A Fond Farewell
We are sad to announce that BJ Larson will be stepping down as Deputy Director at the end of August after 13 years. Many of you know her from walk in registration, aka the “Charlie Brown booth,” at conference. We appreciate everything that she has done for NEMA and the museum field during her time at NEMA. She will be dearly missed by all of us. We wish her well on her upcoming move to Florida!
NEMA is Hiring!
Wanted: a new player in a new position on the NEMA team! Your assignment: build our base of almost 3,000 members and take charge of revenue-generation initiatives to strengthen the country’s largest regional museum association. Reporting to the Executive Director in our Arlington, MA, office, the Manager of Membership & Development oversees outreach to prospective NEMA members from the museum community and engagement with the various categories of NEMA members including institutional, institutional affiliate, individual, academic, and business members. The Manager also builds NEMA’s development and revenue-generation capacity. Click here for complete details.
Staff Updates
Our current Membership and Advocacy Manager, Meg Winikates, will be transitioning into Director of Engagement this fall. Meg will be in charge of planning NEMA’s spring workshops and conference along with her continued advocacy work. Heather A Riggs will continue to be in charge of NEMA communications and day-to-day operations as the new Director of Administration.
2017 Conference Updates
Truth and Trust: Museum in a Polarized Society
October 25-27, 2017
Falmouth, Massachusetts
How do museums present the truth? And whose truth do they present? This year’s keynote session includes a blue-ribbon panel that tackles these and other tough questions in a fast-paced, interactive format with plenty of audience participation. Participants include Edith Tonelli, Cape Cod Museum of Art; Morgan Grefe, Rhode Island Historical Society; Phelan Fretz, ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain; Loren Spears, Tomaquag Museum. Moderated by Marita Rivero, Executive Director, Museum of African American History, Boston/Nantucket.
The keynote presentation will be held Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at the Sea Crest Hotel in Falmouth, MA.
Excellence Awards
NEMA is proud to honor our colleagues' extraordinary effort and commitment to the New England museum community. Help us recognize their achievements by nominating someone you admire for the 2017 NEMA Excellence Awards. Nominations for an Excellence Award - for yourself or someone you know - are due August 25. Award winners will be recognized at the NEMA Annual Meeting on October 27 at the Sea Crest in Falmouth, MA. For more information, click here.
2017 National Museum Salary Survey
NEMA, in collaboration with the American Alliance of Museums and the country's regional museum associations and several state associations, is proud to announce the publication of the 2017 National Museum Salary Survey, the only comprehensive study of its kind for our diverse field. Museum professionals at all stages of their careers have demanded such a survey and we are confident this document will prove valuable for everyone. It includes detailed analysis of 52 different museum positions in a broad range of categories, both museum-related and individual. NEMA members receive the AAM member rate of $60. Please call the NEMA office at 781-641-0013 or email heather.riggs@nemanet.org to request the discount code. Smaller “snapshot” reports for specific staffing categories are available for $20 each.
Thank you to everyone who participated in NEMAppeal 2017. As of July 12, we have raised $6,555. This will allow us to continue our work on behalf of the New England museum field and provide scholarships to our 2017 conference in Falmouth, Massachusetts, which will encourage the participation of diverse individuals and those new to the field or to NEMA.
PAG Workshops - Thank You
NEMA wishes to take this opportunity to thank our Professional Affinity Group Chairs for an exceptional spring and summer workshop series. This year the PAG chairs planned and conducted nine workshops, scheduled between April 24 and September 8. In addition to recognizing our PAG chairs, NEMA would like to thank the many institutional members that graciously offered their facilities as sites for the workshops, bringing museum professionals together for networking and professional development.
NEMA would like to extend a warm goodbye and heartfelt thank you to PAG Chairs Rebecca Parmer, Librarian Special Collections and Archives at Connecticut College, Linda Marshall, Executive Director at the Nichols House Museum, Monika D Bernotas, Associate at ConsultEcon, Inc., Adrienne Turnbull-Reilly, Program Assistant at the Paul Revere House, and Alli Rico for their years of service. We truly appreciate the time and expertise that they have given to NEMA and to the region’s museum community.
Are you interested in becoming a PAG Chair? We are currently seeking co-chairs for the following PAGs: Library and Archives, Registrars, Historic Sites, and the Young and Emerging Museum Professionals. If you are interested, contact the NEMA office for full details.
Leadership Workshops
NEMA Executive Director Dan Yaeger has been on the road facilitating this summer's leadership workshop series Plan the Work, Work the Plan: Strategic Success for Museum Leaders. More than 100 people have signed up for one of six workshops, held throughout New England, designed for museum CEOs, senior staff, and board members, with the purpose of assessing best practices in museum strategic planning and creating a culture of strategic teamwork between the CEO and board. Many thanks to the museums hosting the workshops: Hill-Stead Museum, International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum, The Monadnock Center, Clark Art Institute, Gore Place, and the Maine Historical Society.
NEMA/QM2 Executive Roundtables
Last fall NEMA teamed up with Mary Case of QM2 to begin an executive roundtable inviting leaders of museums with annual budgets between $800,000 and $1.4 million. The roundtable is a confidential peer-learning group that improves the institution's long-term sustainability and the director's life. If you'd like to explore participation, please contact Mary Case, marycase@qm2.org.
Publication Award Winners
NEMA is pleased to announce the winners of this year's annual Publication Awards. Judging was especially challenging and exciting this year, with over 218 entries from 69 museums in 12 categories. The Publication Awards honor excellence in design, publication, and communication in the world of print and digital museum publishing. Click here to read about the judging and a list of the winning entries.
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.