Our panel presentation will highlight the innovative strategies our communications team employed during the exhibitions "Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other" and "Skilled Labor: Black Realism in Detroit" held at Cranbrook Art Museum in 2023 and 2024. As a small, contemporary art institution, we face unique opportunities and challenges when exhibiting living artists, particularly those from underrepresented communities. Our presentation will focus on our collaborative approach with artists, particularly BIPOC artists, and our use of short-form video content and collaborative graphics across multiple digital platforms to amplify their voices and engage diverse audiences.
Location: Meadows
Join the Park Interpreter and Historian from Hartwick Pines State Park to learn about the threats that are endangering natural and cultural landscapes. Are there invasive species that threaten your site? Is your site prepared for climate change, an increase in extreme weather events, and increased wildfire risks? We’ll provide examples from Hartwick Pines and guide you through a discussion on how you can identify threats at your site and how to work with natural resource professionals to lessen those risks. You’ll leave with tips and tricks on how to more closely engage with your site’s natural environment and who to ask for help.
Location: Oaks
New technological advances have created new accessible avenues for organizations to conduct oral history projects. This workshop emphasizes how using newly developed tools to capture oral histories, especially from missing voices, can improve visitor experiences and develop libraries that will preserve community’s heritage and first-hand accounts without stretching limited resources. We will walk through the foundation of a quality oral history project supported by online resources, software, and cloud services, from project creation to short- and long-term storage. Through an informational and collaborative environment, we hope to provide an affordable technological toolbox that will benefit any organization passionate to preserve community stories.
Location: Fields
The session will introduce participants to the Incident Command System (ICS) Level 100, tailored for heritage sites. Attendees will learn how to manage time, people, and resources within a command hierarchy during a disaster event. Case studies will be used to demonstrate how the system should be implemented during a real-life emergency. Each position within the ICS 100 system will be covered to show how museum professionals at any size institution can succeed when assignedICS roles. It is highly recommended that attendees take the free ICS 100 certification class through FEMA at https://training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=is-100.c&lang=en before they attend the session.
Location: Stone Theater
Michigan museums thrive on the generosity of donors. However, navigating donor relations can become complex, especially when their interests intersect with collections management and philanthropy. This session offers a safe space for open discussion of real-life scenarios museum professionals have encountered. We will troubleshoot problem scenarios both in collections and philanthropy, offer advice, and model language for navigating difficult donor conversations.
Location: Great Lakes IV-V
The Pure Michigan website–Michigan.org--had over 9 million users in 2023. This session will discuss and help you add your museum and events onto the Pure Michigan website. Posting your museum, museum events, and museum deals/packages on the Michigan.org site will give visitors your information and boost their interest for your museum’s cultural experience. Learn how to add/update your museum, events and packages on michigan.org. This is a complimentary tool that gives the visitors your information to boost their interest in your museum’s cultural experience. Prior to the session create your log-in if you don’t already have one here. Bring your computer with you to the session and follow along as we help you navigate our database and create/update your listing, package or event on Michigan.org.
Location: Great Lakes II-III
The Michigan Museums Association is excited to offer this special concurrent session designated for students of our University Partners to share a research project with conference attendees. In this session, you will hear from two students who are eager to share their research and scholarship with the Michigan Museums Association membership. Join us to encourage the future of museum professionals in Michigan.
Shannon Murphy, Eastern Michigan University
Collecting Food Culture: Sustainability, Ephemerality, and Edible Education
Discussing collections development work at The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation related to edible education, and the process for considering the current collection, curatorial collaboration, and sustainable active collection related to food culture. Artifacts and stories can be reframed and reconnected with food, and its ephemerality, as the starting point for conversations that still remain mission driven and reflect institutional initiatives.
Skyler Leslie, University of Michigan
Historic Fort Wayne: Steps Towards Re-Activation
Skyler Leslie began working at Detroit's Historic Fort Wayne as a graduate student at the University of Michigan. Beginning with interpretation, Skyler's work has grown to encompass not just interpretive signage but tours, community consultation, programming, and educational resources. This presentation details Skyler's contributions towards re-activating and re-contextualizing the Fort within a regional history that extends beyond military use, and details future opportunities for further engagement.
Location: Great Lakes I