|
Contact Information: Click on name for email address
Mailing Address: Emeryville, CA 94662
Office Location:
Phone: (510) 665-0700
Interim Executive Director
Publications and Media Manager
|
WMA STAFF
ELIDA ZELAYA
Elida has been active in the museum field for more than a decade. Before joining the WMA staff, she served on the WMA Board of Directors as the Committee on Audience Research and Evaluation (CARE) representative. As the board Publications Chair, she worked closely with staff and guest editors on the Westmuse newsletter. Her professional experience includes working with many types of museums and across departments with particular emphasis on education programming encompassing program development, managing volunteers, and working directly with the public through tours and special presentations. A consultant with LORD Cultural Resources from 1999 to 2005, Elida worked on management and facility projects in the West. Her background also includes positions at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum (Museum Teacher), San Diego Museum of Man (Manager of the Children's Discovery Center), and the Tallac Historic Site, South Lake Tahoe (Museum Director/Curator Intern), among others. Elida earned an M.A. in museum studies from John F. Kennedy University, and a B.A. in classical civilizations (minors in art history and geology) from the University of California, Davis. An avid SCUBA diver and caver, she loves to venture into the deep, dark depths offered along the California coast and Sierra foothills. Elida notes, "I'm really looking forward to continuing our tradition of exceptional annual meetings and an enriching member experience. WMA provides the opportunity for members to share and to learn about best practices from our outstanding colleagues in the west and beyond."
VALERIE
HUACO
From 1990 to 1997, she was Assistant, and then Associate Registrar of the Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA, where she managed volunteers, docents and temporary staff, supervised gallery installation, provided conservation advice and coordination, as well as couriering a 176-object loan to and from Berlin. During this period (1993-1995) she was also a part-time conservation technician at the Oakland Museum of California, where she conducted collections surveys, re-housed ethnographic materials under an National Endowment for the Humanities grant, administered smoke damage mitigation to art collections, and provided the conservation treatment of objects for four exhibitions. She also consulted for the Mexican Museum, San Francisco, on an National Endowment for the Arts conservation treatment grant, and conducted treatment on historic upholstery for the California Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. In 1989 and 1990, Valerie taught art at the Rose Resnick Center for the Blind and Handicapped, was an assistant in the art studio of Gail Luchessa, and taught workshops on hand made paper with Nance O'Banion. Valerie has an M.A. in Museum Studies from John F. Kennedy University and a B.F.A. in textiles from the California College of Arts and Crafts. She pursued Liberal Arts studies at Reed College and the University of California, Berkeley. Valerie consulted on the design and development of the history museum in the new El Cerrito High School Building in El Cerrito, Ca. She has been the featured speaker for Turning Point Career Center on "Careers in a Museum," served on hiring/search committees for the Department of Museum Studies at John F. Kennedy University and the Judah L. Magnes Museum, was a contributing author in the 1992 Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition Catalog of the Judah L. Magnes Museum. Valerie serves as the secretary of the Kensington School Site Council and has been active in numerous West Contra Costa Unified School District public decision-making processes. Her artwork has been in several exhibitions on both coasts. She is a trained Rape Crisis Counselor and skilled residential carpenter. Valerie lives in Kensington, California with her husband and two sons, 10 and 12. |
Elida has been
the WMA Program and Membership Director since 2005. In this role she has
improved and personalized corporate membership, and increased vendor
participation in the annual conference exhibit hall. Elida has been a key member
of the conference program committee for the last three years, championing member
participation through round-table sessions and forums. 
Valerie
Huaco has been the publication and media manager of the Western Museums
Association since 1998. She designed and provides content for the
web site,