The Ultimate Guide to Surviving and Thriving as a Cultural Organization in the 21st Century

The role, demands, and expectations for those arts and cultural organizations in the museum
community – which includes a vast and diverse mix of aquariums, arboreta, art museums, botanic
gardens, children’s museums, cultural museums, historic sites, history museums, maritime museums, military museums, natural history museums, planetariums, presidential libraries, public gardens, science and technology centers, and zoos – have changed dramatically in the twenty-first century.

New to the equation – one of the most unexpected recent challenges for the cultural sector has
been the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, with all of its sweeping effects. Due to necessary
restrictions on public gatherings, the COVID-19 outbreak has presented visitor-serving organizations with new uncertainty and questions. With brick-and-mortar sites temporarily closed, many museum and cultural professionals are accelerating their use of new digital channels to reach and engage their audiences.

Driven forward by the rapidly changing world we live in, some of the most important trends for
museums and cultural organizations to take note of are the evolution of visitor expectations, the rise
of the data revolution, and the role of new technology in transforming all facets of daily operations.