Exhibit Hall Networking & Refreshment Break
Enjoy coffee, tea, and light snacks while perusing exhibitors' booths, bidding on silent auction items, and networking with peers.
Exhibit Hall Networking Lunch
FREE!
Join your colleagues in the Exhibit Hall where you can explore vendor offerings and enjoy lunch courtesy of the WMA and UMA. Make sure to start bidding on the fabulous items in the silent auction that were generously donated by our members. All proceeds will benefit the scholarship funds to help colleagues attend future gatherings of the Western Museums Association and the Utah Museum Association.
Opening General Session & Keynote
Sponsored by MATT Construction
Join us as we welcome attendees to Salt Lake City, present the 2026 Awards - the Charles Redd Center Award for Exhibition Excellence, the WMA Leadership Award, and the WMA Impact Award - and get inspired by the keynote speaker!
Opening Remarks: Jason B. Jones, Executive Director, Western Museums Association
Local Welcome: TBD
UMA Welcome: Katy Knight, President, Utah Museums Association
Fragmentations: From Collections of Lusterware to Museum Narratives
In a groundbreaking program at the Shangri-La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design, PhD student Hossein Nakhaei explored their collection of Persian luster tiles. The institution opened itself to meaningful critique as he focused on their most prized possession, a luster mihrab, one of only six in the world. Learn what happened when they connected via zoom with community members standing in front of the empty space where the mihrab once belonged.
From Burnout to Balance: Building Cultures Where Leaders Can Thrive
Leaders work hard to cultivate cultures of trust, collaboration, and creativity, but who supports them? Data shows we are burning out generations of leaders in the creative sector, particularly women of color. How might we find new ways to connect, support, and ultimately thrive in this field? Join this facilitated discussion to explore what some institutions are doing to bring greater balance to their workplace and find new ways of working.
Strengthening Through Standards: Navigating Challenges in Education Programming
Our organizations actively engage with communities in discussions that promote critical thinking about some of the most pressing issues we face today. This presents both opportunities and challenges, especially when addressing potentially contentious topics. Learn how our institutions navigate difficult topics to facilitate thought-provoking conversations and inspire students to think critically. Brainstorm with colleagues to find curriculum links to specific topics and conversations your organization engages in.
The Homeward Project: Honoring Our Commitment to Indigenous Communities
Museums across the world are confronting the responsibility to return Indigenous belongings and ancestors. This session shares how the Museum of Us is expanding its Cultural Resources team and developing institution-wide strategies to return all holdings to their homelands while strengthening relationships with Indigenous communities. Attendees will gain perspectives on relational repair, consent-based stewardship, and institutional transformation.
Reframing Old Narratives: Tools for Navigating the Unanswerable
This session is an examination of communication strategies used by staff at the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum— a tribal institution— to navigate complex visitor interactions & offer the public a better understanding of how traditional knowledge is shared. By utilizing a step-by-step approach dubbed the "Not Quite Sure" tool to address questions that don't have a clear answer, aren't meant to be answered, or are outdated, staff are empowered to shift perspectives and facilitate more effective learning outcomes.
What Drives Exhibition Ideas?
This session explores the many starting points that shape exhibition concept development. Through case studies of temporary exhibitions at our various institutions, we will examine projects sparked by a variety of motivations such as specific collections, community partnerships, milestones, and more. Participants will also take part in a guided, interactive exercise, developing a "big idea" for an exhibition from a hypothetical prompt while considering the mission, audience, and constraints of their own institutions.
Beyond Field Trips: Meaningful Youth Engagement in Museums
Many museums engage youth primarily through school field trips or simple interactive activities. But what happens when young people are invited to participate as creators, collaborators, and community voices within museum spaces? This panel shares case studies from three museums of varied sizes and missions that are intentionally expanding youth engagement beyond traditional education programs. Presenters will highlight strategies that work in both rural museums with limited resources and larger institutions with dedicated youth programming.