By Erika Barker, Curatorial Manager at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. Featured image of Erika on Capitol Hill for AAM’s 2025 Museum Advocacy Day.
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What is Advocacy?
As various political and social issues continue to flood our feeds on social media, one word often stands out. Advocate. Everyone seems to want to identify as an advocate or encourage others to advocate for something. But what is advocacy, and why would someone even want to do that?
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, advocacy is the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal. And this can be any cause! You can advocate at home for more equitable treatment from your parents, or at work for better workplace policies for you and your coworkers, or for national issues that are important to you or your loved ones.
To be an effective advocate, though, strategic action is important – from learning about the issue and speaking up about it to friends, family, and your networks to sharing your views with your political representatives and getting involved with organizations who are supporting or working toward meaningful change related to the issue. In other words, it is more than just a desire to make changes; it is also about the action behind that desire.
What does this have to do with museums?
Just like any other industry there are causes and concerns that affect all museums. Organizations like the Tennessee Association of Museums (TAM), and the Virginia Association of Museums (VAM) have annual advocacy days at the state level. The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) organizes their annual Museums Advocacy Day each February where museum professionals from across the country gather at Capitol Hill to advocate together at the national level. The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) shares advocacy updates with its members and participates in a variety of advocacy events at the state and national level. The American Library Association (ALA) also published this helpful FAQ about the Executive Order. All of these organizations – along with many others – help distribute information and make resources available to all museums and their supporters so that anyone can help advocate on behalf of their favorite museum!
Why does this matter right now?
On March 14, President Trump issued an Executive Order calling for the elimination of the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS). This federal agency – the only one dedicated to directly supporting American museums and libraries – does a huge amount of good for museums and libraries across the country, especially ones located in small or rural communities like ours.
Did you know that there are more museums in America than McDonalds and Starbucks combined? It shows just how much Americans love museums! Museums generate more than $50 billion dollars and support 726,000 jobs – they are definitely a good thing for our economy, not to mention our state of mind. And museums and libraries across the United States are hugely valued by their communities – they provide accessible educational resources; offer a wide range of programs, trainings, and workshops; preserve local and national history; partner with other organizations to serve their audiences; and so much more. The American Alliance of Museums shares many more facts about museums’ impact on American communities; you can also check out the American Library Association for more information on libraries and their impact.
IMLS funding is central to museums and libraries, and to the ways that they serve their communities. IMLS’s budget makes up only 0.0046% of the federal budget (that is less than $1 per taxpayer each year), and they use that money to provide grant support and resources to museums and libraries on a variety of levels. On both sides of the political spectrum, museums are valued as educational and cultural resources. Research shows that 96% of Americans want to maintain or increase federal funding for museums and approve of lawmakers who act to support museums.
The Birthplace of Country Music Museum received an IMLS grant in 2021–2022, specifically targeted at helping institutions like ours recover from the pandemic. The grant provided support for educational training for our museum docents (the people who lead tours), disaster training (to make sure all our staff and volunteers know how to respond during a disaster so we can keep our visitors and collections safe), and a wide range of professional development opportunities for our curatorial team. The benefits of the classes, webinars, training courses, and conferences we attended – and the partnerships we forged through these opportunities – are still being felt today. None of that would have been possible without the IMLS grant.
We also participate in Museums for All – an initiative of IMLS, administered by the Association of Children’s Museums. This program makes it possible for more than 1,400 museums to offer free or reduced cost admission for those receiving food assistance (SNAP benefits) simply by presenting their EBT or WIC cards and a photo ID. Taking part in this program means that we can make our museum more accessible and welcoming to people of all socio-economic backgrounds.
Advocacy vs. Lobbying: What’s the Difference?
Advocacy is about raising awareness, educating the public – including elected officials, and encouraging civic engagement on important issues—like speaking out to protect IMLS funding. Lobbying, on the other hand, involves directly influencing legislation by asking elected officials to vote for or against a specific bill. While nonprofits lille ours can advocate freely, lobbying has legal limitations depending on the organization’s status. By reaching out to your representatives and sharing why IMLS and BCMM matter, you are engaging in advocacy, not lobbying.
Okay, so what can I do to help?
Without funding from agencies like IMLS our ability to serve our community will be directly impacted. And therefore, now we need YOUR help to take URGENT ACTION as an advocate for museums and libraries!
There is a letter being circulated to members of the House of Representatives this week asking the Administration to reconsider the executive order that would gut IMLS funding. The deadline for members of Congress to sign onto the letter is tomorrow, Friday, March 28. With the deadline fast approaching, a phone call would be the most effective way to reach your representative. HERE is a call template specifically asking representatives to sign the letter!
After taking that specific action, the best way to advocate is to continue to reach out to your representatives – via phone call, email, or letter – and tell them why something is important to you. The more we share our thoughts and views with elected officials, the more likely they are to act.
- Call your members of Congress. Find their phone numbers and a draft script for supporting museums HERE.
- Write to your members of Congress. Get started with the AAM template letter HERE and PERSONALIZE it with your stories! These emails have significantly more impact when you customize them and tell YOUR story to YOUR elected officials.
Personal stories go a long way! When you talk to your representatives, be sure to tell them why museums and libraries matter to you specifically. How have you benefited from museums and libraries? How does your community benefit from these institutions? What resources or educational programs have you participated in at your local museum or library? And so much more! The calls and email templates are great, but they have way more impact when you customize them and tell YOUR story to YOUR elected officials. Social media can also be a great way to let people know about issues you care about and encourage them to advocate with you.
Finally, keep an eye out for future opportunities to advocate for museums! It is possible that related federal agencies upon which museums rely for funding (such as the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)), and by extension the state agencies who administer pass-through grants from these agencies – will be affected by similar proposed cuts in the future. If you see news about this, reach out to your senators and representatives again, and help keep museums and libraries central to our communities!
