Association of Academic Museums and Galleries

Deadline: Tuesday, November 21, 2023, 11:59pm

Monday, December 11, 2023, 11:59pm – Download the PDF of the call here.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION IS CLOSED.

REVIEW TIMELINE:

• Reviewing taking place December 15-January 12
• Accepted proposals will be contacted week of February 5 with confirmation of acceptance due by February 12
• Rejections will be contacted week of February 12

AAMG 2024: belong centers upon belonging and is presented entirely online, in the spirit of inclusion. Academic museums and galleries consider belonging from many angles unique to the field, but above all else belonging is a shared value—for our relationships with students, faculty, and our local and regional communities as well as our relationships with each other as an AAMG community.

Belonging is also a critical aspect of students’ relationships with their campuses, given higher education’s ongoing struggle with declining enrollment and retention, rising costs, and political encroachment, among other things. Organizationally and socially, campus-based museums and galleries are woven into university operations, pedagogy, and culture. How might we foster a sense of belonging for everyone—but especially the students—within our campus communities?

Belonging even informs the work we do on our collections, exhibitions, communications, and fundraising and our internal staff infrastructure and culture. When people resonate with what we have, what we do, and what we say, everybody is invested in the impact.

AAMG members have told the 2024 conference committee that learning from key stakeholders is an important way to advance our organizations. Taking advantage of this conference’s entirely virtual format, therefore, we now invite proposals that include the voices of our college and university colleagues—faculty, students, administrators, staff, and others—as well as professionals outside the field who can help us learn together about what belonging means and how it thrives.

Some questions to start (but not limit!) your proposal:

• How does my museum support belonging within my higher educational institution via its teaching, programming, exhibitions, acquisitions, publications, staffing, funding allocations, and so on? 

• What do I do as a museum staff member and/or AAMG member to support student belonging and social and academic relationship-building?

• How can museums and galleries help solve the challenges facing higher education, perhaps through the comparative nimbleness of our spaces and programs to react, respond, and innovate as opportunities arise?

• We’ve added two new proposal types for AAMG 2024: belong. Facilitated roundtable discussions and problem-solving workshops to create more opportunities for conversation and the exchange of ideas.

What we learn through the discussions in AAMG 2024: Belong will influence the theme and program for AAMG’s next in-person conference, taking place at the University of New Mexico Art Museum in Albuquerque in 2025. We hope you will join us for both!

PROPOSALS ARE DUE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2023

MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2023

PROPOSAL TYPES: 

• SESSION
• PANEL DISCUSSION
• THROWDOWN
• FACILITATED ROUNDTABLE
• VIRTUAL POSTER
• PROBLEM SOLVING WORKSHOP

Have a proposal idea, but looking for more participants to fill it out? Query the AAMG listserv or social media platforms and find colleagues to connect with! Drop your note soon so that you don’t miss the deadline.

All sessions will be 45 minutes each.

Items required for all proposal types:

• Contact and institutional affiliation for all presenters including bios (up to 150 words)
• Confirm that if submission is accepted you and all speakers will register and pay for conference registration. Discount codes will be provided for speakers. 
• Only AAMG members can submit proposals. AAMG members may sponsor a non-member presenter that is affiliated with the topic.
• Confirm that you will provide and manage any slides or audio/visual presentations associated with your session.
• Confirm that if using pre-recorded materials, you or a representative will be present during your timeslot to manage the session and moderate audience questions. 
• Indicate proposal type from the list above. 
• Title of your proposal (15 words)
• Description of your proposal (less than 350 words) Include why your session is innovative and relevant to the conference topic or academic museum field. Include up to three learning objectives/outcomes.
• Abstract (less than 100 words) This is what will appear in the conference schedule.
• Intended audience (Check all that apply: Curatorial & Collections; College/University and Museum Leadership & Management; College/University and Museum Education & Community; Visitor Experience; Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and/or Inclusion; Civic Discourse; Academic Museums 101; Emerging Professionals; Students)
• How does your proposal fit the AAMG 2024: belong conference theme and description? (Less than 250 words)

SESSION

Three presenters speak for ten minutes each on a focused topic, allowing time for a Q&A at the end (30 minute for presentations and 15 minutes for Q&A). Proposals must include information on all presenters. One person must serve as the chair of the session; they can be a presenter as well, or just serve as chair. Sessions are 45 minutes.

PANEL DISCUSSION

Panels have 3–4 speakers, with one panelist or convener serving as moderator. A minimum of 15–20 minutes should be reserved for dialogue with the attendees, following the discussion. The moderator is responsible for managing slides and timekeeping. Tell us the topic, what each panelist will contribute, and how the proposal relates to the conference theme. Panel discussions, including Q&A, will be 45 minutes (30 minutes for discussion and 15 minutes for Q&A).

THROWDOWN

A high energy, quick-paced presentation. Eight single presenters share 5-minute talks on powerful ideas, with no more than 20 slides each. This is an excellent opportunity for students and emerging professionals to share a special program, project, or practice.

FACILITATED ROUNDTABLE

We’re bringing affinity dinners to the virtual conference! We are looking for 10 facilitators to host a small group discussion around a topic. No formal presentation is necessary. These roundtables create space for attendees to converse in a semi-structured format on a topic of mutual interest. This is a great networking opportunity! We invite you to propose a topic and explain why your skills, experiences, and interests will contribute to your success as a discussion leader, particularly as this relates to conference’s theme. As the roundtable facilitator you will offer a 10 minute overview of your topic and your personal or professional connection to it, and then facilitate a conversation with attendees. Facilitated roundtables will be capped at 10 participants.

VIRTUAL POSTER

We invite you to share your research, demonstrating a connection to the conference theme. In addition to submitting your virtual poster, we ask that you also provide a 3-minute audio clip highlighting your research. Throughout the conference, attendees will be able to virtually navigate through our poster hall, listening to audio clips from each poster author.

Poster specifications are as follows: (not needed for the call for proposals but upon selection for inclusion in the 2024 conferene you will be prompted to provide the following)

• audio clip no longer than 45 seconds introducing yourselves and your project. This needs to be an mp3 file (most smart phones allow for this type of recording)
• a jpg graphic panel 1: this should be designed however you would envision your poster if it were printed and mounted on board and displayed in a display hall. File size must fall between 500kb and 5mb – saved as a compressed high quality jpg. The image width should be about 1900 px

PROBLEM SOLVING WORKSHOP

Topically focused, workshops should be focused on a real or relevant problem of practice in your organization and encourage participants to collaborate on developing questions, strategies, and ideas for implementation and focused on the topic. Whether through presentation, group discussions, or a combination of both, participants should have some kind of take away from these sessions to try at their own institutions.