The Strategic Museum Exchange
Museum leaders are critical to any successful transformation effort. Bottom-up initiatives can only go so far. This is especially true for institutions that want to prioritize people over products — a fundamental change that reverberates to every corner of an institution.
The Strategic Museum Exchange (SME) provides executive directors and deputy directors a supportive space to encourage experimentation, ensure accountability, and drive strategic change.
How It Works
The Strategic Museum Exchange creates opportunities for museum leaders to drive institutional progress through peer learning and strategic dialogue.
Each cohort brings together 6-12 museum leaders in partner pairs for focused strategic work. Groups meet weekly for 50-80 minutes over 3-6 weeks. Within each group, partners are matched based on shared characteristics like organizational size, discipline, or objectives to enable meaningful exchange while maintaining diverse perspectives. The specific format — from session length to program duration — adapts to serve each cohort's focus.
Recent series have explored critical sector challenges through frameworks like Richard Rumelt's strategic principles for museum contexts and Robert Janes' examination of museums' role in societal crisis (from Museums and Societal Collapse: The Museum as Lifeboat).
Sign Up to Be Notified About Upcoming Cohorts
If you’re an executive director or deputy/assistant director at a cultural institution, you can sign up below to join the waitlist and get notified of upcoming cohorts.
FAQ
Before sessions begin, you'll need to complete a staff survey. We use survey responses to help match you up with institutions facing similar challenges or share common goals. Once a cohort forms, sessions typically run 50-80 minutes weekly over 3-6 weeks. You'll receive timing details for specific cohorts before confirming your participation.
Yes, both Executive and Deputy Directors from the same institution can participate.
Participation is included with MaP³ enrollment.