The top of the calendar year means we turn to field-wide advocacy messages and policy priorities. We are pleased to share ASTC’s 2026 Advocacy Messages and Policy Asks.
Developed in partnership with the scientific and cultural coalitions to which we belong, informed by member insights, and shaped by messaging that continues to resonate at the local, state, and national levels, these messages reflect shared priorities across our field. They are designed to support the most powerful advocacy tools we have: the real-world stories of impact from science centers and museums serving their communities.
Why Field-Wide Messages Matter
Effective advocacy is rooted in storytelling. Your institution’s experiences, programs, and community relationships are what bring policy priorities to life for decision-makers. ASTC’s field-wide messages and policy asks provide shared language and structure to help elevate those stories and connect them to concrete requests of policymakers at the local, state, and national levels.
Used together, impact stories, data, and policy asks strengthen our collective voice and reinforce the essential role science centers and museums play in advancing public priorities.
Key Advocacy Messages for 2026
Science, technology, and innovation are core to America’s past, present, and future—and science centers and museums are where the public engages with them.
From our nation’s founding to today’s rapidly evolving, technology-enabled society, scientific discovery and innovation have driven American prosperity and global competitiveness. Science centers, children’s museums, and other science and technology museums are trusted civic institutions that help people of all ages understand, experience, and participate in science and innovation. For decades and centuries, they have worked to preserve and tell America’s innovation story while continuing to be at the forefront of preparing current and future generations to navigate, and shape, what comes next.
Science centers and museums prepare future talent and fuel economic development.
Economic growth, job creation, and long-term competitiveness depend on a talent pool that understands emerging technologies and has the skills needed for jobs of the future. Museums provide accessible, hands-on learning that builds skills, curiosity, and confidence—particularly outside the classroom, where most lifelong learning occurs. Investing in museums is an investment in the talent pipeline, regional economic resilience, and American competitiveness.
Museums are trusted spaces for learning, dialogue, and community connection.
In an era of rapid technological change, misinformation, and declining trust in many institutions, science centers and museums remain among the most trusted sources of information across the political spectrum. They create welcoming spaces for self-directed exploration, civil dialogue, and social learning, bringing together people of different ages, backgrounds, and viewpoints in communities across every state, in urban and rural settings alike.
Congressional Asks for FY27
Ensure museums are eligible partners in new and evolving federal initiatives.
As Congress and federal agencies develop or expand programs related to emerging technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence), STEM education, and workforce development (whether housed at NSF, DOE, DOL, or other agencies) legislation and guidance should explicitly include museums, science centers, and other informal learning organizations as eligible entities.
NOTE: direct policy asks on this topic will emerge throughout the year as legislation is proposed and new programs are developed—we also encourage members to adapt this ask to ensure your institutions are a part of the new programs and initiatives being developed in your state
If additional STEM or workforce funds are directed to states through formula or block-grant mechanisms, Congress should require states to make portions of those funds available to museums and other community-based learning partners that strengthen the broader education and talent development ecosystem.
Through our advocacy engagements, ASTC will support member organizations in identifying local- and state-specific policy asks that will best support their efforts.
Continue robust funding for federal agencies and programs that support museums, STEM learning, and public engagement with science, which includes:
Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Bills:
- National Science Foundation (NSF) – Directorate for STEM Education: $1.172 billion (FY24 enacted, higher than FY26 minibus proposal)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – Office of STEM Engagement: $143 million (including support for Science Activation) (maintains minibus which maintains FY24+ levels)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – Office of Education: $35 million (maintains minibus which maintains FY24+ levels)
Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (Labor-HHS-Education) Appropriations Bills
- Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) – Office of Museum Services: $55.5 million (FY25 levels)
- Department of Education– 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC): $1.329 billion (FY25 levels)
Protect congressional intent and timely use of appropriated funds
Members of Congress should use their oversight authority to ensure that agencies are spending the FY26 appropriated funds in accordance to the statutory requirements.
Include clear legislative direction that agencies must obligate and expend funds as appropriated, ensuring that congressionally approved investments reach communities as intended.
Enlist science centers and museums as partners in advancing public priorities and agency missions.
Science centers and museums work in partnership with federal, state, and local agencies to engage the public with science, support learning and strengthen STEM talent pathways, and help communities adapt to economic and technological transitions. As new public investments are made in emerging technologies, education, and workforce systems, museums are well positioned to help achieve these goals.
Public-private partnerships and cooperative agreements between government agencies and science museums can be used to support everything from:
- Strengthening county- or state-wide STEM talent pathways through hands-on learning, curriculum development, and educator training
- Enhancing public communication and education on critical government priorities like health, infrastructure, resilience, and more
- Gathering public input and creating deliberative forums to inform policy on science and technology issues from AI and energy to food and transportation, and even how NASA deploys limited resources to keep humanity safe from asteroids.
Staying Engaged: Advocacy Opportunities in 2026
To support your work in advocacy and help incorporate these core messages and policy asks throughout the year, ASTC will host a regular series of webinars, online workshops, and virtual office hours focused on advocacy and casemaking. These sessions will offer opportunities to connect with peers across the field, hear from leaders in national policy and state and local advocacy, ask questions of experts and colleagues about the current advocacy landscape and your institution’s specific context, and explore the Advocacy Foundations Toolkit through lightly guided exercises.
As part of this series, we invite you to join an upcoming Impact Storytelling Workshop on February 19, 2026 at 1pm ET, focused on helping participants translate their institution’s real-world impact into compelling advocacy narratives that align with field-wide priorities, relevant data, and concrete policy asks. You can register for that event here: https://www.astc.org/conference-event/astc-advocacy-impact-storytelling-workshop/
To remain up to date on more advocacy opportunities and other ASTC events, please bookmark https://www.astc.org/events/ and be on the lookout for upcoming programs throughout the year.