SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco today announced the 2025 convening of the Museums of Tomorrow Roundtable (MTR), a gathering of international and local museum leaders in the Bay Area for dialogue on the complex challenges and opportunities museums face in our era of rapid technological advancement and change. Organized and hosted by the Fine Arts Museums in collaboration with the Asian Art Museum, the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art—and in partnership with cultural strategist András Szántó—MTR is rooted in the Bay Area’s legacy of cultural and technological innovation. The initiative seeks to foster and amplify cross-sector dialogue between the museum and technology communities while cultivating a lasting peer network.

“In many ways, international relationships, and intercultural exchange are defining features of the art museum industry. While we’re all rooted in the needs of our local communities, many of us in the museum field are also regularly working across geographic boundaries in an effort to deepen our visitors’ engagement with, and understanding of, artistic achievements and perspectives from around the world,” said Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. “Simultaneously, as our audiences, and available technologies continue to evolve, it’s critical that we continue to upgrade our capabilities and infrastructure. As a forum for international, cross-industry exchange, the Museums of Tomorrow Roundtable remains a vital undertaking for the museum field, and we are grateful to MTR’s many partners and supporters for their collaboration.”

Building on its successful debut in 2023, MTR 2025 will bring a cohort of 14 dynamic leaders from institutions across Asia, Africa, Latin America, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and New Zealand—each playing a vital role in the global museum ecosystem—to the San Francisco Bay Area for dialogue with local peers. Participating in focused discussions and workshops with some of the region’s leading art institutions and participating technology companies, including Adobe, Anthropic, Bloomberg, and Salesforce, the group will explore how AI and other technologies can be leveraged to enhance museum operations and the visitor experience. Over the course of the week, the group will also explore how institutions can better support artists working at the intersection of art and technology.

MTR 2025 will include a free public program held on Tuesday, May 13 at the de Young museum, where museum directors from three different regions of the world will explore how institutions–individually and collectively–can adapt their programming and operations to meet current and future challenges. The program will include a special conversation between world-renowned media artist Refik Anadol and cultural strategist András Szántó.

“Facilitating dialogue among international museum leaders is essential, because global collaboration relies on trust. No less important is aligning on the norms and processes that should guide museum work” noted cultural strategist András Szántó “Nowhere is this more urgent than in the domain of technology, where museums are adjusting to new forms of creativity and new tools. The MTR provides time and space to consider this fast-moving area, to help institutions chart a prudent path forward.“