The buzz among the Houston museum intelligentsia is directed towards May 2011, when the American Association of Museums will be holding its 105th annual conference in the Bayou City. An expected 6,000 museum professionals will descend upon downtown, bringing together the brightest minds from museums around the world to exchange ideas and expertise, showcase museum programs and address the future needs and trends in museums.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston director Peter Marzio provided inside details on the event at the Corporate Community Relations Council's annual meeting in the Upper Brown Pavilion, only hours after Monday night's gentlemen's fundraiser, "One Great Night in November."

"The theme for this conference is 'The Museum of Tomorrow,' and I can't think of any other city in the world where that would be more appropriate," says Marzio, citing Houston's dynamic growth, the city's 40 colleges and universities and that 37-percent of the population is under 24 years of age.

"There's no one group that is dominant, and because of that, it's an ideal laboratory to see what cities will look like 20 or 30 years from now," he adds.

But first, Houston will be making the AAM conference itself into a laboratory, spicing up the status quo by offering public sessions, where locals can sit in and learn all of the museum world's "deep, dark trade secrets."

"The idea, of course, is to try to enlighten the public a little bit more about how museums have such a major impact on the quality of life in the city," Marzio says.

What's more, the annual Orange Show Center for Visionary Art's Art Car Parade has been selected as the opening event for the international expo. The parade typically attracts over 300,000 spectators, placing it among the city's chief sources of pride. In an attempt to break a world record, the organization will be installing an enormously long couch along Allen Parkway for visitors to relax in as they watch the creative vehicles chug along.

As Marzio tells CultureMap, "The idea of museums is to make your life better — we want to convey a little bit of the naughty spirit that makes Houston so enlivening."

The public art intervention doesn't stop there — the storage corporation, PODS, will donate 10 of their units to be outfitted outside the George R. Brown Convention Center, each touting information about the various museums and themes that impact Houston (which happens to have the largest museum district in the nation).

"Our hope is that the PODS can be moved around the city after the convention is over, so that the information continues to have life for the citizens," Marzio says.

The conference team is also heading up a community service project with the Museum of African American Culture that's aiming to involve every conference participant. In all, the AAM will call upon 500 local volunteers to make sure the city's cultural resources stun our guests. All 50 states will be represented at AAM, with 40 countries also sending delegates.