The Western Museums Association's (WMA) Annual Meeting is as a premier venue for those who work in the museum industry to exchange ideas and best practices, network with colleagues, and learn from each other by attending valuable sessions. Attendees from across the Western US and beyond, come together over the course of four days and leave feeling inspired and energized about their profession and the future of the field.
Please review the FAQs below for more information.
Dates & Location • Rates & Registration
Scholarships & Volunteers • Programming
Exhibitors, Sponsors, & Advertisers
Online registration for WMA 2025 opens in June!
WMA members receive a discounted rate!
Click HERE to become a WMA Member
DATES & LOCATION
What are the dates and location of WMA's 2025 Annual Meeting?
What is the headquarters hotel & location for WMA's 2025 Annual Meeting?
The Annual Meeting sessions and activities will take place at the Renaissance Reno Downtown Hotel and across the street at the National Automobile Museum, with Pre-Conference Tours and Evening Events hosted at cultural institutions around Reno. WMA Annual Meetings are all about connecting with colleagues, sharing ideas, and having fun. We help facilitate these by contracting with a hotel for a discounted room block and centralizing meeting spaces - both of which require minimum financial thresholds to be met.
Staying in the headquarters hotel makes connecting with colleagues easier and helps us keep the Annual Meeting affordable to attendees. Online reservations will open in June and will be available through August 22, at a discounted rate of $199/night.
RATES & REGISTRATION
When will registration open?
Online registration for WMA's 2025 Annual Meeting is NOW OPEN! Please visit our Registration Information page to learn more and register.
Is there Early Bird Registration? When does it end?
Yes, a special discounted rate is available for WMA and Nevada Museums Association members. The Early Bird Member registration rate goes through Friday, August 15, 2025. Not a WMA Member? Join now!
What are registration options & rates for WMA 2025?
Full Meeting
Full Meeting (4-day) registration includes access to all sessions, networking activities, and some free events. You may choose to purchase tickets for additional add-ons: Pre-Conference Tours and Workshops; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Evening Events; Affinity Luncheons; and Receptions. All add-ons are reserved for Annual Meeting attendees, and do require pre-registration. Registered attendees are able to purchase extra tickets for some events for non-attendees.
Member Early Bird Rate ..... $400
Member Regular Rate ..... $450
Non-Member Rate (Includes WMA membership) ..... $520
Student Rate ..... $250
Single Day
Single Day (1-day) registration includes access to all sessions, networking activities, and any free events happening only on that day. You may choose to purchase tickets for additional add-ons (not limited to your single-day selection): Pre-Conference Tours and Workshops; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Evening Events; Affinity Luncheons; and Receptions. All add-ons are reserved for Annual Meeting attendees, and do require pre-registration.
General Rate ..... $230
Are there discounts available?
The 2025 Early Bird Member registration rate ends on Friday, August 1st. Not a WMA member? Join now!
Applications for 2025 Scholarships will open in April (deadline: June 20)
Volunteering is a great opportunity to receive a discount – in exchange for hours work, volunteers can attend an equal number of hours of non-ticketed Annual Meeting events and sessions. More information about volunteering will be announced in early August.
Please contact wma@westmuse.org for Presenter Rate information
What is the cancellation / refund policy for WMA 2025?
Cancellations made in writing on or before September 5, 2025 will be refunded, minus a $100.00 processing fee. Cancellations after September 5, 2025, will not be refunded. No-shows will not be refunded. Please contact WMA for further information or if you have any questions.
How can I justify my attendance to WMA 2025?
WMA offers a Justification Toolkit - a free resource to help you demonstrate the rewards of the investment of your attendance to your supervisors or organization. By verbalizing the numbers of new skills you will learn, the networking opportunities that will be available, and the ultimate benefits attendees bring back to their organizations, you can strengthen your case for receiving support. Please view our Justification Toolkit here.
Are families and children welcome at the Annual Meeting?
Yes! To increase accessibility for museum professionals with families, WMA has a child friendly atmosphere. We have partnered with The Discovery - Nevada's largest hands-on science center. The museum is 3 block away from the HQ hotel and will provide free admission to attendees, caregivers, and children during the Annual Meeting. If an attendee is traveling with an additional caregiver, the caregiver will be given a “family badge” at no charge to access meeting spaces and The Discovery. Please RSVP per child during registration.
SCHOLARSHIPS & VOLUNTEERS
Are scholarships available for WMA 2025?
The Wanda Chin Scholarship helps to make attendance at the Annual Meeting financially accessible to individuals who might otherwise not be able to attend. Funded through an annual silent auction and donations, the Wanda Chin Professional Development Program is a vital component of the WMA mission and allows WMA to create opportunities for its constituents to build skill-sets to better serve their communities. Applications for 2025 Scholarships opened in April and close on June 22nd.
Can I donate to support scholarships?
Yes! By donating to the Wanda Chin Scholarship Fund, you will help to subsidize participation in WMA's Annual Meeting for professionals who might not otherwise be able to attend. The Annual Meeting is an opportunity for everyone to network with colleagues, learn best practices, and gain new skillsets that can be applied within their own institutions and local communities.
There are two ways to donate and make an impact:
- Donate to the Wanda Chin Scholarship Fund by clicking here. Choose the amount you wish to donate and specify that your donation is for the 'Wanda Chin Scholarship' in the comments section
- Support the Wanda Chin Scholarship Program by bidding on items in the Annual Meeting's Silent Auction. Proceeds directly fund this program
Can I Volunteer at WMA 2025? What are the benefits?
Yes! WMA seeks enthusiastic volunteers to assist WMA staff with a variety of roles at the Annual Meeting. In exchange for hours work, volunteers can attend an equal number of hours of non-ticketed Annual Meeting events and sessions. Volunteers must work for time periods equal to a minimum of 4 hours; this can be broken up into two 2-hour shifts or one 4-hour shift. Volunteer opportunities will be announced this August.
PROGRAMMING
What is the theme of WMA 2025?
With the theme of ELEVATE, WMA attendees will celebrate our 90th anniversary, uplifting one another to improve our individual and institutional practices, creating space for essential ideas and conversations. Through our shared identities and unique differences, WMA 2025 will be a testament to the strength and dedication of cultural professionals and their organizations in the face of adversity. In Reno, attendees will explore ideas that will help define the future of museums and the diverse communities they serve. Beyond outcomes, WMA 2025 will encourage museum professionals to celebrate the process of collaborating with others. Coming together to find common ground, we look to ELEVATE our collective work and adapt to meet the needs of today’s audiences.
What sessions, events, and networking opportunities will WMA 2025 feature?
With over 40 sessions, 1 General Session and Keynote, 4 Evening Events, Pre-Conference Tours and Workshops, and many new opportunities to share content with colleagues and make in-person connections, #WMA2025 will be a fun and creative gathering of museum folk. For more details on the Annual Meeting sessions, events, and networking opportunities. For more details on the Annual Meeting sessions, events, and networking opportunities, look for the Preliminary Program to be available in June.
Who is WMA's 2025 Keynote Speaker?
WMA is happy to announce our 2025 Keynote Speaker Dr. Kirsten Pai Buick!
Kirsten Pai Buick is Professor of Art History and Chair of Africana Studies at the University of New Mexico. She specializes in American art, focusing her research on African-American art, the impact of race and gender on the history of art, representations of the American landscape, and the history of women as patrons and collectors of the arts. Ultimately, teaching is her passion; and she tells her students that job #1 is surviving the damage, and job #2 is to never concede the center.
Buick received her Ph.D. in art history from the University of Michigan and was a Smithsonian American Art Museum Predoctoral Fellow and a Charles Gaius Bolin Fellow at Williams College. She is also a recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize for African American Art. Buick has published extensively on African-American art. Her book Child of the Fire: Mary Edmonia Lewis and the Problem of Art History’s Black and Indian Subject was published by Duke University Press, and her second book, In Authenticity: ‘Kara Walker’ and the Eidetics of Racism, is currently in progress
Who is speaking at WMA's various luncheons?
There will be one WMA Community Lunch as well as four Affinity Luncheons.
The WMA Community Lunch will be a celebration of WMA’s 90 years of gathering museum professionals to better our field with a special love letter to WMA by our Board President, Noelle Kahanu, Acting Director, Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program, University of Hawaii, Manoa. Sponsored by DLR Group.
The Affinity Luncheons:
- Indigenous Luncheon
- Enjoy meeting your colleagues from tribal museums and supporters of Native American concerns. All are welcome! The Luncheon will feature guest speaker Joshua Bonde, Executive Director, Stewart Indian School Cultural Center & Museum. Discussion will follow. Sponsored by Barona Band of Mission Indians.
- Stortellers and Supporters Luncheon
- Especially for curators, development officers, educators, evaluators, exhibit designers, and all who make possible the engaging stories that museums tell, but open to all. The recipient of the Charles Redd Award for exhibit excellence will present on the winning exhibition.
- Registrar's Committee Western Region Luncheon
- Open to RCWR members, collections professionals, and related vendors. Underwritten by Registrar's Committee Western Region.
- Director & Leadership Team's Luncheon
- This luncheon is open to Directors, Deputy Directors, CEOs, CFOs, Leadership Team Members, and Trustees. The Luncheon will feature guest speaker Tony Manfredi, Executive Director, Nevada Arts Council. Discussion will follow. Sponsored by Blue Rhino Design
How can I best prepare for the Annual Meeting and its activites?
Whether this year is your first time at WMA's Annual Meeting, or you're a WMA regular, there can be a lot to think about when preparing for a multi-day networking conference. To ease your mind and to help you smoothly navigate through the 2025 Annual Meeting while maximizing your professional development, we have put together a simple Attendee Guide for your use. In this Guide, we share some things to consider as you prepare for sunshine-filled Tucson and make your way through the 4-days at WMA 2025.
Will there be a virtual option for WMA 2025?
WMA 2025 is designed as an in-person gathering focused on connection and professional growth. With the understanding that hybrid events are effectively two separate events layered on top of each other with their own logistics, expenses, and staffing needs, there will not be a virtual component for WMA 2025. Our goal is to keep registration costs as low as possible. A virtual option would substantially increase rates and therefore reduce the number of people who could access professional development. However, you can get a glimpse of the happenings at #WMA2025 by following WMA on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or X.
EXHIBITORS, SPONSORS, & ADVERTISERS
Can I sponsor, exhibit, and advertise at WMA 2025? What's involved and what are the benefits?
Yes! At the Annual Meeting, when you partner with WMA, you will have great exposure to a wide range of museum professionals and support the professional development WMA provides to the museum field all year long. Being a WMA 2025 sponsor, exhibitor, or advertiser will allow you to:
- Reach a concentrated group of museum professionals from a variety of sectors
- Increase your visibility among a diverse group of cultural institutions in the Western Region
- Position your business as a supporter and leader in the museum field
- Build upon your existing relationships with decision-makers, while fostering new connections
- Support a high-quality forum dedicated to sharing cutting edge and emerging ideas being accessible to all museum professionals
Please visit our Partnership Opportunities page to learn more.
We hope these general FAQs will help you prepare for the Annual Meeting and feel safe during your visit.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out to WMA staff at communications@westmuse.org.
We look forward to seeing you in Reno!
