Understanding and Evaluating the Museum Accreditation Process
September 2023
To support a museum member considering whether or not they should pursue accreditation, Advisory Board for the Arts identified and interviewed peer institutions that were either accredited or chose not to go through accreditation, in order to understand different perspectives on the overall process, value and motivations around museum accreditation.
Our report outlines the pros and cons of museum accreditation, and certain practical resources and timelines to consider for institutions embarking on the accreditation process.
Findings from the research include:
Overall, museums acknowledge that the accreditation process serves as a tool to assess museum governance and best practices; however, it is labor intensive and cyclical, so pursuing accreditation should represent a true strategic value and not just “box checking.”
Among the top values mentioned for accreditation is helping secure loans, going through a reflective practice for museum governance, and gaining recognition from the wider museum field. For academic museums, accreditation can also boost leverage with the parent institution for needed resources like staff, funding etc.
Non-accredited museums we spoke with did not mention additional or specific challenges to that status, and were able to secure loans for ambitious shows. Therefore, the decision and value of pursuing accreditation is not universal but more nuanced, and may rely more on case-by-case self-study of staff capacity, timelines, resources, mission, context etc.
Click below to read the full research: