T/m selected to participate in National Museum Assessment Program

April 8, 2021

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) – The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures (T/m) has been selected to participate in the Museum Assessment Program (MAP), which is administered by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM).

Through guided self-study assessment and on-site consultation with a museum professional, participation in MAP will empower T/m to better serve its local and national audience by facilitating its meeting and exceeding the highest professional standards of the museum field.

The museum’s participation is made possible through funding provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). MAP helps museums strengthen operations, plan for the future, and meet standards through self-study assessment and a consultative site visit from an expert peer reviewer.

T/m has chosen to do a MAP community and audience engagement assessment in order to build a sustained audience by engaging people who have never visited the museum, and to foster a deepened engagement with those regularly visit the museum.

“This process will bring a better understanding of how T/m can best serve its audiences and expand that service to diverse local and national communities,” said T/m Executive Director Petra Kralickova. “By gathering input from our constituents, T/m looks to be better positioned to respond to the changing nature of our audiences and to look at our culture and action in terms of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion.”

“Choosing to be part of the MAP program is indicative of the commitment to civic involvement, public service and overall excellence on the part of T/m,” said Laura Lott, president of AAM. “Studies have shown American’s museums to be among the country’s most trusted and valued institutions. MAP is designed to make them even better.”

Since its creation in 1981, the MAP program has served over 5,000 museums. MAP is supported through a cooperative agreement between AAM and IMLS. For more information, including a complete list of museums participating in MAP, please visit www.aam-us.org/map, call 202.289.9118 or e-mail map@aam-us.org. The website also features information about museums across the country who have previously participated in MAP and other AAM Excellence Programs.

AMERICAN ALLIANCE OF MUSEUMS
AAM is the only organization representing the nation’s entire museum community and has been dedicated to promoting excellence within the museum field for over 100 years. For more information about AAM, visit www.aam-us.org. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. To learn more about the Institute, please visit http://www.imls.gov.

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF TOYS AND MINIATURES
The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures educates, inspires, and delights adults and children through the museum’s collection and preservation of toys and miniatures. Located on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus, the museum exhibits the world’s largest collection of fine-scale miniatures and one of the nation’s largest collections of historic toys on public display. For more information, call 816.235.8000 or visit www.toyandminiaturemuseum.org.