ABSTRACT

Are museums mindful of what is going on in the world around them? The planet Earth and global civilization now confront a constellation of issues that threaten the very existence of both. There is a burgeoning literature that offers dire warnings and solutions, but museums are rarely, if ever, mentioned. 1 Are not museums (with the possible exception of contemporary art museums) the self-proclaimed custodians of posterity, assuming that the responsibilities of today will be the gifts of the future? If so, there is an alarming disconnect between this belief and the trajectory that many museums are on, preoccupied as they are with the marketplace, quantitative measures of performance, and internally driven agendas devoted to collecting, exhibiting, ancillary education, and entertainment.