FLAME HAS MOVED! Find us and sign up for FLAME at https://flame.gatherlearning.com/ Questions? Contact cadame@portlandmuseum.org.
Supported by the Kress Foundation the Forum for Leadership in Art Museum Education is a network of some 400 Directors of Education in art museums. It provides a forum for discussion and exchange as well as a venue for the acquisition of the knowledge and skills required to lead at the enterprise level. FLAME is an active community of practice that provides support and delivers crucial professional development for Education Directors in art museums supporting these individuals to exercise their skills, relationships and strengths to meet the needs of art museums’ futures.
If you’re the Director of Education in an Art Museum and would like to join FLAME, please email us at: flame@freechoicelearning.org.
Strong museum education leadership has never been more needed. Museum education has been central to art museums since their inception, and recent findings from the 2020 Ithanka S + P Inaugural Art Museum Director survey (collected before the pandemic) demonstrated that art museum directors recently prioritized education as a primary function and an important strategy in delivering on mission. In fact, many expected to increase hiring for education staff (Sweeny & Frederick, 2020). However, as the pandemic hit, museum educators disproportionately bore the burden of layoffs and furloughs (Harris, 2020). While often decimating education departments, art museums are concurrently experiencing increasing demands for building new audiences, moving programming online, and leading onsite and digital equity. Investing in leadership, strategy and financial professional development will position education division directors to take a stronger role at the leadership table and is a significant key to the survival and thriving of museums.