Braden will be leading a responsive session at the joint NCPH and AASLH conference this September in Rhode Island. The session, yet to be created, will respond to an issue that is pressing in the days leading up to the conference. If you are going and we know you will be there you may be asked in at the last minute as we build, well… whatever it seems the moment calls for. We hope to see you there!  He will also be co-leading the workshop Revolutionary Conversations. To effectively respond to the challenges of our field and the larger world, we must strengthen our capacities for connecting and understanding. Dialogic conversations can be revolutionary work. In this participatory workshop, participants will explore dialogic question crafting and bringing people together across differences.

Linda and Braden spent a few days at the Troutbeck Symposium observing student history projects and facilitating a conversation among educators and others on ways to enhance and strengthen this work.  We’ll long remember some great student projects–from the Teenage Mutant Turtles and leadership; to connections between a private Connecticut school and an HBCU, focusing on micro-histories to recovering the history of a black Revolutionary War veteran and focusing the town on his recognition.

Stacey led a workshop for the Angeles District of California State Parks. Interpreters developed dialogic questions on the topic of displacement including:

• What feelings did you experience when your living situation changed? 

• What challenges did you face? 

• How should agents of displacement be held accountable?

• What is something you could do to help someone affected by displacement? 

One team transformed this last question into an activity, inviting visitors to write their responses on a paper chain, emphasizing that each individual act contributes to collective action.

Disruption comes in many forms: the kind that threatens institutions and the kind that transforms them. To name a few, recent years have brought us a pandemic, the transformation of funding landscapes, protests on topics inside and outside the museum, the repatriation of artifacts, AI and calls to transform or abolish museums themselves.

In this workshop we’ll explore approaches to managing disruptions, no matter the topic, and no matter where you are on the organizational ladder.  We’ll share some practical tools, and as always, Creative Future webinars are wonderful chances to connect with colleagues!

This workshop is free or pay what you can. All funds will be donated to The Heritage Rescue Emergency Initiative (HERI).

MUSEUMS AND CHANGE

Next Narratives:  Finding New Perspectives in Storytelling

June 11th, 2026 12:30 EST

At this Museums and Change webinar, the Creative Futures team will share ways to deepen our understandings and presentation of stories in museums and historic sites.  Everywhere there are stories of power, change and resilience embedded in our work. How can we refocus our storytelling efforts to encourage meaningful learning and conversation?  The team will consider our own blind spots and share some techniques for refocusing narratives and helping your communities and visitors understand those choices.  You'll come away with both practical tools and inspiration!

Join us on Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88626405736

Meeting ID: 886 2640 5736

Thanks to GROUP HUG!, Stacey’s been dreaming: could DIY block parties be what we need this summer? Could this simple format be a transformative platform for building stronger communities and caring for our neighbors? Places like New Haven, Charlottesville, and Boston seem to think so, offering microgrants and toolkits to help folks get started. Beyond the joy of block parties, they have a history in movement-building. After all, Hip-hop was born at a block party in the Bronx and block parties helped build solidarity during the Civil Rights Movement. I love that museums like OMCA lead dynamic community block parties every Friday, and I wonder: how might cultural institutions help neighbors throw their own and how could this support local organizing and creative activism?

Braden’s been thinking a lot about the book Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke. It has been important in my own life thinking about the choices I make, but also as I think about the work of cultural organizations. What does it mean that so many of our visitors and partners are coming to us wired? Or that an education program where they don’t look at their screens (or other sources) may start to send some into withdrawal? Time in nature, time with art, time with people, all at a slower pace, can be important parts of finding balance. But navigating to balance is sometimes painful. We are still wrestling with how our programs support other kinds of painful learning, are we ready for this? And are there ways to do it where time with an organization and all its benefits are not focused on the pain of the growth?  

Linda’s been considering the lingering damages of secrecy–watching the documentary on Seymour Hersh, thinking about the 40th anniversary of Chernobyl, and not long ago watching All the President’s Men, and wondering how museums can be a part of revealing more that should be transparent and equally, how much of our own past could use some transparency.

There are many ways we might work together and these days we are particularly interested in supporting teams in:

• Developing exhibitions that expand perspectives in storytelling and community participation.

• Creating opportunities for visitors to have more face to face connections and build community together.

• Bringing together regional or issue-based cohorts to strengthen relationships, imagine new possibilities, and collaborate to actually making things happen.

Want to build creative futures with us?