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Writers & Editors:

A style guide for contributors


Think of Museum America as a National Geographic exploring the world of museums. Or as a Travel+Leisure where museums are the ultimate destination. Simply put, Museum America is a reader service magazine with a mission to make every visit to any museum even more rewarding.

Rewarding as in highly informative and immediately useful. We aim to save readers money. Tip them to opportunities. Deepen their knowledge. And guide them to delights that measurably increase enjoyment of the arts, culture, and travel in the world of museums.

Assume Museum America's readers are intelligent, well informed, and expectant. Appreciate their attention by not wasting it, complicating it, or dulling it.

Museum America strives for narrative in the classic style as set forth by Steven Pinker in his book for writers, The Sense of Style:

"The guiding metaphor of classic style is seeing the world. The writer can see something that the reader has not yet noticed, and he orients the reader’s gaze so that she can see it for herself. The purpose of writing is presentation, and its motive is disinterested truth."

In short, writing that is a conversation between writer and reader — clear, direct, unfussy.

Museum America achieves its mission when readers say the magazine is well worth its $10 cover price. And when sponsors report returns equal to the $3,750 a page it costs to advertise.

Editorial

I. ACQUISITIONS (front of the book)

Concise news and considered reviews of what's
currently on exhibit in the world of museums

  • Art & Photography

  • Science & Technology

  • History & Culture

  • Children & Families

  • Film & Media

  • Coming exhibitions & new openings

  • Current installations

  • Special events & announcements

  • Museums making news

II. CURATED (guides + lists)

  • Museum Spy
    – Inside guides to museum experiences as reported by visitors & docents

  • Museum Finds
    – Shopping guides to interesting & unusual museum store buys

  • Museum Joy
    – Event guides to museum-centered travel & entertainment

  • Museum Perks
    – Benefits guide to museums offering discounts & privileges to subscribers

  • Museum Honors
    – “Best-of" rankings, ratings & reviews of museums worldwide

  • Museum America in…
    – “6-minute” travel guides to museums & attractions in featured cities

III. MAIN GALLERY (the well)

Narrative and photographic features developed
from story pitches and museum sources

  • First Impressionists: 50 Best From Bazille To Van Gogh

  • To Catch a Thief: Inside Secrets of Legendary Art Heists

  • Ego Trips: Single-Collection Museums Worth Visiting

  • 99 Under $100: Best Museum Store Finds Online

  • Brilliant Forgeries… and the Unwitting Museums Where They Hang

  • Lost In Space: Virtual Reality & Science Museums

  • Come Here Often? Hottest Museum Date Nights in 20 Cities

  • 15 Children’s Museums …That Moms Love Most

  • S’wonderful, S’plunderous: The War Over Ancient Treasures

  • Leave The Exhibit, Order The Cannoli: 5-Star Museum Cafes

  • To Love And Cherish: Scenes From a Paris Museum Wedding

  • Curator To The Stars: Confessions of a Celebrity Art Whisperer

  • Walking The Talks: 20 Miles of Self-Guided Tours

  • Beyond Bilbao: Starchitecture and the Future of Museums

  • 36 Views of Hokusai: Three Dozen Artists Celebrate His Legacy

  • Road Trip: America’s 50 Must-See Museums

  • MFA Boston / Magna Carta: Cornerstone of Liberty

  • The Getty Los Angeles / The Scandalous Art of James Ensor

  • Dallas Museum of Art / Masterworks on Paper from David to Cézanne

  • American Indian Museum Washington / Vanishing Race

  • Seattle Art Museum / Deco Japan: Shaping Art and Culture, 1920–1945

  • Telfair Savannah / Romantic Spirits: Nineteenth-Century Paintings

IV. ON LOAN (guest columnists)

Challenging opinions, critical thinking and contrarian ideas
within the worlds of art, culture, travel and museums

  • Adam Sternbergh

  • Camille Paglia

  • Malcolm Gladwell

  • Catherine Spangler

  • Sebastian Smee

  • Elizabeth Gilbert

V. PERMANENT COLLECTION (back of the book)

  • Museum America with...
    – Interviews with innovative and influential curators

  • Backroom
    – What museums keep hidden, private, secret

  • Deaccession
    – Once-important ideas and artifacts that are now museum history

  • Bemused
    – Serious museum or roadside tourist trap?—we visit, you decide