AASLH-NCPH 2026

American Association for State and Local History & National Council on Public History – September 2026

Rebel Strategies for Small Museums

We’ve just received official notification that Kaleidoscope Heritage Focus will be presenting “Rebel Strategies for Small Museums” at AASLH–NCPH in September 2026—and this one feels especially meaningful.

Small museums don’t just operate in uncertainty. We live there – limited budgets, lean staffing (sometimes one person wearing every hat), volunteer reliance, aging infrastructure, and changing community expectations. It’s not a season. It’s the landscape. And yet, time and again, I see something remarkable happen in these spaces.

Rebellions.

Not the loud kind. Not the dramatic kind. The quiet, strategic, deeply intentional kind.

Revolutions happen when a small museum makes the brave decision to let go of a program that no longer serves its mission, even if it’s “how we’ve always done it.” They happen when staff and volunteers reimagine their roles – not as caretakers of tradition alone, but as active designers of the future. They happen when organizations stop chasing what larger institutions are doing and instead lean into their own scale, agility, and community intimacy.

For small museums, rebellion is about redesign.

“Rebel Strategies for Small Museums” is rooted in that belief. This session will explore what it means to lead courageously in the face of constraints. Over the years, through my work at small museums and history organizations, I’ve seen that small museums are often far more innovative than they give themselves credit for. They are constantly adapting, repurposing, simplifying, and rethinking. They just don’t always name that work as a strategy.

We will.

Small museums have advantages that are rarely celebrated. They can pivot quickly. They know their communities personally. They can experiment without navigating layers of bureaucracy. When those strengths are embraced intentionally, scarcity becomes a catalyst rather than a limitation.

That is the heart of this presentation.

September 2026 will be an opportunity to gather with colleagues who understand both the weight and the possibility of small museum work. We’re looking forward to honest conversation, practical tools, and a reframing of what resilience truly looks like at our scale.

Because for small museums, rebellion is an act of leadership.

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