Lord Cultural Resources

Did you catch this snapshot from the American Alliance of Museums? Some interesting takeaways: Attendance Recovery: Half of the museums (51%) have fully recovered to 100% or more of their pre-pandemic attendance levels, marking a significant increase from the 33% reported in 2023. However, the remaining half still report reduced attendance, with a median of 80% of pre-pandemic levels.   Financial Recovery: Over 57% of museums report an improvement in net operating performance compared to 2019, with a median increase of 20%. This is a substantial improvement from 2023, where only 39% reported an increase. However, 19% of museums report a decline, and financial recovery remains uneven.   Staffing Challenges: While 41% of museums increased their staff size over the past year, 51% report difficulties filling positions, particularly volunteer roles and frontline staff. Recruitment challenges have improved slightly compared to 2023, when 60% of museums struggled to fill positions.   DEI Backlash: One-third (34%) of museums have experienced some form of DEI backlash, including donors withdrawing support or legislation constraining DEI-related policies. Southeastern U.S. museums are particularly affected, with 51% reporting at least one instance of backlash.   Uncertainties and Philanthropy: Almost half of museum directors anticipate significant disruptions in 2025 due to shifts in philanthropy (48%) and financial/market instability (46%). Additional concerns include reductions in government funding (33%), labor shortages (30%), and ideological/political polarization (28%).

𝗔 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹-𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: 𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 Kathleen Brown In 1992, Kathleen founded the U.S. offices of Lord Cultural Resources, and in 2015, she returned to Toronto, first as Director of Business Development, then COO, and then as Senior Practice Leader. Please join us in congratulating Kathleen on her next big move: retirement. Kathleen's mentorship, leadership and dedication has left an indelible mark on our team, our projects and countless organizations. In her time with us, she's been an integral part of over 250 projects, including Museum of Northern Arizona, New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, MOLAA | Museum of Latin American Art, Natural History Museum of Utah, La Brea Tar Pits & Museum and the Long Beach African American Cultural Center. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀? "Not that I haven't loved all of them, but I would say mostly outdoor or natural history museums, as my background is in science and I’ve always been a keen outdoor enthusiast." 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸? "There’s a lot more community engagement now. When I started in planning work in 1989, the acceptable practice at the time was you do your plan, and then you have a public meeting. It had a really high potential for conflict, because people have a strong sentimental attachment to local resources. Of course, as we know now, that model's been flipped on its head. Also, there is a level of business sophistication that has come into museum work that didn't used to be there -- and the need to be more business savvy has emerged because of the increasing complexity of museum operations – and challenges in generating funding." 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴? "I’ve got a retirement notebook with about 20-ish things that I want to do. Some of them are involved in travel – my first stop is Italy in March. Some of them are about learning more about local organizations that I admire. I've always wanted to join a book club! I intend to become an avid football fan – I started following Pep Guardiola, so Man City is my team. And, I have a personal catalog project that I want to do for all the art that I own…I’d love to do a 'real' gallery in my house where you can use a QR code, hold your phone up and get all the information on the works!" 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴? "I'll miss the people - Lord people, all my lovely clients and colleagues across the globe. Absolutely."

This is wonderful Arthur G. Affleck, III Thank you and Association of Children's Museums for your leadership in the sector. It's heartening to see investments in the healthy growth of our children in communities across the nation.

Congratulations to the team behind this exciting new book about urban cultural planning, including our co-founder Gail Lord who contributed a chapter called "Museums: Growth, Crises and Prospects". Learn more and how to order at the link below. Jason Schupbach Rana Amirtahmasebi

Last week, Galeries Ontario / Ontario Galleries announced the winners of their 47th annual awards, which recognize outstanding achievement, artistic merit and excellence across Ontario’s public art gallery sector. Huge congratulations to all the winners - we were thrilled to see so many past and current clients on the list! Art Windsor-Essex Agnes Etherington Art Centre Thunder Bay Art Gallery Museum London Art Gallery of Hamilton Varley Art Gallery of Markham See the full list of winners here: https://lnkd.in/eiVz2hGJ

How can museums make the world a better place through culture? This week, at the ICOFOM conference on The Future of Museums in Qatar, we've been delving into this and other critical questions. Here are some of the thoughts I shared in my panel: 1. Sharing Their Values: As trusted institutions, museums hold greater public confidence than NGOs and governments. 2. Leading by example on Environmental Issues: The notion that "bigger is better" is obsolete. 3. Promoting Social Justice: To serve diverse communities, museums must embrace diverse staff and content. 4. Encouraging Reconciliation and Restitution: Collections span space and time, but two-thirds remain concentrated in the Global North. It's been an honor to engage in dialogue with brilliant colleagues such as Eileen Willis, Alia Saeed Ali Hassan AlShamsi, Mercedes Navarro Tito, Dada Sanz Herrero and others, exchanging ideas to shape the future of museums. #Museums #Future #ICOFOM #QatarMuseums #LordCulturalResources

Join Lord Thought Leader Jamie Bennett at the Canadian Urban Institute Summit on the State of Canadian Cities December 5th and 6th. Tickets have been sold out, but the events will all be livestreamed. Register at the link below.

In this month's Cultural News, we've rounded up a curated look at what's happening around the world, starting with the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Oneida Nation Museum.

Our Managing Partner Javier Jiménez Fernández-Fígares will be speaking at “The Future of Museums and Museology Practices in a Changing World,” December 1st in Doha, Qatar. The conference is presented by Museums Qatar, ICOM Qatar (The International Council of Museums’ national committee for Qatar) and the ICOM-Arab Regional Alliance, in collaboration with ICOFOM and International Council of Museums (ICOM).

An absolute pleasure to attend- and head-up- the conference of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies in Boston, Massachusetts. Thank you to all who attended our panel discussion and papers (from Kitty Brandon-James, Alma Prelec and I), covering a range of temporalities of different arts and texts (theatre, graffiti, monument building, visual arts, exhibitions and writing) in and from the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia. It was also very special to meet old friends and new, Maria Blyzinsky and Anna Bazhenova especially, and I am grateful to be able to take the time to continue developing my academic and research interests in the cultural sphere. It was also good to see the enthusiasm received for Gail Lord’s ‘awarehouse’ concept for the onwards life of de-installed and otherwise unwanted monuments and statues of complicated pasts. #monuments #graffiti #conference #congreso #congresso #conferenza #slavicandeasteuropeanstudies #easterneurope #papers #culture #memorystudies #collectivememory #bostonma #awarehouse #memory #memorials