9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Off-Site Sessions

Children’s Museum of Maine
Involving Community in Developing Exhibits
Museums are embracing the cultural transformation of their communities and recognizing the need to collaborate with communities to create authentic representations of cultural lifestyles and traditions in their exhibits and programs. This off-site session focuses on the museum’s collaboration with local communities to create and shape the content of its cultural exhibit, We Are Maine. This IMLS-funded exhibit opened in 2006 to showcase Maine’s diversity through the personal stories of 20 local families. Visitors to the exhibit meet families with ties to Africa, Asia, South America, Europe and the Middle East and explore cultural traditions unique to these families. This session takes participants through the step-by-step process of how community and individual family relationships influenced the development of the exhibit’s content. Participants will tour the exhibit and take part in discussions focused on building credible, sustainable relationships that can benefit both museums and communities. The session will also address the challenges inherent in opening museum doors to a variety of communities.
Chair: Sheryl Mays, Education Director, Children’s Museum of Maine
Pre-registration is required, $5 fee. Registration is limited. This session takes place just a short walk from the hotel.

Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. and Museum
Wayfinding Workshop: Improving Your Institution’s “Visitability”
Does Your Institution Suffer From . . . Accessibility Angst? Map Malaise? Wayfinding Woes? Participants will practice recognizing and recording wayfinding, visitor services, and accessibility challenges and barriers. They will be shown how to create a comprehensive “visitability” improvement plan, including ways to sketch facility, signage, and visitor map design concepts. ADA compliance, Universal Design principles, best practices, and the marketing and branding advantages of a welcoming facility will be discussed.
Chair: Dennis O’Brien, Principal, Dennis O’Brien Maps and Wayfinding, CT
Pre-registration is required. Registration is limited. Fee of $7 includes transportation.

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Concurrent Sessions

Beyond “George Washington Slept Here”: New History Trails for Educational Outreach and Community Partnerships
A new generation of historic walking trails is revitalizing the concept of the historic marker. From neighborhood trails in historic black neighborhoods in Washington, DC, to downtown trails in small Maine towns, these projects reach out to involve communities in telling their unique stories. Colored phenolic resin panels employing digital photography make a much livelier presentation than an old-style bronze plaque. This session will explore how a history trail can be developed and built, and the issues that arise for a public history project that is literally a permanent part of the streetscape.
Chair: Peter F. Morelli, Development Director, City of Saco, ME

Make Your Museum Interactive!
Digital technology is changing how large and small museums connect with visitors. Hear from three panelists who implemented cell phones and podcasts to provide audio interpretation in order to make their organizations more interactive, engaging and fun. Panelists will share their personal experiences with implementing these digital technologies—and discuss the strengths and challenges of each. Also hear how these technologies allow for the capture of valuable visitor data as well as personal feedback from the visitors.
Chair: David Asheim, President, Guide by Cell, CA

My Ad is Online but Only 3 Unqualified People Applied! New Realities of Recruiting Professionals
Trustees, directors, and department heads must constantly attract and hire strong professionals in a rapidly changing job market. Today, job postings are all online and fewer candidates see them, often resulting in disappointing fields of applicants. Housing costs, remote locations, salaries, and spouse-jobs add to the challenge. Trends point to new recruiting tools: ListServs, emails, ads that “market,” networking, and pro-active recruiting calls. Panelists will share how they attract top talent—without using search firms.
Chair: Marilyn Hoffman, Executive Search Consultant, Museum Search & Reference, NH

New Pathways for Museum-Based Learning: Case Studies from the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center
Since the fall of 2004, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center has been building innovative partnerships for museum-based learning. Although the audiences and program content for the projects differ, they do have some objectives in common: building staff capacity in developing educational programs, reaching out to new, underserved groups, and using formative evaluation studies to improve the work. Three case studies will be explored, including a 2-year initiative to build an alliance of small tribal museums, an 18-month project to create a summer camp for Pequot youth that links science and cultural wisdom, and another 18-month partnership to involve sixth-graders in authentic, museum-based archaeological research. Stories from each project help to illuminate the challenges and rewards of building such partnerships.
Chair: Nancy Parent, Co-Director for Science Learning and Cultural Wisdom, Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, CT

Planned Gifts – Are You Getting Your Fair Share?
If you think you are doing well with your fund raising program even though you have not mastered planned giving . . . think again. Museum development programs that are not providing donors with every opportunity to make a significant gift, at the right time, for the right purpose, using the gift planning option that is most “right” for them, are simply not receiving their fair share of the philanthropic pie. This session will cover essential start-up activities; how to encourage legacy gift planning; how to determine which planned giving opportunities to focus on, and more.
Chair: Betty Ann Copley Harris, FAHP, President, Copley Harris Company, Inc., MA

So You Have All This “Stuff”—Now What? Writing a Collections Policy
Managing museum collections can be a daunting and often intimidating process. Learn the first steps anyone managing a collection of objects should take in order to work with all types of collections, big and small. Discover the many ways in which this simple document can be a lifesaver to a museum and provide more structure in the ways in which a museum acquires and processes objects. The contents of a collections policy, who might author it, and the process for preparing and approving the policy will be discussed.
Chair: Raney Bench is former Director of Collections for the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium, VT, and works as a Collections Advisor for the American Precision Museum, VT

When a House is Not a Home
What makes a historic house a museum for the 21st century? Typically, these museums tell a story—of a famous (or not so famous) person, family, or historical event. Or, they provide a glimpse of decorative arts and collections. What happens when we view the historic house, itself, as an object—be it architectural, as an abstract historical icon or as a vehicle for social change? Four historic house museums will explore “the house as object.”
Chair: Ellice Gonzalez, Historic Site Administrator, Bryant Homestead, A Property of The Trustees of Reservations, MA

11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions

Breaking Down Walls
This panel discussion brings together an executive director, a curator and a board member to evaluate how museums can create community and act as change agents. What are museums doing to broaden their audiences, both inside and outside the museum? Why is it important to address issues of change within the surrounding community? How can museums and programming break down the walls of old baggage that prevent organizations from successfully working together? This session will provide case studies of small museums that embarked on projects that expanded their leadership role in the community.
Chair: Rachel Desgrosseilliers, Executive Director, Museum L-A, ME

Collaboration in the Museum Community: The Portland History Docent Program
For the past 12 years, a consortium of local historical institutions in Portland has collaborated to conduct a 10-week program to train potential volunteers about Portland history as well as their individual institutions. This panel will address the benefits of collaboration with other institutions in order to combine resources as well as create a positive network in your city’s cultural community. There will be an opportunity for attendees to share their stories of collaboration as well.
Chair: Hadley Schmoyer, Curator, Portland Harbor Museum, ME

The Future of Collecting the Past
What are the trends of 21st-century collecting? Are institutions actively collecting current material culture for its future historical value? Have collecting strategies and policies adapted to new interpretive approaches? Are we all doing strategic, as opposed to reactive, collecting? Are there still attics full of great stuff? Do the AAM’s evolving standards for Collections Plans affect your collecting? Curators of actively collecting historical institutions will share their ideas and experiences; bring your own for discussion.
Chair: Nathan Lipfert, Curator and Library Director, Maine Maritime Museum

Low-Tech Environmental Control: What’s Real, What’s Fantasy, What’s Achievable
This session will examine a wide range of environmental control options that are simple, effective, and inexpensive. Also covered will be measurement methods and parameters, and a brief discussion of funding sources. Participants are encouraged to bring their own problems for discussion; just be sure to gather information on existing environmental conditions (data logging if possible), building construction and condition, and the nature of the ground topography around the building. Digital images are helpful and may be submitted to the chair before November 2 by emailing acc@conservator.com.
Chair: Marc A. Williams, President, American Conservation Consortium, Ltd., CT

Museums Online: Limited Galleries, Unlimited Audience
Museums today, whether large or small, must choose the sort of presence they want on the Web. When museums take on the challenge of creating dynamic websites, these virtual galleries and exhibition spaces extend the definition of what a museum is, what it does, and who ends up there. This session explores the ways in which three institutions have tapped the potential of the Web to make their collections more accessible and to build broader audiences.
Co-Chairs: Amy Jean Porter, Associate Director of Communications, Yale University Art Gallery, CT; Barbara Mathews, Director of the Deerfield Teachers’ Center, Historic Deerfield, MA

Something Old is New Again
This session will look at museums with traditional collections-based exhibits and how they approach reinterpreting their collections while maintaining the historic nature of their collection displays. Often the historic nature of the displays, such as dioramas, is part of their appeal—allowing us to look back into “what made a museum” many years ago. How does a museum preserve the unique tone of collection exhibits, while providing visitors with contemporary and relevant interpretation?
Chair: Sari Boren, Principal, Wondercabinet Interpretive Design, Inc., MA

12:45 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Closing Luncheon and Annual Meeting
Chair: Kent dur Russell, President, New England Museum Association
Network with colleagues over a delicious luncheon and share the latest news. Be among the first to view NEMA’s brand new logo and graphic identity, which will be unveiled at the annual meeting!