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My latest adventure: Baltimore, Maryland. I had only been to Baltimore once, for a short day trip prior to this visit. This time, I was there with a classmate in graduate school, who is also interested in working in museums. We were only able to volunteer and participate on day one due to our work and school schedules but MAAM certainly gave me more than what I expected.

Vennesa

As a student, the MAAM conference was far less daunting than some other conferences in the field not only because there were many seasonal professionals who were very willing to share their experiences with us “emerging professionals,” there were also multiple networking sessions on day one, including a leadership lunch, and two receptions for emerging museum professionals to meet other conference attendees.

The conference began with a plenary keynote speech by John Durel, an organisational consultant (bio here via Qm2) with over 30 years experience working in and with museums.  During the first round of breakout sessions, my classmate and I helped the MAAM staff with setting up the silent auction. It was an interesting experience and it was great to get a glimpse of the behind-the-scene side of the conference.  We also had an opportunity to network with presenters at the conference and staff members of MAAM during this “quiet time” while other attendees are in session.  As I am organising the 5^th Annual Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium at American University on April 15, 2012, during the weekend of Arts Advocacy Day, I was certainly learning lots and taking notes along the way.

After helping with the Silent Auction, we were invited to join the Leadership Lunch, during which emerging professionals were seated at tables with seasoned professionals in the field. I was very lucky to be seated at a table with Jack Rasmussen, MAAM president and director & curator of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center; Nina Simon of Museum 2.0 (if you don’t follow her blog already, you ought to start) and the executive director of the Museum of Art & History in Santa Cruz; Laurie Baty of the National Capital Radio & TV Museum and Bill Beitel of Case[werks] and a number of other emerging professionals.  We had talking points that we followed loosely and we came out with some great conversations with insider tips, encouragement, advice and stories from experience – not what you would typically get from a networking session at a conference!  Not only we walked away with new friends, mentors and knowledge, we felt motivated and reassured that there is something past this fog of being in graduate school and working as an intern if you keep working hard for what you believe in!

The 2011 Weil Lecture featured Nina Simon, whom I had been a huge fan of but hadn’t met in person.  I won’t go into details because Dana Allen-Greil from National Museum of American History covered it in this blog here.

The last events we were able to go to before our train left were two receptions – one at the hotel where the conference was held, and one at Urbanite@Case[werks] in Baltimore’s Station North Arts District.  Both were fantastic and I had some really great conversations with professionals from the region. I had to leave

I know I will be keeping an eye out for the next MAAM meeting – I have got lots to learn and certainly look forward to more of the creative programming by MAAM. Hope to see you all next year!

Vennesa Yung (@vennesa), born and raised in Hong Kong, is currently working towards her MA in Arts Management at American University in Washington, D.C.  She is the assistant public relations coordinator and social media manager for American University Arts (@AUArtsDC) and a public affairs and marketing intern at Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (@FreerSackler). She also does work in event planning, consulting, marketing strategy (with a focus on online media), and graphic design.