Houston Welcomes the American Association of Museums Conference!

The American Association of Museums (AAM), the world’s largest museum service organization, will hold its annual conference in Houston, bringing more than 5,000 museum professionals from around the world. The 105th AAM Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo™ will be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center from May 22-25, 2011.

Houston is excited to host the AAM conference and showcase the city's diverse museum, cultural and educational communities. The AAM conference and its 170 thought-provoking sessions will afford attendees from more than 55 countries the opportunity to advance leadership, deepen professional practices and promote innovation in museums that serve children, families and lifelong learners as informal education institutions. This marks the first time that this event will be held in Houston and Houston’s museum community is ready.

The AAM 2011 Local Host Committee has planned lots of exciting events and activities in conjunction with the conference for the community. From the PODA Project and free community performances at Discovery Green to a community service project at the Houston Museum of African American Culture to the first ever AAM Public Session Track to the Art Car Parade......there are lots of fun ways for Houstonians to participate! Visit www.aamhouston.org to sign up for blog notifications and keep up with all the exciting activities that are coming soon.

Houston is proud to host AAM’s first-ever Public Session Track, which extends beyond the traditional professional development and networking opportunities offered in the conference to sessions designed to build the relationship between museums and the communities they serve. Each Public Session Track is unique. Examples are a session for parents and caregivers, another for museum board members and trustees, another for folks who want a behind-the-scenes look at the world of collections and the role of the registrar in a museum. There’s also a special roundtable session for folks who want to get involved in our museum community….from donor to docent and everything in between.

• To read more about the Public Session Track, visit http://www.aam-us.org/am11/publicsessions.cfm.
  
• Keep up-to-date on what's happening this week on the American Association of Museums 2011 Annual Meeting blog http://aamhouston.wordpress.com/