2025 Building Museums Symposium is sold out.

No walk-ins will be accepted onsite. We hope you will join us next 2026.

A fly over image looking at St. Louis, MO from above. The Old Courthouse, the Arch and the Mississippi River are visible.

2025 Final Program

Building Museums™ is a national symposium on the process, promise, and pitfalls of planning and managing museum building projects. This symposium is for architects, museum leaders, planners, project managers, technical experts, and all professionals who plan or implement new construction, renovation, preservation, or expansion projects for museums. Building Museums™ 2025 will actively engage participants in sessions and discussion. The program will include expert keynote addresses, behind-the-scenes museum tours, receptions, and a workshop.

Whether your institution is a small historic site under renovation, a medium-sized museum planning an expansion, or a large museum building a new collections facility, this symposium is for you! AIA Continuing Education Credits will be available to those attending sessions.

NEW! this year:

No printed schedule: In effort to be more sustainable, MAAM will be utilizing a digital conference app, Sched. This app will provide detailed information regarding schedules and locations. More information will be included in your registration confirmation.
Share your ideas: The Programming Committee is planning Friday morning breakfast Small Group Discussions and wants your input! What topics or challenges would you like to explore with peers during a roundtable? Share your ideas—specific issues, trends, or work-related topics—as part of the registration.
New workshop opportunities: Building on the success of the Ready, Aim, Build! full-day workshop, these workshops will take a deeper dive into key themes tailored specifically for museum professionals. Attendance is free, but space is limited—RSVP through Sched to secure your spot!

2025 Building Museums™ Program

Ready, Aim, Build Workshop

A Museum Planning Workshop
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 8:30 am-4:30 pm

During this full-day workshop, our multidisciplinary collective of museum experts provide a roadmap of best-practices to guide you through your museum capital project with lessons gleaned from decades of experience in projects like yours. Delivered through a mix of presented content, targeted activities, and open dialogue, our industry experts in institution planning, design, engineering, costing, and construction will lead you through the critical steps of a successful capital project–from inception through to opening day and beyond. As always, the session includes a special guest speaker from an institution who has been in your shoes before! Leave with an intimate knowledge of a time-tested process that will lead to success on your next project. Box lunch provided to participants.

Attendance is limited to forty (40) people. The content covered in this workshop is specifically intended for museum professionals and professionals working in the historic preservation sector. Workshop attendees must be registered for the 2025 Building Museums Symposium.

Submissions will be reviewed by the Program Committee on a rolling basis until workshop capacity is reached. If your submission is accepted, we will follow up about registration for this unique workshop, and you will be invoiced separately. Your responses here will be shared with workshop presenters. Thank you!

Ready, Aim, Build Interest Form

Scholarship Opportunities

In effort to support emerging professionals and students, a limited number of scholarship opportunities for attendees may be available. If you are selected to receive a MAAM Building Museums™ Scholarship, you will receive full, complimentary conference registration. Please fill out the application form to let us know if you’re interested in a scholarship. Applications are due January 24, 2025. A limited number will be selected.

Eligibility

Anyone affiliated with a museum, library, historical society, related graduate study program (e.g., Museum Studies, Public History, Library and Information Studies, Historic Preservation) or partner industry is eligible to apply for a Scholarship. First-time attendees and/or applicants that identify as belonging to a group historically underserved by the field are strongly encouraged to apply.

Criteria for Scholarship Evaluation

Financial Need: Clear demonstration of financial need, including any barriers to covering conference expenses independently.
Professional Background and Impact: Evaluation of the applicant’s current role, career stage, and contributions to the field. Consider whether attendance will enhance their impact on their institution, community, or field.
Commitment to Professional Growth: Evidence of the applicant’s commitment to their professional development, such as their engagement in ongoing education, professional networks, or field-related projects.
Ability to Apply and Share Knowledge Gained: Consider the applicant’s plans for applying and disseminating knowledge from the conference, whether within their institution, through publications, or by sharing with peers.
Diversity and Inclusion: Preference given to applicants from underrepresented groups or those whose participation would contribute to a diverse and inclusive conference experience.

Scholarship Application

2025 Building Museums™ Symposium Sponsors

Visionary

Luminary

Contributor

Supporter

Exhibitors

About the Symposium

What?

The symposium is organized under three inter-related themes: Vision, Implementation, and Sustainability (or Life after Opening) . The content of each day will reflect these themes across a broad range of museum sizes and scales, budgets, scope of building projects, disciplines, and collecting vs. non-collecting institutions.

Who?

This symposium is for architects, museum leaders, planners, project managers, technical experts, and all those who plan or implement new construction, renovation, or expansion projects for museums. Whether your institution is a small historic site under renovation, a mid-sized art museum planning an expansion, or a large children’s museum building a new facility, this symposium is for you.

Building Museums™ is an annual international symposium created, produced and managed by the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums [MAAM] but is open to everyone with an interest in this important topic.

Why?

Attending the symposium will provide you the opportunity to:

Better understand the process of planning, implementing, and surviving new construction, renovation, or expansion projects
Examine case studies, current trends, topical issues, and specific projects related to building projects across a broad range of museum sizes and scales, budgets, scope of building projects, diversity of disciplines, and collecting vs. non-collections-holding institutions
Actively discuss museum building projects with other museum professionals, architects, planners, project managers, and technical experts to better inform the process of building
Access resources for architectural firms, consultants, museum projects, and museum leaders

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Building Museums™ Symposium

March 5-7, 2025, Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch, St. Louis, MO