American Alliance of Museums

4 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 AMERICAN ALL IANCE OF MUSEUMS Laura Lott, AAM President, and CEO shares, “Our mission now is pretty much the same as it’s always been, but it’s continued to evolve with the professionalization of the museum field and the current times.” “‘We champion equitable and impactful museums by connecting people, fostering learning and community, and nurturing museum excellence.’ Since 1906, we’ve been championing museums through our advocacy work here in Washington, DC, and around the country.” She adds that membership in the AAM is geared toward providing museum professionals with not only training and resources to do this important work but also what she describes as, “inspiration and connections to each other that they need to move the field forward and move forward in their careers.” With museum funding coming from private and public donations, as well as some government sources, Lott provides an interesting statistic about the financial contributions these organizations provide. She says, “People don’t think about museums in terms of financial terms, but I think it’s important to note that museums are a $50 billion industry, supporting about three-quarters of a million jobs. Even though most are non-profits and are often perceived as taking from government and other sources to do their work, they actually contribute $15 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue, back to the public coffers.” Along with this she notes, “There’s another statistic out there that we like to quote, which is that there are more visits to museums than there are attendees at all major league sporting events and theme parks combined.” With that in mind, it is necessary to discuss the challenges the past few years have brought to the museum world, with many having to close their doors for extended periods as a result of lockdowns and safety measures. “Museums were in some cases among the last public places to be able to reopen and welcome people back into their places, which of course, has always been their primary focus in the past,” Lott relays. “They pivoted in all sorts of ways to provide online education and inspiration, resources and training, and a lot of other experiences virtually when they couldn’t be open to the public during the pandemic.” She acknowledges that there is a growing trend to formalize and fund these virtual offerings, even as we move forward from COVID, partly because of the fact that museums were able to reach a broader and more diverse audience through their online programs. Environmental sustainability is also top of mind in the museum world, both in the impact, their facilities can have on the environment, as well as providing education about climate change, and ways that individuals