The Louisiana State Museum (LSM) system is conspicuously missing from a list of US museums recently reaccredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). LSM, which was last accredited in 2011, has had its status is under review and anticipated an update regarding its reaccreditation last month, according to the minutes of a December meeting of its executive committee.
The LSM system, comprising ten museums spread across the state—including the New Orleans Jazz Museum, the Louisiana Civil Rights Museum and several historic houses—has faced lawsuits, public controversy and an unfavourable audit in recent years. Its collections are property of the State of Louisiana and include paintings by Gertrude Morgan, the musician Louis Armstrong’s first cornet and bugle, and an extensive collection of Mardi Gras memorabilia, among other artefacts of cultural heritage.
In an email to The Art Newspaper, AAM confirmed that LSM remains accredited while undergoing the reaccreditation process and that institutions “not being included on a press release following an accreditation meeting” indicates that “the museum was not given a decision at the meeting or it… was deferred or tabled”. Tabling a decision, per AAM, means delaying it for “one year, so specific issues can be addressed” and deferment allows assessors time “to gather additional information” about an applicant museum.
Rebecca Mackie, the director of LSM, confirmed in an email to The Art Newspaper that its “application for reaccreditation was tabled until AAM’s June 2027 meeting”, elaborating that “the tabling decision gives the museum an opportunity to… clarify aspects of its governance and operational structure [and] strengthen coordination, accountability and implementation across its statewide system of sites”.
Mackie continued: “AAM shared… that on average, approximately 30% of museums are tabled during commission meetings” and “institutions frequently use the tabling period to address identified concerns and strengthen their operations. In the majority of such cases, accreditation is ultimately awarded once the issues are resolved.”
The recent AAM press release saw the announcement of the reaccreditation of two museums in Louisiana unaffiliated with LSM—Shreveport’s Meadows Museum of Art and the Historic New Orleans Collection.
