Museums in Time of Polycrisis: The Promise of Cultural Institutions
Presentation by Dr. Porchia Moore
January 27, 2026
As a global polycrisis continues to impact modern day life, perhaps no other institution is experiencing the impact of rapid change more than the American museum. In this talk, Dr. Moore will identify and name the challenges to museums and the impact on visitors, communities, and museum professionals. What is the value of the museum in the 21st century? How can those who love museums fight back to preserve the positive benefits of museums as these institutions work hard to preserve memory, archive human activity, and work to tell inclusive, truthful, and powerful stories? Dr. Moore will outline the promise of cultural institutions and discuss how we need museums now more than ever to help us make meaning of our lives, create places of respite and refuge, and foster welcoming for all communities; especially those with histories of oppression and marginalization.
Dr. Porchia Moore is the Associate Director of the Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship and Associate Professor and Director of Museum Studies at the University of Florida. She is the Co-Director of the international collaboratory, The Incluseum, and the co-founder of the Visitors of Color Project. Her scholarship examines the relationship between digital technologies, race, identity, and communities.
Dr. Porchia Moore’s visit to Ann Arbor has been coordinated by the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum in collaboration with the Museum Studies Program and the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan.
