NEMA continues our Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, Inclusion, and Justice work with Arts Consulting International. The NEMA Board and Staff have been working on re-imagining the Missions, Vision, and Values of the association. This past fall we asked members for feedback on a range of value statements – thank you to all who participated and provided us with feedback. The updated value statements will be voted on by the NEMA Board at our Jun 10, 2022 meeting. The Board and Staff will be meeting over the next few weeks to discuss updates to our mission statement and we will share drafts with the membership to ensure we are being responsive and democratic with our power sharing to ensure you all feel ownership of the association's mission.
New NEMA website & database coming soon!
NEMA is currently in the process of moving towards a new integrated website and database system. This will allow members to easily login and find out when your membership expires, in addition to connecting you with one another through community forum pages and members-only content. Our new website will also be mobile friendly and accessible. We look forward to launching these in the coming months. Thank you to the 300+ folks who took the time to complete our membership survey which gives the NEMA staff direction for our new website, programming, and communication!
Are you interested in Serving on NEMA’s Board?
The NEMA Board of Directors is currently recruiting new board members to fill several vacancies. We are seeking diverse candidates with skills and criteria including but not limited to: diversity, equity, access, inclusion, and social justice (DEAIJ) knowledge; environmental sustainability experience; and human resources skill set. We are especially interested in applicants whose current work site is in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Vermont. Early and mid-career professionals are encouraged to apply. Submissions are due by Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Full details and an application form can be found online here.
2022 Conference Update
The NEMA staff are hard at work in getting the details organized for the 2022 NEMA Conference in Springfield, MA. A session reading team has been called together to work through the numerous conference session submissions, many thanks to all who have contributed. We will be in touch about sessions when we have more details.
AAM Boston: NEMA Meet-Up at the AAM Conference
Join NEMA Staff and Board on May 19, 4:30-6:00 pm, for an informal meet-up during the AAM conference in Boston at High Street Place | Food Hall, 100 High St, Boston, MA. RSVP here.
How to Run a Better Meeting: Power Sharing & Creative Solutions for Effective Leadership
After a three-year hiatus, a new series of in-person NEMA leadership workshops is coming this June. Join NEMA Executive Director Dan Yaeger in a highly interactive workshop designed to build your meeting muscle and help your team achieve better results. This workshop is for museum practitioners in all roles and career stages. Space is limited to ten participants per workshop, so save your space right away. Click here for more information.
Meg Winikates Receives Advocacy Leadership Award from AAM
NEMA is proud to announce that the American Alliance of Museums recently presented our Director of Engagement Meg Winikates with an Advocacy Leadership Award during Museums Advocacy Day 2022. Just three of these awards were presented nationally to advocates who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in their advocacy for the museum field. Read more here.
PAG Updates
If you are interested in getting involved as a Professional Affiliation Gathering chair, please get in touch with Meg at meg.winikates@nemanet.org.
Welcome to our new PAG Chairs for Library and Archives, Amy Hietala and Rebecca Morin, and for Membership, Development, PR & Marketing, Genevieve Burgett, for YEPs, Darcy Foster, and for RACCS, Emily Pearce Siegerman.
We are looking for several PAG Chairs:
—LGBTQ+ Museum Staff & Students
—Independent Museum Professionals
—HR & Volunteer Management
—Curators
—Exhibitions
—Children’s Museums
Four PAGs have Facebook groups! Join the Registrars & Collection Care Specialists (RACCS), Library & Archives, the Development, Marketing, PR, Membership, and the LGBTQ+ Museum Staff & Students PAGs online. Don’t forget to follow the NEMA Young and Emerging Professionals page.
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.
Summer 2022: Purpose and Priorities: Reexamining Museum Mission Statements
How have the events of the last few years influenced your organization's priorities? Are shifts in your museum's vision and values reflected in your core documents? Which stakeholders have a voice in updating your mission, vision, or values statement: audience members, staff, board, broader community? What review process are you undertaking, and how are you making it equitable? What buzzwords do you see in museum missions that you wish to banish forever, and why? What steps are you taking to avert mission-drift?
Inquiry deadline (tell us what you're thinking of writing): June 10. Submission deadline: July 1.
Advocacy Updates:
New England Museum Week Wrap Up
In March 2022, NEMA hosted the second ever regional advocacy initiative, concentrating on awareness, celebration, and legislative action in support of New England’s museums and extended cultural community. Each day featured a state-specific “Rev Up!” webinar featuring advocacy tips, state legislative updates from local experts, and time for participants to ask questions and discuss advocacy issues particularly important to them. NEMA also generated and provided resources for participants including 3 Advocacy Camp training webinars, an impact statement toolkit, sample language for letters and social media, shareable graphics, and links to other advocacy resources and statistics. All resources can be found here.
The Rev Up training webinars were well attended and social media engagement for the week included over 90 New England individuals and organizations posting 190 times across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, with almost 3,800 audience interactions (likes, comments, and shares).
Lead a virtual "Town Hall"
Do you have a topic you'd like to discuss with your fellow NEMA members? NEMA is offering the use of our Zoom channel to any members who would like to call together a group to discuss issues arising now for their particular roles. Please contact Meg Winikates at meg.winikates@nemanet.org and Heather A. Riggs at heather.riggs@nemanet.org if you would like to schedule a discussion. If you're interested in hosting a regional happy hour or tea, please reach out to Scarlett Hoey at scarlett.hoey@nemanet.org.
Executive Director Community of Practice
For the past several years, a group of first-time executive directors have met monthly online to share knowledge, inspiration, and support. Known as “EDCoP” (short for executive director community of practice), the program combines peer support and guest speakers to help them do their jobs better. If you’re interested in joining EDCoP or would like to create a NEMA-supported community of practice yourself, contact Dan Yaeger, dan.yaeger@nemanet.org.
NEMA Executive Roundtables
Since 2016, NEMA has offered an executive roundtable program for museum leaders with annual budgets of between $800,000 and $1.4 million. The roundtable is a confidential peer-learning group that improves the institution’s long-term stability and the director’s life. If you would like to discuss the Roundtable, contact Lawrence J. Yerdon (lyerdon@sbmuseum.org) or Dan Yaeger (dan.yaeger@nemanet.org).
NEMA 911
Museum leaders sometimes find themselves in uncharted territory, facing challenging situations for which they are unprepared or uncertain. These can include issues of finance, governance, ethics, facilities, collections, disaster management, personnel, and other concerns under the leadership umbrella. Unfortunately, resources to help them navigate these deep waters successfully can be scarce. Online guidance and books may be helpful, but they are no substitute for a trusted adviser who has the experience, judgment, and contacts to provide wise counsel.
NEMA 911 is a free, confidential service for members connecting museum leaders with helpful colleagues. Drawing upon a pool of volunteers who are senior-level professionals in or nearing retirement, NEMA 911 is a rapid-response resource that helps untangle problems, offer words of wisdom, and suggest pathways toward solutions. For more information on this free service, go to nemanet.org/nema-911.