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 works have been repatriated after an investigation by the Manhattan district attorney's office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security into the global trafficking of looted or stolen antiquities.
“The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts returns any works in its collection that are discovered to be unlawfully held. The museum takes seriously, and responds to, all restitution claims for works in our collection,” said the museum's director and CEO Alex Nyerges.
“This is not just our policy. It is the right thing to do. We fully support the decision to repatriate these 44 works of ancient art.”
Museum praised for cooperation
Per a press release, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts first received a summons on 1 May related to a group of 28 ancient objects. Based on the evidence supplied by the museum, another 29 works were added to the summons on 6 June.
The museum then submitted information on another four works, bringing the total number of works under investigation to 61.
The Manhattan district attorney's office and Department of Homeland Security found that 44 of the 61 works under investigation were stolen or looted.
These include a bronze Etruscan warrior that was stolen from the Archaeological Civic Museum of Bologna in Italy in 1963. The other 43 works were looted from sites in Italy, Egypt and Turkey as part of an international criminal conspiracy involving antiquities traffickers, smugglers and art dealers.
Works returned to countries of origin
The remaining 17 works of art are no longer under investigation and remain in the museum's permanent collection.
“The clear and compelling evidence presented to [the museum] left no doubt that the museum does not hold clear title for these 44 works of ancient art,” said the museum's chief curator and deputy director for art and education, Michael R. Taylor.
"Stolen or looted art has no place in our galleries or collection, so we are delighted to return these works to their countries of origin."
Since 2004, the museum has repatriated sixother works of art — three European paintings that were stolen during the Nazi era and three works that were returned to the Tlingit tribe.
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.
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.”
Keep ReadingShow less
Most popular
Don’t miss out
Get the latest attractions industry news direct to your inbox, every day.
✅ Thank you! We’ve sent a confirmation email to complete your subscription.
Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA) in Oceanside, California, has announced its plans for a significant campus expansion, designed by Safdie Rabines Architects from San Diego.
This marks a key milestone in the museum’s development and its $10 million Campaign for Expansion.
The expansion includes the historic Oceanside Fire Station No. 1 and will increase OMA’s campus size by 50%, covering a full city block. It also preserves two Irving J. Gill landmarks: the former 1934 City Hall and the 1929 Fire Station.
OMA’s size will grow from 20,000 to 30,000 square feet, increasing space for exhibitions, a dedicated education centre, and public programmes.
Outdoor areas will also be expanded to accommodate public art, an informal gathering terrace, and a café. The design improves flow between galleries, public zones, and outdoor plazas, integrating indoor and outdoor spaces to highlight Southern California artists in the Oceanside Cultural District.
“As Oceanside Museum of Art grows, our commitment to the community grows with it,” says Maria Mingalone, executive director of Oceanside Museum of Art.
“This expansion allows us to preserve an important historic landmark while boldly investing in the future of artists and our cultural community, creating new opportunities for arts education, and meaningful public gathering spaces.
"This ensures OMA remains a vibrant cultural hub for generations to come.”
Honouring iconic architecture
Safdie Rabines Architects is a local firm with a long-standing history of shaping the region’s architecture, including numerous civic structures and the campuses of UC San Diego and UCLA.
The design adopts a contemporary style that honours the historic architecture of Fire Station No. 1. Constructed in 1929 and designed by modernist pioneer Irving J. Gill, the station will be restored to preserve its original features, including the distinctive arches, windows, and the historic fire hose drying tower.
Gill’s iconic arcades will link OMA’s central pavilion and terrace to the surrounding outdoor areas, enhanced by sculptures, public art, gardens, gathering spaces, and landscape elements.
“This project is an opportunity to expand the museum as a vital community hub," say Taal Safdie and Ricardo Rabines, founding partners of Safdie Rabines Architects.
"We have designed new indoor-outdoor spaces that create fluid connections between all three buildings and activate this coastal area. Art al fresco, from Gill to Gill."
The expansion will grow the gallery space from 7,000 to 10,000 square feet. It will include two new galleries: a community space in the old fire station bay and a dedicated area for OMA’s expanding permanent collection, highlighting Southern California art.
Collection storage will also expand from 600 to 2,000 square feet, and a dedicated arts education centre will support the growth of OMA’s award-winning education programmes.
New multi-purpose spaces will host lectures, workshops, community gatherings, rentals, and informal social events.
In March 2024, OMA commenced the quiet phase of its $10 million Campaign for Expansion and surpassed 90% of its fundraising goal in just over 18 months.
Before officially launching the public phase in February 2026, the campaign raised over $9 million through major gifts from nearly 80 donors, including individuals, foundations, civic organisations, county funds, and public partners.
Construction is expected to start in early 2027, with a planned public opening in spring 2028.
Elsewhere, the New Museum in New York has announced that its 60,000-square-foot expansion, designed by the architecture firm OMA, will open on 21 March.
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."
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) has 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.
The event, which is the UK’s foremost museum and heritage conference, will explore how museums are increasingly acting as cultural diplomats.
ICOM UK has created a program involving speakers from museums, culture, policy, and the creative industries both in the UK and internationally. It is co-curated by Dr. Sascha Priewe, president of ICOM Canada and co-editor of Museum Diplomacy: How Cultural Institutions Shape Global Engagement.
The conference will be hosted by five of Oxford’s most iconic museums: the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the Ashmolean Museum, the Museum of Oxford, the Pitt Rivers Museum, and the History of Science Museum.
Day one
The conference begins on 16 April, with a welcome address from Dr Christian Baars, co-chair of ICOM UK; Dr Gavin Svenson, director of the University of Oxford Museum of Natural History; and Katie Colombus, director of audiences at Art Fund.
This will be followed by a keynote address by Priewe, who will deliver his session, Liberation Day for Museum Diplomacy?, virtually. He will explore why museum diplomacy must evolve with the shifting world order and advocate for a stronger, institution-driven model.
The first session of the day is titled Advancing Global Partnerships Through Museum Diplomacy.
Delegates will hear from Laura Frampton, associate director of global engagement at Science Museum Group; Gregory Houston, president and CEO of International Arts & Artists (USA); and Sunghee Cho, curator at the National Asian Culture Center, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea.
Session two is Museums Connecting Communities Internationally Through Equitable Cross-Cultural Exchange.
This features insights from Sabnam Balouch, a preventive conservation officer at Leighton House Museum; Gabriel Matesun, a curator at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria's Department of Archaeology and Anthropology; and Mattie Reynolds, chair and associate professor of Museum Studies at the Institute of American Indians Arts.
The Ashmolean Museum
In the afternoon, Dr Laura Van Broekhoven presents a keynote entitled Do we need Museum Diplomacy or Museum Solidarity? This explores how concepts such as “cultural diplomacy,” “soft power,” and “Global Britain” have influenced the UK’s post-Brexit rebranding, as well as the intricate role museums play within this agenda.
Session three, Sustaining Museum Diplomacy and International Relationships in a Rapidly Changing World, features speakers Jamie Allan Brown, research fellow at the University of St Andrews; Dr Shreen Amin, curator at the Egyptian Museum; and Stephanie Grant, director of the Cultural Protection Fund at the British Council.
Finally, session four is Conflict to Recovery - The role of Museums in Conflict, Reconciliation and Peace Building.
Attendees will hear from Mikaël Mohamed, director of international relations at Mucem in France; Roshan Mishra, director and curator at Taragaon Next in Nepal; and Yuliia Hnat, ecosystem projects and development director, and co-founder at NGO Museum of Contemporary Art in Ukraine.
The day wraps up with another keynote, yet to be announced, as well as closing remarks and then an evening reception at The Ashmolean.
Day two
The second day of the conference begins with the ICOM UK Annual General Meeting. Then, attendees can choose from a selection of workshops, walking tours and museum tours.
Workshops include an interactive session called Collective Intelligence in Action: Lessons from the Bizot Green Protocol, led by Culture Connect Ltd; Museum Bridge: Overcoming Barriers to International Working at the Pitt Rivers Museum; and The Art of Long-Lasting Cross-Cultural Collaboration, delivered by Oxford Cultural Leaders.
Museum tours include An Introduction to Oxford’s Past at the Museum of Oxford, or Multaka Tours With these Hands: Crafting a shared Humanity at Pitt Rivers Museum and Captured in Light: A Journey Through Photography at the History of Science Museum.
There is also a walking tour, Oxford’s Radicals & Rebels.
The Pitt Rivers Museum
Afternoon options include a workshop called Museum Diplomacy as Organisational Development: From International Exchange to Institutional Change, led by the German Agency for International Museum Cooperation, and Community-Led Engagement: Building a Programme for People Seeking Refuge, delivered by the Roman Baths & Pump Room.
Alternatively, delegates can choose the workshop Developing New Environmental Tools for the Sector, led by the Design Museum with Metal and UP Projects; museum tours The Oxford Story at the Museum of Oxford or In Bloom at the Ashmolean; or a walking tour around Oxford's Queer History.
The second afternoon session includes a choice of workshops, such as The Role of Museums in Cultural Resilience and Identity: International Collaboration with Ramallah Refugee Camp and Multaka Oxford, The Right to Disagree- Radical Listening and Intercultural Dialogue’ with ICOM UK, and Strategic Planning for Disaster; Blue Shield UK Perspectives.
Museum tours include An Oxford Night Out at The Museum of Oxford, orIn Bloom at The Ashmolean, or a walking tour entitled Shakespeare and Oxford.
For more information and to register, please click here.
Ikoz (Muhammad Rizky Madjid)/MARS Sustainable Solutions
Ikoz (Muhammad Rizky Madjid)/MARS Sustainable Solutions
Horniman Museum and Gardens
The Ashmolean Museum 
The Pitt Rivers Museum