Below are the mission statements of two of the most impactful museums of my youth.  I hadn't really revisited them via the web– I was excited to see that there mission statements are in fact very reflective of my experiences.  Both are located Germany.  

The ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe is a contemporary museum that is referred to as the "Electronic or Digital Bauhaus," it was my first full immersion into a space curated specifically out of new media.

The second is quite the opposite the Mechanisher Musikinstremente Museum in Bruchsal, which falls under the umbrella of the Bandische Landesmuseum consortium, the largest consortium in Germany.  The BL's diverse contents span all the way back to 5,000 years, despite this they have a continual effort to "...stress the contemporary art in historical dialogue."  They achieve in various ways with new media approaches and clever curation, such as the Neuenbürg Palace has mixed media plays of fairytales.  

I went to Bruchsal with my mother and father when I was 20.  We had missed target Dali exhibit by a day, so we went in to see the automatons.  Growing up after WWII my father didn't have many relics of his childhood, but those really creepy automatons were bringing him right back.  

ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe

By extending the original duties of a museum, the ZKM | Center for Art and Media has become a cultural institution unique throughout the world. It is a house for all media and genre, a house for both spatially-based arts, such as painting, photography and sculpture as well as time-based arts, such as film, video, media art, music, dance, theater, and performance. ZKM was founded as a museum in 1989 with the mission to perpetuate classic arts in the digital age, which is why it is occasionally referred to as "Electronic or Digital Art Bauhaus," an expression that can be traced back to Heinrich Klotz. Beyond that, ZKM houses institutes and laboratories where scientific research, development, and production is carried out. Alongside the classic guiding principle of a museum, namely, to protect the disappearance of artworks, ZKM has also taken on the task of creating conditions under which works of art arise; for one, by way of guest artists, and for another, by way of the staff members. For this reason, it is called a center and not a museum. 

With the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Media Museum, the Media Library, the Institute for Visual Media, the Institute for Music and Acoustics, and the Laboratory for Antiquated Video Systems, the ZKM has a wide range of possibilities at its disposal for developing interdisciplinary projects and international collaboration. In its work, the ZKM brings together production and research, exhibitions and events, mediation and documentation. ZKM is thereby able to respond adequately to the rapid development of information technology and transformation of social structures. As "Mecca of Media Arts" (Peter Weibel), ZKM deals theoretically and practically with innovations in communication and information technologies, the subsequently unleashed options for art, and the social transformations that are set in motion.

By combining archive and collections, exhibitions and events, research and production, ZKM is able to adequately illustrate art's development in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; no least due to the symposia and other platforms for theoretical discourse between philosophy, science, art, politics, and the economy that accompany its collection, exhibition, and research activities.

Bruchsal 

Our responsibilities
 

• Fulfilling the dual role of a museum
  The museum has a duty both to the objects in its collection and to its visitors and their needs –- hence an understanding of the dual role of a museum. The important tasks carried out by a museum include collecting, active conservation and scientific research — but they also include offering visitor-friendly presentation of objects in permanent and temporary exhibitions, communicating, facilitating and marketing.  
• Collecting, conserving, researching
  Topics of current importance to society are reflected in the activities of our museum. We also stress the importance of contemporary art in historical dialogue, deal with less popular topics and apply ourselves to the everyday history and culture of marginalized groups. As a service provider, the Badisches Landesmuseum values modern marketing methods, intensive public relations and educational programmes. The use of computers and the Internet plays an important role here.  
• Offering a museum adventure
  We see our museum as a place to enjoy and experience, offering the visitor both information and entertainment in unique surroundings. These include elegant rooms for events, good catering services and a wide selection in the museum shop. 

Who do we work for?

In our work, the staff of the Badisches Landesmuseum focuses on the needs of our visitors. In our daily interaction with the public and by means of representative surveys, we learn more about the interests and wishes of our visitors and work to fulfil them.  

• Group-specific programmesWe develop specific programmes and offerings for individuals and groups, for students and teachers, for families, children and seniors, for persons with disabilities, for professional associations and conference attendees.
• Winning over new groups of visitorsIt is our goal to attract new segments of the public to enjoy both the educational and fun aspects of our museum. We want to encourage as many people as possible to visit the museum on a regular basis. To meet these goals we use both tried-and-true as well as innovative cultural information programmes. This includes a varied calendar of cultural events and special theme-based programmes for schools, our annual museum festival, participation in the Karlsruhe Night of the Museums and theatre performances and other events in the museum. 
• Foster direct contact to our visitorsDirect contact with the visitor is maintained by our museum education department, our public relations department and the visitor service office. Those who want more information can consult our experts or our library for art and cultural history, which is open to the public.
  
  After all: The work we do for the upkeep, conservation and targeted expansion of our collections is for the benefit of present and future generations of visitors.

Who do we work with?

We can only do our job successfully by working constructively with different groups of society as well as with public, private, cultural and scientific organisations. This cooperation is based on openness and mutual understanding, allowing us to build lasting partnerships that benefit all sides.

• Lasting partnerships built on openness and mutual understandingOur partners from the world of business are of great importance to us because — just like the Friends of the Museum groups at our different locations –- they make additional projects and activities possible through their patronage and sponsorship of our institution. The Badisches Landesmuseum is active in promoting cooperation at state, national and international levels. 
• Cross-border cooperationWe place great emphasis on our relationships with our neighbouring countries in the upper Rhine region.

How do we work?

At the Badisches Landesmuseum, we employ around 200 employees: archaeologists, historians, art historians, ethnologists, experts in museum education, conservators, technicians, librarians, photographers, graphic designers, experts in PR, marketing and media as well as our maintenance, security, cleaning and administrative staff. Our employees all helped formulate the principles outlined in this mission statement that affirm the spirit of cooperation within the museum.

• Working together to achieve our goalsIn our museum, excellence is rewarded and constructive criticism is allowed; we welcome suggestions for improvement. Our work processes are transparent, and our employees feel validated and affirmed in their functions. In order to work together to meet our goals, we value a professional and considerate style of communication. This makes our work easier by contributing to more motivation and employee satisfaction.
• We never stop learningWe share our experience with our colleagues and the outside world. This especially benefits our trainees within the museum; the Badisches Landesmuseum is a training centre for future museum professionals. We offer all our employees the opportunity to participate in professional continuing education programmes. We successfully do our work and achieve our goals by responsibly using the public monies placed at our disposal. We have increasingly been generating our own funding.