Post-Conference Update

Earlier this week, I attended the Association of Midwest Museums/Visitor Studies Association conference in Chicago. It's rare for two museum conferences to be in the same city so it was an amazing experience, with many opportunities. Some of the best minds in the museum field were in attendance, including John Falk and Beverly Serrell, though neither presented.

To save a little money, I volunteered with AMM by assisting with tote bag stuffing (classic conference swag) and check-ins. Volunteering also provided great networking opportunities. Not only did I meet fellow museum studies grads, but I also was able to talk to other volunteers informally about their work and institutions. These short conversations were highly informative and gave me a better perspective on the overall situation in museums. Most are still short-staffed and underfunded, which does not bode well for those of us looking for jobs.

The sessions were also excellent. It's great to hear fellow museum professionals' perspectives, even if you disagree or don't have the resources to implement their ideas yet. The sessions were actually reminiscent of my museum studies courses, though with a more practical slant. Every session I attended was relevant to my interests or provided a new idea or way of thinking about things. It was very easy to find sessions that were useful to me because the AMM provided different "tracks" in their program for attendees to pick and choose sessions - tracks like education, volunteers, exhibits, etc.

As this was my first museum conference, I learned quite a bit about how to effectively use my time and make new connections. I'm not sure I did as much as I could this time around (unfortunately, I had a family emergency), but next time I will certainly have a plan. Here are some tips and tricks to museum conferences:

1. Bring business cards - Everyone trades cards at conferences so be sure to have one. If you don't have any yet, you can easily order some or make them yourself.
2. Have a resume on hand - You may or may not use it, but it's good to have at least one. You might meet someone in a session that is hiring for something you want to do!
3. Go to sessions that interest you - Even if you're there for your institution, be sure to go to at least one session that applies directly to you. You'll enjoy the conference that much more and you might run into someone who has a job opening in that area.

I hope this information is helpful to anyone going to a conference in the future. My next post will be on some ideas I'm throwing around for writing a paper or presenting at a conference.

Nonprofit Mergers

It happens in for-profit business all the time, but is something of a novelty in the nonprofit world - mergers. A recent link in the Center for the Future of Museum's weekly newsletter, which I highly recommend subscribing to, revealed the trend of mergers in nonprofits, including museums. Due the economy (and really what isn't anymore?), nonprofits are still looking for ways just to stay afloat. Smaller museums merging with larger, more stable museums could be a way to keep the doors open.

Recently the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, an affiliate of the Smithsonian, merged with the Meadowcroft Museum, the George Westinghouse Museum and the Fort Pitt Museum. The Fort Pitt Museum reports a dramatic increase in attendance from the merger. It's easy to see how the influence of a larger museum, that has higher attendance, could reach out to its current visitors and increase the visitation at an affiliated museum.

Besides the obvious financial benefit, another benefit might include the ability to share staff. While one museum might be able to afford a conservator, another museum might not be able to, but with a merger, the museums might be able to share that conservator and even be able to hire an assistant. Another benefit would be the easy loaning of objects for exhibits. The museums might also be better prepared to plan exhibits that work in conjunction with each museum, creating a cohesive visitor experience.

The list of benefits of merging with another museum could go on and on. But what about merging with non-museum nonprofits? Would this be an effective partnership? Museums already often work with different nonprofits on exhibits, educational programming and sometimes fundraising, but a merger would be a much bigger step.

Can you think of any current museum/nonprofit mergers? What would be the ideal partnership?

The Cost of Doing Business

I am lucky enough to live in a city where five large cultural institutions are supported by tax-payer dollars, which means that most of these institutions charge no admission. However, many museums must charge at least a small, if not cost-prohibitive to some, fee. Without some sort of fee, many museums would be unable to preserve artifacts and offer educational programming. Many would not even be able to keep their doors open.

Anyone in the museum profession will tell you that it's expensive to keep a museum running. Just keeping the power on can be costly to smaller institutions. Preservation, storage and management of collections, at the heart of many art and history museums, can be a challenge to fund. Then there's also educational programs, public programs, group tours, etc, that all cost something to provide. And there's always something else we wish we could do, if we had the money.

The public seems to mainly object to two things: staff salaries and high admission prices at institutions that receive or have received public funding. Neither objection is unreasonable, though much of the public does not know where museum money goes because most of the information is usually not available. Perhaps if a budget displaying where the money goes was shown next to how much it costs to get in, the public would at least have the opportunity to understand how the money is used.