Key Issues
Mapping the Reach of Art Museums
AAMD's mapping project provides a vivid illustration of museums’ reach across their communities. Participation is free and is highly encouraged by AAMD’s leadership. The project focuses on mapping the organizations that use museum services (e.g., schools, universities, human service agencies, etc.) but we can also map the vendors from which museums purchase goods and services, as well as individual, family, and corporate members. Each map can be broken out by city, county, state legislature districts, congressional district, and state, making them of interest to policymakers, funders, and stakeholders. They can be combined with explanatory texts, including statistics and anecdotes, to create a customized report for each museum. The combination of maps and census data allows AAMD museums to pinpoint well-served and underserved areas and make programming decisions accordingly. Well over half of AAMD’s U.S. members have been mapped. We are now offering mapping to Canadian and Mexican members as well. Example maps from AAMD institutions are available in the side bar to the right.
If you are an AAMD member in the US or Canada and want to be mapped, please contact Andy Finch, AAMD's Director of Policy, at 202-638-4530.
Each dot on the above map represents one of the Columbus Museum's more than 150 partners in the Columbus, GA area, including schools, youth groups, senior centers, and other community organizations. Click on the map to view more detail.
"AAMD's Mapping Project is a valuable resource for The Columbus Museum, showing the reach of our educational service in the region. It was a simple process to provide information about the types of programs and services we offer to organizations and institutions, and the maps that Andy Finch, AAMD's Director of Policy, made exceeded our expectations."
"This report will be valuable to us in communicating how we serve our communities, and we plan to share it with our partner organization, the Muscogee County School District, our Board of Trustees, local and state officials, current and potential donors, granting organizations, and community organizations and stakeholders. We will also share the report with our docents and volunteers to show them how their work has a direct impact on a larger community. It is a great way to share our story."
-Marianne Richter, Director, The Columbus Museum
On the above map, each dot represents one of the nearly 500 Southern California organizations that The Huntington serves, including schools, community and senior groups, and colleges and universities. Click on the map to view more detail.
To learn more about The Huntington's education and community programs, and how the instituion has utilized this map internally and externally, please watch one of the below videos: