Centennial Appeal
How will you shape the future of the museum field? In April 1919, Delia Isabel Griffin shaped the future of the field by convening the first “New England Conference” -- the catalyst for the New England Museum Association. NEMA is the regional hub for inspiring and connecting people engaged with the museum field, but we need your help to support the next century of museum progress! Give today to support the future of the field and provide museum professionals with a community they can always call home.
2019 Publication Awards Competition For Print and Digital Publishing
You’re passionate about your work and we’re passionate about it too. Submit your publications for a chance to get recognized in the New England museum field! You can now enter your most creative, inventive, or polished museum publication, in print or digital form, to the 2019 NEMA Publication Awards. We have extended the deadline to April 19, 2019! Click here for complete details.
Museum advocates outside of Senator Elizabeth Warren's office.
Wrap up from Advocacy Day
On February 24-26, 2019, NEMA's Dan Yaeger and Meg Winikates, as well as board members Dawn Salerno and Doug Perkins, PAG chair Laurie Lamarre, and former board member Susan Funk, attended the eleventh Museums Advocacy Day in Washington DC. Approximately 300 advocates held meetings with their elected representatives and staff members on Capitol Hill, thanking members for the recent reauthorization of IMLS, and asking for robust funding for the Office of Museum Services, expansion of the charitable giving deduction for those who choose standard deduction on their taxes, and many other related issues on education and STEM topics. NEMA also hosted an informal dinner meetup on Monday after the training sessions, with 14 attendees.
Advocacy at Home: State House Days
This February and March, NEMA was pleased to collaborate with Maine Archives and Museums and MassCreative in the planning of two State House advocacy days. As an event partner, NEMA lead advocacy training sessions for Maine Museums Day in Augusta.
101st NEMA Annual Conference Update
In February, the NEMA staff along with museum professionals from the Burlington, VT area met at ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain to begin planning for the 101st NEMA conference. The group discussed preliminary plans for conference sessions and events.
We received a total of 119 session proposals for the 2019 Annual Conference, What’s in it for me?, November 6-8 in Burlington, VT. This equals last year as the highest amount we have ever received. The program committee will meet at the Paul Revere House in the first week of April to review the proposals, and then Dan and Meg will work to finalize the schedule.
NEMA Stats: A Monthly Museum Attendance Report
In February, NEMA released the NEMA Stats: A Monthly Museum Attendance Report Annual Report to participants of the program. In 2018, overall attendance stayed steady compared to 2017 with a slight increase of .2%. Northwest Boston saw an increase of 16.4% in overall attendance compared to 2017. Cape Cod and the Islands saw the largest decrease of 11.4% in overall attendance compared to 2017. Out of the 123 sites participating in 2018, 65 (52.8%) saw an increase in attendance from 2017. Of the 121 sites with comparable data from 2018 to 2016, 52.9% saw an increase in attendance in 2018 compared to 2017. 53.7% saw an increase in attendance in 2017 compared to 2016.
2019 NEMA Workshop Series
Our spring/summer workshop season has officially started. NEMA has a special volume discount for members only. Sign up for at least three full day workshops and you'll receive a 20% discount off the member rate. And NEMA institutional members who send at least five employees or trustees to full day workshops also receive a 20% discount.
Stay tuned to the NEMA website for upcoming workshops. Thank you to our PAG chairs for all of the work they do in creating the workshop series.
April 30, 2019
Going Out to Welcome In: Authentic Community Engagement through Outreach
Providence Children's Museum
May 2, 2019
Gone Solo: (Re)shaping Your Museum Career
Dowling Hall, Tufts University
Presented by the IMP & YEP PAGs
May 10, 2019
Finding Your Way through Interpretive Planning
The House of Seven Gables, Salem
Presented by the Historic Sites PAG
June 13, 2019
Proving a Rumor Wrong: How One Historic House Museum Expanded Both Footprint and Program Despite Predictions of Extinction
Old Sturbridge Village
Presented by the Conservators PAG
Professional Affinity Group Updates
Are you a curator? Take a minute to fill out a quick survey that will help shape what the Curators PAG offers in the future!
Are you interested in being a PAG Chair? We are currently looking for chairs for the Library and Archives, Natural History & Science, and the College and University Museums PAGs. Contact Meg Winikates at meg.winikates@nemanet.org for complete details.
Since they are stepping down from their role as PAG chairs, we would like to thank Elizabeth Roscio, Kate Monea, Helen Riegle, and Dan Wallis for their service to NEMA and the field.
Lunch with NEMA
We continue our popular Lunch with NEMA series, a FREE monthly conversation from noon - 1 p.m. on the last Wednesday of each month. Each month will highlight a different discussion topic. If you have a topic or would like to present in 2019 at a Lunch with NEMA please contact Meg Winikates at meg.winikates@nemanet.org.
Museum Admission Program
We are currently reviewing our Museum Admission Program, our collegial initiative in which NEMA institutional members offer free or reduced admission to other NEMA members as a professional courtesy. Update or add your museum listing online here.
Call for Articles
Have a great idea for an article for New England Museums Now? Museums Now is the professional journal for the voices of museum professionals across the geography, genres, and job descriptions present in our field, and we want your voice to be represented! Submissions for articles are accepted on a rolling basis. Though Museums Now issues each focus on a particular theme relevant to our field, we welcome articles on all museum topics. Your submission is not required to fit a theme for an upcoming issue. For complete details about submitting an article, click here.
NEMA First-Time Executive Directors Community of Practice
NEMA recently launched a pilot program for first-time executive directors. The ED Community of Practice (EdCop) will provide on-going, facilitated peer learning and support to enhance their careers and museum effectiveness. A community of practice is a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. Facilitated by Dan Yaeger and supported by senior-level museum professionals from around the country, the community of practice will help develop skills and solve problems of the participants. For more information contact Dan at dan.yaeger@nemanet.org.
NEMA Executive Roundtable
The roundtable is a confidential peer-learning group that improves the institution's long-term sustainability and the director's life. In the fall of 2018, Mary Case retired and Larry Yerdon, President, Strawbery Banke, agreed to lead the roundtable. If you'd like to explore participation, please contact Larry Yerdon, lyerdon@sbmuseum.org.