Museums and Trust was the title of the Annual conference organised by American Alliance of Museums in Los Angeles (6 – 9 May 2025) which gathered around 4000 professionals attending various sessions. According to surveys and research, museums have long enjoyed a high level of public trust, far higher than the media, government organizations, and even scientists. This unique position of museum institutions is based on the constant promotion of knowledge, culture, art, science, and history – i.e. all areas in which credibility and reliability are paramount, as organisers stated. In today’s era marked by distrust and disinformation, museums have a rare ability to balance the proliferation of false narratives and polarized perspectives. In this way, they contribute to a more empathetic and informed society, but they have also found themselves the target of political pressure, which is what this conference was partially dedicated to. Therefore, AAM stressed the role of museum professionals who are rallying to defend their neutrality and proactively promoting their credibility, advocating for thoughtful, transparent, and collaborative practices. In this way, they defend themselves against influences such as bias, resource challenges, abuse of power, and social injustice.

INTERCOM Chairperson, Goranka Horjan, was invited to be the panellist in the Hot Topic Session: Museums in the Crossfire — Who Defines the Mission of Museums co organised by ICOM US during the AAM meeting at the Los Angeles Convention Centre. The panel was moderated by a distinguished expert, Douglas McDonald, currently the Chief Treasurer of ICOM-US. The other panellist was Richard West, founding director of the National Museum of the American Indian and currently the president and CEO Emeritus of the Autry Museum of the American West. Richard West has been also been active in INTERCOM and this year he was a recipient of the AAM 2025 Distinguished Service to Museums Award.

The panel brought together a large number of interested museum professionals and examined the professional challenges faced by museum professionals. Horjan presented INTERCOM research conducted through several ICOM projects and presented case studies of how museum professionals monitor the shifts in public perceptions of academic and cultural authority and how expectations are being reshaped. Several recent European studies have shown increasing pressure on museums including the most recent of one of NEMO (Network of European Museum Organizations) so museums should be alert on how to preserve their credibility.