American Alliance of Museums

7 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 comprehensive level, we work with and support and benefit from organizations that are at the discipline-specific level,” Lott explains. “In addition, we raise funds to support a lot of these initiatives. We have had a really wonderful partnership with the Ford, Alice Walton, and Mellon foundations over the last couple of years. The three foundations came together to support a really unprecedented initiative to diversify museum boards.” AAM also works with other foundations, supporting endeavors such as the Creative Aging Initiative, which addresses the aging population, and finds ways to ensure continued participation and engagement in museums. “We really feel like AAM has an opportunity and a responsibility to connect the museum field to a variety of industries and issue areas, foundations, and others who can see museums as a way to advance their cause and their work in communities,” she says. As part of an alliance that advocated for $3 billion in relief funding for museums during the pandemic, Lott suggests that financial stability will continue to be a top priority for AAM. As for what this might look like for museums heading into the future, she says, “I’m not sure there’s a silver bullet for how they’re suddenly going to find more revenue. I think it is all related to their social and community impact and is relevant to those communities in a variety of ways, not just as a nice place to visit on the weekend, but really integral to the education ecosystem and the health system and other infrastructure that communities need and have.” “They need to be really open about that, take credit for the work that they are doing. Just like with any other industry, as our communities change, museums have to look at really reaching out to and engaging and being trusted by their whole communities. Otherwise, they’re effectively just losing market share,” she concludes.