Pratt Museum Receives Highest National Recognition: Awarded Re-Accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums
Homer, Alaska (July 21, 2023) – Pratt Museum
The Pratt Museum has again achieved accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums, the highest national recognition afforded the nation’s museums.
Accreditation signifies excellence to the museum community, to governments, funders, outside agencies, and to the museum-going public. The Pratt Museum was initially accredited in 1997. All museums must undergo a reaccreditation review at least every 10 years to maintain accredited status.
Alliance Accreditation brings national recognition to a museum for its commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards and continued institutional improvement.
Developed and sustained by museum professionals for 50 years, the Alliance’s museum accreditation program is the field’s primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation and public accountability. It strengthens the museum profession by promoting practices that enable leaders to make informed decisions, allocate resources wisely, and remain financially and ethically accountable in order to provide the best possible service to the public. Of the nation’s estimated 33,000 museums, 1,108 are currently accredited. The Pratt Museum is one of only 7 museums accredited in the state of Alaska.
Accreditation is a very rigorous but highly rewarding process that examines all aspects of a museum’s operations. To earn accreditation a museum first must conduct a year of self-study, and then undergo a site visit by a team of peer reviewers. AAM’s Accreditation Commission, an independent and autonomous body of museum professionals, considers the self-study and visiting committee report to determine whether a museum should receive accreditation. “Accredited museums are a community of institutions that have chosen to hold themselves publicly accountable to excellence,” said Laura L. Lott, Alliance President and CEO. “Accreditation is clearly a significant achievement, of which both the institutions and the communities they serve can be extremely proud.”
About the Pratt Museum The mission of the Pratt Museum is to strengthen relationships between people and place through stories relevant to Kachemak Bay. The Pratt Museum fulfills its mission by facilitating engagement between community members and strengthening understandings of our shared place. Through these activities, the unique relationship between the people and places of Kachemak Bay will be sustained far into the future. The Museum is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11am to 4pm through September 10. Fall and Winter hours are more limited and subject to change. Visit the Pratt Museum at 3779 Bartlett Street in Homer. Tel. (907) 235-8635. More information is available at www.prattmuseum.org
About the American Alliance of Museums The American Alliance of Museums has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community. Representing more than 35,000 individual museum professionals and volunteers, institutions, and corporate partners serving the museum field, the Alliance stands for the broad scope of the museum community. For more information, visit www.aam-us.org.