In the late 2000s, the American Alliance of Museums launched its Emerging Museum Professionals initiative. This initiative was intended to support professionals in the first ten years of their museum careers.

After the American Alliance of Museums officially dropped its Emerging Museum Professional initiative in late 2014, a group of leaders from the EMP initiative decided to create a formal group on Facebook to support EMPs that would eventually become the National EMP Network. In spring of 2015, leaders of NEMPN chapters across the country formally voted to incorporate the National EMP Network and seek official nonprofit status. In early 2017, NEMPN was incorporated in Ohio. The first NEMPN Board was established in September 2017, and later in December 2017, NEMPN received its official IRS determination letter granting nonprofit status.

NEMPN’s original mission statement reflected its origins as an online community of practice, first and foremost:

“The mission of the National Emerging Museum Professionals Network is to engage museum professionals across all stages of their careers in building vibrant communities of networking, knowledge exchange, and resource sharing.”

In the nearly ten years that NEMPN has been operating in some capacity, members have undertaken a number of different initiatives to support emerging museum professionals. These include but are not limited to: launching a journal called Theory & Practice in collaboration with Rogers Publishing and the Museum Journal in 2018; establishing a suite of successful public programming to include career-building workshops and book clubs; and running a jobs board specifically for EMPs.

Additionally, NEMPN’s advocacy work has expanded greatly. In 2022, NEMPN launched Museum Workers Advocacy Day (MWAD) in response to AAM’s Museum Advocacy Day. MWAD is a platform for museum professionals from all sectors and levels of experience to come together and advocate for equitable industry changes. During the first MWAD, members carried out a successful Postcard Campaign that convinced AAM to begin requiring salary information on their Jobs Board. This successful effort inspired NEMPN leaders to center organized advocacy as a pillar of the organization.

The primary focuses of NEMPN’s advocacy work so far have been salary transparency, unpaid internships, DEAI, and employee benefits (i.e. health insurance).

In 2023, the NEMPN Board voted to adopt a new mission with a dual focus on building community for EMPs and advocating for forward-thinking practices in our industry.

To this end, NEMPN has continued to grow Museum Workers Advocacy Day in recent years and has continued to host regular workshops and community programs. Most recently in 2025, NEMPN has made efforts to meet the next generation of EMPs where they are by exploring new platforms for community engagement and launching a Discord server. Discord is the best place to get involved and stay up to date on what NEMPN is doing now. Click here to join!