2026 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo
AAM 2026 Theme & Location
Pennsylvania Convention Center
1101 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
The Museum Odyssey
Time shapes our lives—marking change, preserving memory, and connecting us across generations. It shapes museums too. As timekeepers, travelers, chroniclers, and seers, museums help communities understand the past, make meaning in the present, and imagine the future.
In 2026, as the United States marks its 250th anniversary, museums have a unique opportunity to reexamine the past, embrace the present, and help shape what comes next. Philadelphia—the birthplace of American democracy and home to the nation’s first library, zoo, and combined art school and museum—offers the perfect setting for this reflection.
The 2026 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo invites museum professionals to explore how museums mark and interpret the passage of time to shape public understanding of our world. Programming will explore time, transformation, and the future of our field through four tracks—Museums as Timekeepers, Time Travelers, Chroniclers, and Seers—in addition to a new track this year, Museum Essentials and Evolving Practices that focuses on core skills and strategies for every area of museum work.
What can I expect at AAM 2026?
Watch highlights from the 2025 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo in Los Angeles with AAM TV. Catch museum spotlights, exclusive interviews, and more. AAM TV is made possible by WebsEdge. Head to the YouTube playlist to catch the episodes you won’t want to miss.
Connect with Your Peers
Each year, the conference is designed to help attendees feel reinvigorated and more deeply connected to our field. At AAM 2026 you won’t find a shortage of opportunities to expand your network and connect with peers over challenges, successes, new ideas, and inspiration.
New: Museum Essentials and Evolving Practices
In addition to sessions, case study presentations, learning labs, and roundtables, this new track explores the foundational functions, emerging strategies, and core competencies that sustain museum impact.
An Incredible MuseumExpo
AAM is again partnering this year with the Museum Store Association to host an incredible combined expo hall. Find the most innovative services, products, and solutions in the museum field. With 350+ exhibitors, you are bound to find the right partner for your museum’s current challenges and opportunities.
Hands-on Workshops & Learning Labs
Take full advantage of this conference for your professional development and deepen your practice through hands-on workshops and learning labs that offer foundational and practical techniques that you can apply to your own context and community. These sessions will focus on the “how-to” and provide attendees with tangible tools and outcomes you can bring back home.
BE A PART OF AAM 2026 IN PHILADELPHIA!
Session Tracks
The 2026 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo conference programming will be divided into five dynamic tracks:
Museum Essentials and Evolving Practices
New: Core skills and strategies for every area of museum work
This track covers the foundational functions and emerging practices that sustain museum impact. Sessions will share tools, strategies, and peer-driven insights to support professional growth, strengthen operations, and enhance effectiveness across the field.
Museums as Timekeepers
Explore practical strategies for conservation and long-term collections care, governance and institutional planning, and designing programs and partnerships that endure.
Museums as Chroniclers
Sessions will explore strategies for documenting the present, engaging communities in real time, and shaping the historical record with transparency and integrity.
Museums as Time Travelers
This track focuses on how museums transport audiences across eras through immersive storytelling, technology, and design.
Museums as Seers
This track looks at how museums prepare for what’s ahead by spotting trends, fostering innovation, and preparing institutions for a resilient future.
PEOPLE AND LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Every community owes its existence to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy to making the history that led to this moment. Some were brought here against their will, some were drawn to leave their distant homes in hopes of better lives, some were forced from their homelands, and some have lived on this land for more generations than can be counted. Honoring truth is essential to building a just and equitable world. While acknowledgment is important, it is only a beginning.
We acknowledge the Piscataway people, on whose ancestral lands the American Alliance of Museums’ office is located. Los Angeles, the city we celebrate during this Annual Meeting, is the ancestral homeland of the Gabrieliño Tongva people.
Please take a moment to consider the many realities of violence, displacement, migration, and colonization as we gather together for the 2025 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo. We must hold ourselves accountable for the necessary work to uncover truths in the museum field and beyond. We encourage you to use this native lands map so you can learn what lands you occupy—visit: native-land.ca.
About the American Alliance of Museums
Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo
The AAM Annual Meeting first started in 1906 in New York with under 200 museum professionals and has grown to over 5,000 attendees, becoming the largest museum conference in the United States.
The AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo is the largest museum conference in the world. It is the only event of its scope and scale that brings together museums of all types and sizes—from art and history museums to zoos and botanic gardens—to share ideas and make transformational connections. It’s a place where all museum professionals learn from one another, create partnerships, and leave inspired to make an impact on their museums, communities, and the world.
Need help with your membership? Email: membership [at] aam-us.org
Need help with your registration? Please contact amme_registration@goeshow.com or call 847-620-4238
Revisit past Annual Meetings
The American Alliance of Museums’ mission is to champion equitable and impactful museums by connecting people, fostering learning and community, and nurturing museum excellence.
