Next Practices in Partnerships is a compendium of 95 submissions from AAMD’s membership demonstrating the many ways art museums work with different organizations and people to further their missions and benefit their communities. Download Next Practices in Partnerships here!

This edition of the Next Practices series highlights creative and innovative partnerships in which museums join forces with other organizations and people to leverage core capacities in greater service to the public. Next Practices publications also provide practical information on how institutions start, support, and evaluate these programs.

Sheena Solitaire, Museum Educator, Family Programs, leads an Art Rounds session at the McNay Art Museum. Art Rounds is an elective class for students at the University of Texas Health Science Center that is meant to broaden the experience of medical professionals.

Partnerships featured in Next Practices include:

Partnerships with K-12 schools and school districts
Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, TN partners with Shelby County Schools to offer a week-long, free summer camp for students in the area in grades 1-8.

Partnerships with Law Enforcement
Pérez Art Museum Miami is part of Art Detectives, a partnership with The Links Inc, Breakthrough Miami, and the Miami-Dade County Police Department that brings together South Florida law enforcement and youth from under-served communities, sparking creative thinking and cross-community dialogue around one of our country’s most divisive issues: police interactions with young people of color.

Partnerships with Libraries, Science Centers, and other Cultural Institutions
LACMA partners with the Los Angeles Public Library to create Veterans Make Movies, a series of workshops that teach veterans how to write, shoot, and edit their own short films that highlight their unique perspectives.

Partnerships with Colleges and Universities
The McNay Art Museum partners with University of Texas Health Science Center to offer Art Rounds, an elective class that is meant to broaden the experience of medical professionals through close observation, communication, and sustained engagement with a work of art.

Partnerships with Immigrant and Refugee Services
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art partners with Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas to develop a supplemental curriculum for Catholic Charities’ 10-week citizenship preparation classes. The curriculum developed for these classes uses the museum’s collection as a learning tool for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Naturalization Test.

Partnerships with Youth Development Organizations
The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University collaborates with Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.) on the Leadership Project—a program for Y.O.U. high school students that fosters youth development through critical dialogue around issues of social justice, using Block exhibitions as a touchstone.

Top Photo: Art Detectives at Pérez Art Museum Miami. Photo courtesy of Pérez Art Museum Miami