Request for Proposal
Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG) National Survey
Project Overview:
AAMG plans to develop and conduct a comprehensive survey of all academic museums and galleries in the United States. This will be the first time such a survey has ever been done for the academic museum field, and the published findings will identify much-needed benchmarks, comparisons, and challenges that will benefit our academic museum community, our parent institutions, and the field as a whole.
This is especially important because academic museums are teaching museums, training the next generations of museum professionals, visitors, and supporters. It is our intent to create a replicable template with this survey, so that AAMG can conduct it on a regular basis to study and share trends and needs of the academic museum community. With this research, AAMG can better serve academic museums and galleries throughout our country, disseminate professional practices, and offer timely, expert advice and advocacy.
Organization Background:
AAMG is the only national educational and professional organization that is solely committed to serving the needs of academic museums, galleries, and collections. In recognition of the unique opportunities and challenges of its constituents, AAMG establishes and supports best practices, educational activities, and professional development that enable its member organizations to fulfill their educational missions.
Statement of Need:
According to the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), academic museums comprise 12 percent of all institutional members, making them one of the single largest sectors of the museum industry. Based on available data, there are more than 2,000 academic museums, galleries, and collections in the United States, with each operating at varying levels of professionalism. This survey—and the process by which we will compile the comprehensive list and cultivate participation—will be the first assessment of the academic museum community and their range of services to their constituencies, both on- and off-campus.
Project Goals:
● Provide detailed information on missions, staffing, finance, facility, and governance; collections, education, museum training, and exhibition programs; access and inclusion activities; research and other priorities; goals and challenges; as well as other areas recommended by AAMG members.
● Identify commonalities, issues, and concerns that inform subject matter to be covered in future AAMG conferences, professional training programs, and advocacy efforts.
● Provide a mechanism for information sharing and collaboration.
● Establish baseline data for benchmarking and institutional advocacy efforts.
● Promote and affirm the role and value of museums, galleries, and collections in the academic environment.
● Identify and address challenges and implement solutions through information sharing and collaboration.
● Build capacity within the academic museum field to support engagement with all museums and other community-based organizations in collective impact efforts.
● Establish methodology for information gathering and tracking, reviewing surveys used by other groups such as AAM, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), and the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC).
● The survey instrument will provide the first benchmarking of our Nation’s academic museums and galleries so institutions will be able to compare themselves with similar types of institutions and use the findings to further advocacy, strategic planning, governance, funding, and other areas critical to their operations and their value to their parent educational institutions.
Scope of Work & Deliverables:
These will be done with input from the AAMG Board Survey Sub-Committee
● Survey development, following established models such as those by AAMD and AAM.
● Recommend and manage survey instrument.
● Oversee data compilation and interpretation, working with AAMG Board sub-committee.
● Draft Final Report.
● Dissemination of Report.
RFP Submission Deadline: August 28, 2018
The timeline for this project is contingent on the cost and funding. Proposals should include estimated costs for services.
Contact:
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