Saturday, October 8, 2022

Museums and cultural institutions are often quick to celebrate the progress they have made toward racial equity, while struggling to dedicate time to pause and reflect on what might prevent them from moving forward. Museums & Race offers this session to help museum practitioners foster new dialogic skills to have more truthful conversations, as well as practical ways to move from naming the issues to developing practical strategies to combat harmful behaviors.

Come hear from three organizations in various stages of implementing shared leadership models: Five Oaks Museum, San Diego Museum of Natural History, and Nesika Wilamut (Portland area non-profit). They will discuss successes, pitfalls, and new ways of approaching leadership in non-profits. Bring your questions, as there will time at the end of the session for Q&A and group discussion.

Traditional museum conservation fails to address some of the challenges and opportunities inherent in our institutions' outdoor, macro, and functional artifacts. Whether a lightship, a submarine, a submersible, or your artifact, they sometimes withstand non-standard museum display environments and practices to keep them relevant. Join us for a discussion about preserving historical and educational significance through atypical preservation projects.

Museums provide space for people to engage in critical conversations. In this session, participants will hear from four museums on their relationship between the curation/exhibitions and education/community programs departments, how educators navigate complex and sometimes controversial topics with visitors, and how program organizers create public discussions on critical topics. Participants will also have the opportunity to speak with other museum professionals on how they address critical topics and foster dialogue and civil discourse.

More and more museums, higher learning institutions, government entities, and organizations are adopting “land acknowledgements” to recognize indigenous populations associated with specific geographic areas. While the intent is noble, land acknowledgments can be problematic in unintended ways. This session will explore the benefits and pitfalls in creating land acknowledgments. Panelists will discuss the process and challenges of developing land acknowledgments for their respective institutions.

As natural disasters and crises become prevalent, hear how four museums responded to wildfires and the recent pandemic. Learn innovative ways to help your community heal. Each museum will share how they addressed local crises in thoughtful and meaningful ways while staying true to their missions and protecting their collections. Through partnerships, interactive social media platforms, creative artmaking, reflective exhibitions, collecting oral histories, and developing programs, each museum became a place of gathering, engagement, connection, reflection, and support.

Meet your OMA colleagues and hear updates and future plans from OMA. Special speaker and activities TBD. Seating is limited.

Special speaker Nili Yosha, Artistic and Executive Director of Outside the Frame, an organization that trains homeless and marginalized youth to be directors of their own films and lives.

Cost: $25

Sponsored by Rachael Christine Consulting, Historical Research Associates, Sticky Co.