Blooloop, in association with global museum planning and design firm, Gallagher & Associates, is pleased to announce that nominations for the first Blooloop 50 Museum Influencer List are now open.
In its inaugural year, The Blooloop 50 Museum Influencer List 2020 will recognise and celebrate 50 of the most influential people in the museum sector over the last year.
(Nominate your museum influencer here.)
2020 is a uniquely challenging year for museums. With COVID-19 having a devastating and continued impact on the sector across the world, museums are having to adapt and be ready for the post-lockdown world. Thousands of people in the museum community have lost their jobs or been furloughed, projects have been cancelled or put on hold and most museums have temporarily closed. It is estimated that up to 1 in 8 will never reopen.
See also: COVID-19 and the rise of hands-off museum experiences
However, the museum community is responding and readying itself for the “new normal”. The creativity and innovation apparent in this response to the pandemic has been inspiring and it is this drive and determination we seek to shine a spotlight on with our first Blooloop 50 Museum Influencer list.
Here at Blooloop we have been writing about trends and developments in the museum sector for over a decade. Our reporting is read worldwide by museum professionals in over 150 countries.
The role of museums
Clare Brown is Creative Director at Gallagher & Associates, one of the world’s leading museum design and planning firms. She says,
“We are proud to support the launch of The Blooloop 50 Museum Influencer List . Today, the role of museums in society is as important and as complex as it’s ever been. Museum leaders are challenging and guiding our field to become more inclusive, accessible, relevant, and safe.
“The influencers on this list are people who push us to evolve the shape of our field and inspire us to be more creative, more innovative, and more inclusive.
“They offer our field inspiration and motivation to embrace museums as places of civic engagement, where audiences can come together—in the context of historical and contemporary collections—to take part in community dialogue and individual contemplation.
“These influencers compel us to consider museums as places of safety, both from a health perspective during the pandemic, but also as safe spaces for all people to engage in informal learning through inspiration, conversation, and reflection.”
See also: Going undercover at the International Spy Museum
Charles Read, MD, Blooloop says, “It is fantastic to be working with our friends at Gallagher & Associates on our first Blooloop 50 Museum Influencer List. A fully integrated experience design firm, Gallagher is renowned as a world leader in museum planning and design. As such, they work closely with major museums across the world and are an ideal partner”.
The Blooloop 50 Museum Influencer List launched
Judged from reader-submitted nominations by a panel of industry experts, each name on this high-profile list will be a person who has demonstrated the creativity and drive to effect real change in the sector.
To compile the Blooloop 50 Museum Influencer List, we need as many of our readers as possible to nominate who it is they believe deserves inclusion. The most nominated people will then be considered by our judging panel. Each nomination will be judged entirely on merit, irrespective of location, job title or employer.
You can nominate as many different people as you like. You can even nominate yourself. However, you can’t nominate the same person more than once.
To make your nomination for the Blooloop 50 please complete the form here. Nominations will close 31st August.
