.
