The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), has announced that its latest issue of TrendsWatch is now available to its members.
TrendsWatch: Navigating a Volatile Future offers a detailed discussion of three key topics: Culture Wars 2.0, AI Adolescence, and Decarbonizing the Future. It will be made available to all, for free, in March, while AAM members can access a digital copy now.
Planning for change
TrendsWatch: Navigating a Volatile Future paves a way into the far-reaching topic of volatility and speed of change through three key threads of enquiry – museums and cultural conflict, the impact of AI and other emerging technologies, and the climate crisis.
In Culture Wars 2.0, this report builds on the previous edition’s discussion of the growing partisan divide in the US and the role of museums in its repair.
“However,” explains Elizabeth Merritt, vice president of strategic foresight and founding director, of the Center for the Future of Museums, American Alliance of Museums, “an adjacent trend threatens the sectors’ ability to fill this reparative role: museums as battlegrounds in a new wave of culture wars.
“Some are criticizing museums for embracing progressive values, while others regard museums as conservative vestiges of a colonial past. With alarming frequency, climate activists use museums as stages for protest or vandalism to draw attention to their cause.”
She asks: “How can museums defuse this tension before it causes more damage? What choices do they face, in avoiding or engaging in the current conflict, and how will these choices shape the future of museums and society?”
In AI Adolescence, the possibilities and implications of AI for the museum sector are considered. This topic questions how institutions can make sound choices about emerging technologies both now, and for the future.
Decarbonizing the Future asks what actions museums can take to reduce their carbon emissions, and how they can inspire others to live more sustainably.
Merritt says: “The climate crisis poses an overwhelming threat to museums, the communities museums serve, and the material legacy of all humans have accomplished. Museums’ collections constitute a vast seed bank of human civilization, creativity, and accomplishments. Protecting those seeds will entail a commitment to decarbonizing the future—replacing our dependence on fossil fuels with sustainable systems. “
She concludes: “In the face of a volatile future, it’s critical to cultivate what Dr Jane McGonigal, of the Institute for the Future, calls “urgent optimism”: the desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle, combined with the belief that we have a reasonable hope of success. I hope this report will foster that hope and leave you feeling empowered to make a difference.”
Earlier this month, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) revealed the preliminary programme for its 2024 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo (AAM 2024). This event is taking place from 16 to 19 May in Baltimore, US.
