Leadership


The Western Museums Association (WMA) is excited to announce the addition of a new annual award: the WMA Impact Award! Created by the WMA board, this new award is focused on recognizing mid-career museum professionals.
"Mid-career professionals are the foundation of the museum profession. They've dedicated themselves to making museums thrive and succeed, stayed in the field when faced with...

by Karen Marshall, member of the Gender Equity in Museums Movement (GEMM) Steering Committee
In 1973, a Women’s Caucus was held at the AAM Annual Meeting to call for change to end gender-based discriminatory hiring and promotion practices, support for transparent salary data, and fair employment practices.  How much has changed? Although today almost half of the museum profession is filled by...

By Hillary Ryan, Communications and Programs Strategist at Western Museums Association
When looking at the issue of gender pay inequality in the museum field, we are exploring part of a larger challenge in our sector, as well as specifically within our field.  To get a sense of the issue, let’s get some numbers.
Women today make the entire nonprofit sector function— or about three-quarters of it...

While white women dominate the growing pink collar workforce at most museums in the US, the representation of women as the focus for exhibition and scholarship at museums continues to lag behind.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts has taken up the call to increase awareness of this disparity with their third year of the #5WomenArtists campaign. The campaign asks cultural organizations and...

WMA will be taking March to reflect on the conversations about women in museums as they are emerging today. From the explosion of the #metoo movement to in-depth explorations about pay equity, there are a host of ways the topics of women and museums are intersecting. WMA will present a series of blog articles to inspire discussion on line and IRL about women.
The following topics will be...
Robert R. Janes is an independent scholar-practitioner, a former museum director, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Museum Management and Curatorship, and a Visiting Fellow at the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester (UK). He has a Ph.D. in archaeology and began his career as an archaeologist in Canada’s remote Northwest Territories. Janes was given a traditional Blackfoot (First...
A chance to recognize unsung heroes of our profession…
not necessarily just for directors
The Western Museums Association (WMA) is accepting nominations for the 2016 Director’s Chair Award. This recognition is designed to showcase and acknowledge outstanding achievement in the museum profession. The Director’s Chair Award is presented annually to an individual who has had a significant and...
By Alexa Beaman
In preparing to present as a part of the panel “Defining Leadership Across Generational Divides” at the Western Museums Association 2015 Annual Meeting, I reflected on moderator James Burns’ question of how established leaders can work together with emerging leaders to build a stronger profession and stronger institutions. And with that I also thought, how could I provide insight...
By Dawn Barraclough
Hosting the Western Museums Association (WMA) 2014 Annual Meeting was a great catalyst for the Las Vegas cultural community, bringing us together and into the future as a united force. It all began in 2012 when, with local museum consultant Art Wolf at the helm, Las Vegas museum directors met to prepare a bid to host the 2014 WMA Annual Meeting. This campaign included a...
By Adam Mikos
In the last year there have been many seismic changes in the museum landscape of the United States. Ironically, accessibility to collections and information has blossomed through digital channels while access to the actual collections has taken several steps backwards. In this age of constant information these changes surface then seem to slip off the radar very quickly. This essay...

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