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. As a student, the MAAM conference was far less daunting than some …
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First, Nina Simon’s radical, post-Post Modern, Weil lecture challenged MAAM 2011 attendees to re-think everything they thought they already re-thought. Just when you thought it was safe to start a blog and social media-ify your museum, Simon advocated putting all those Web 2.0 concepts into practice not on the web, but in real life. Thus Simon’s museum embraces a new identity of art-museum-as-community-center, attracting locals to such radical partcipatory activities as sitting on sofas and doing jigsaw puzzles. For the …
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Annual Meeting attendees, Emerging Museum Professionals, and local area colleagues joined together on October 10, 2011, for a lively reception and exhibition featuring artists Ruth Trevarrow and Bob Creamer. The event, held at Urbanite@Case[werks] Gallery, was sponsored by a Host Committee made up of Baltimore area museum professionals and colleagues. A big thanks to: Bill Beitel / Case[werks] Lania D’Agostino / D’Agostino Studios Abby Shaw / Hollinger Metal Edge Linda Gottfried / Sentinel Museum Storage Matt Malaquias / Case[werks] Lynn Marcin …
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This session at the 2010 Annual Meeting provided a look at the inner workings of the Philadelphia science café, Science on Tap (SoT)— a collaborative program facilitated by 5 science museums: American Philosphical Society Museum, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Wagner Free Institute of Science, Academy of Natural Sciences, and Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. My co-presenters were Jenni Drozdek, Assistant Curator of Museum Education, American Philosophical Society Museum, and Victoria Indivero, Production Coordinator, Chemical Heritage Foundation. So what is a science café …
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When I applied for the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Bruce Craig Fellowship, I had just begun planning my move from Iowa to New Jersey to attend graduate school at Seton Hall University. I knew that it could be a good networking occasion, a chance to meet a few other professionals in the area, and familiarize myself with some of the museums. I never guessed that the four days of the conference would be one of the most enriching experiences of …
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Attendees proved to be willing participants in this session-turned-workshop on creating reflective discussion about change in museums. Participants walked into a room of several circles of chairs with white paper and pictures on the walls. Sitting at random, we were given a page of material on a certain topic as far-reaching as New Age knitting circles. The first question each group was asked was: What are the stories people need to hear and how do we know? We were then …
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Wyck is NOT a historical house museum. This was the monumental point of today’s session presented by Eileen Rojas, The Wyck Association; Laura Keim, Curator, The Wyck Association; Donna Ann Harris, Principal, Heritage Consulting Inc.; and Page Talbott, Principal, Remer and Talbott. Though technically Wyck IS a historic house, the staff have undertaken an initiative to utilize creative, participatory, and dynamic but still historically accurate interpretation. Instead of creating simple period rooms the museum is hoping to portray 300 years of history …
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Thanks to the nearly 300 attendees who joined MAAM for the 2010 Annual Meeting! Be sure to share your thoughts on the meeting with us in the comments section below and we look forward to seeing you next year in Baltimore! Share
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Mission: to promote the historical significance of the afterlife If you haven’t visited the Museum of the Macabre, it is worth the trip; not only is it interesting but easy to get to and free. You see, it only exists online and the interesting thing about this museum, beyond it’s unique theme, is that it was created with absolutely no budget. Today the founders of the Museum of the Macabre gave a presentation about the Web tools they used to …
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More than ever historic houses are struggling to sustain and be relevant to their surrounding communities. Three case studies presented by museum experts are examples of thinking outside the box and generating unique ideas in order to keep these wonderful pieces of history open to the public. Historic houses attempting to maintain a relevant place in the 21st century was the topic of discussion in this session presented by: Nancy Moses, Nancy Moses Planning and Development Sarah DiSantis, Executive Director, …
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