The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the only organization representing the entire scope of the museum community, recently selected a new cohort of 79 museums to participate in its 2023 Museum Assessment Program, including the Escalette Permanent Art Collection at Chapman University, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. 

Since its inception in 1981, the Museum Assessment Program (MAP) has helped more than 5,000 small and mid-sized museums of all types strengthen operations, plan for the future, and meet standards. With 5 types of assessments available, over 60% of AAM-accredited museums have participated in the program.  

To participate in the Museum Assessment Program, museums choose from one of five institutional assessment types: Organizational, Collections Stewardship, Education & Interpretation, Community & Audience Engagement, or Board Leadership. All five assessment types are grounded in AAM’s Core Standards; are inclusive of Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion (DEAI) issues as they relate to the assessment focus; help museums look at both functional and strategic aspects of their operations, and present focused learning modules and action plans for the museum to progress through; and include a peer-reviewed site visit. Over one-third of participating museums found the experience so valuable that they returned to participate another time in the Museum Assessment Program.