The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) has announced speakers for its upcoming 2022 Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo in May. The Boston event will feature four keynote speakers with decades of experience in the museum and gallery sector, each focussing on a specific area of interest for museum owners, managers and operators.
The AAM has provided a brief overview of the key discussion points which have been identified as affecting museums following the COVID-19 pandemic;
Focus Area: Innovation
Seasoned seminar host Jake Barton will investigate how museums can advance a mission to create meaning through innovative methods and tools.
As its principal and founder, Barton leads Local Projects, an award-winning design firm that has created notable experiences including the 9/11 Memorial Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The firm has been honoured with major awards including the National Design Awards, Fast Company Design Studio of the Year, and a Cannes’ Gold Lion.
As a presenter, Barton’s TED talk has garnered approaching one million views, featuring in Fast Company Magazine’s top fifty designers list.
Focus Area: Financial Wellness
Michael Bobbitt will utilise his wealth of experience to discuss how museums should reassess their public value to ensure their financial viability and vitality.
Bobbitt is an award-winning performing arts figure, dedicating his professional career to leadership in the sector as a choreographer, director and playwright.
As such, Bobbitt serves on the National Assembly of State Arts Agency’s Board of Directors, New England Foundation for the Arts and as well as artEquity’s BIPOC Leadership Circle.
Bobbitt was formerly the Artistic Director of the New Repertory Theater in Watertown, Massachusetts and the Adventure Theater in Maryland, US. He gained expansive experience in non-profit arts management at Harvard Business School.
Focus Area: Museums in Society
Utilising the journalistic talents that have earned him a royal title, Thomas L. Friedman will investigate the wider forces that are shaping politics, economics, society, and nature.
Friedman is an internationally renowned author and journalist, reporting on foreign affairs for The New York Times. His column is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, covering US domestic politics and foreign policy, as well as diverse topics such as Middle East conflicts, economics, environment and energy.
Other notable achievements include the Overseas Press Club Award for lifetime achievement in 2004, and the Order of the British Empire (OBE), a title granted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Friedman is the author of a number of titles including his most recent title Thank you For Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations 2.0, updated and released in 2017.
Focus Area: Organisational Culture
Concluding the lineup, Sandra Jackson-Dumont will lead a candid conversation about practices, policies, and strategies that American museums are enforcing to cultivate an organisational culture in which all stakeholders can thrive.
Jackson-Dumont is director and CEO of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts in Los Angeles, taking on this role in January 2020. In her role, she oversees all curatorial, educational, and operational facets for the quick-moving institution.
The LA site is currently developing its eleven-acre campus to include an expansive new park alongside the almost 300,000-square-foot museum building which will open in 2023.
Jackson-Dumont has an extensive list of clients and employers, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harlem’s Studio Museum and the Seattle Art Museum. She is a member of the blooloop 50 museum influencer list for 2021.
Additional benefits
Attendees can display their #AAM2022 badge at a number of museums in Massachusetts to benefit from free or discounted admission during the 2022 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo.
Tickets will soon be released on a first-come-first-served basis, with early bird registrants having an increased chance of getting their desired ticket type. Prospective attendees can register their interest until 11 March 2022.
The AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo will take place 19-22 May 2022 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) recently published its strategic framework document for 2022-2025, focussing on its four key areas of Social & Community Impact, DEAI (Diversity, Equity, Accessibility & Inclusion) and Anti-racism, The Museum Community, and The Way We Work.
