Association of Academic Museums and Galleries

Below is the confirmed schedule as of September 22 for the Virtual Convening taking place on October 2!

Keynote: Ryan RedCorn 1pm EST

The keynote for the first ever Virtual Convening will be the recording of this year’s Annual Conference keynote speaker: Ryan RedCorn! His talk in Lawrence inspired many of us and we are so glad to be able to share his words with more of our members through this virtual platform in October.

Visual Sovereignty: Unedited Voices

Ryan RedCorn (Osage) was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma into a family of preachers, politicians and salesmen, which are all the same occupation. He is the ilonpa of Raymond and Elizabeth RedCorn, and the object of jealousy from his three younger brothers Jon, Alex and Studebaker, who between them have four masters degrees and two Phd’s. Ryan, however, took six and half years to get an art degree in visual communications from the University of Kansas. To the surprise of many, Ryan has been able to translate his education, his ilonpa entitlement, and his family lineage into something some people think is valuable. He co-founded the Indigenous comedy troupe, the 1491s, and started a full services ad agency in the middle of nowhere Pawhuska, Oklahoma called Buffalo Nickel Creative. Sometimes people laugh at him. But he’s ok with all of that. He recently woke one morning and realized he has three daughters. He remarked, “I live a crazy life” and promptly enrolled in an MFA in screenwriting program at the Institute of American Indian Arts to test his capacity for stress. He graduated in the Spring of 2020 and is presently alive, vaccinated and serving his second stint as a writer on the third season of FX’s hit TV show, Reservation Dogs.

Survey Use 101 with Susie Wilkening – Detailing the AAMG Field Wide Survey Results 3:15pm EST

Remember that survey we asked you to take in 2022? Almost 200 academic institutions responded, and Wilkening Consulting compiled all the results for us!

We are so excited to be able to share the details of this inaugural survey. Join us to hear from Susie Wilkening and others how to use the survey to your advantage. You will also hear from AAMG member, Carey Weber, about her making use of these survey results already to advocate for herself and her campus museum.

Roundtable: Revitalizing Student Employment in Academic Museums 11am EST

Devin Geraci, Associate Director of Operations, The University of New Mexico Art Museum

Inspired by a change in the student employment structure at the University of New Mexico Art Museum, this roundtable discussion will focus on how museums employ university students. The facilitator will briefly present this new model in which student jobs were redesigned to expand past entry-level work in visitor services and into communications, events and programs, and social media. The presentation will outline the goals, logistics, and successes of this program. After the facilitator presentation, the discussion will be open to participants to share their own experiences working with university students, ask questions, celebrate successes, and work through challenges.

Session: Hosting Museum Internships: The Integration of Virtual Programming 12pm EST

Adriana Dunn, Assistant Director, Art Museum of the University of Memphis

Technological advances and the integration of online education has made it possible, and in many cases necessary, to implement virtual internship programs. The transition of in-person to virtual can be done successfully through methods that give the intern the ability to fulfill their degree requirements while also disseminating the museum’s mission. By changing the way in which we offer upper-level educational programming, virtual internships can increase accessibility to our collections and programming for everyone.

Roundtable: Virtual is Here to Stay: Increasing Museum Visibility, Accessibility and Support through Digital Programs 12pm EST

Carey Weber, Frank and Clara Meditz Executive Director, Fairfield University Art Museum

This roundtable is designed to share insights and best practices gleaned from the continuing commitment the Fairfield University Art Museum has made to a pandemic pivot to virtual programs and digital platforms, and to provide a place for participants to share their own successes and setbacks to the group. The roundtable presentation will address the Museum’s approach to this endeavor in terms of timelines, budgets, à la carte breakdown of programs and products and their associated costs, key stakeholders and campus partners, metrics for assessment, and pitfalls encountered, and will share the many positive outcomes that have been achieved with students, faculty, administration, and the broader community.

Session: Collective Curating – Collaboration and Community 4:15pm EST

Michelle Sunset, Curator, University of Wyoming Art Museum

Celka Straughn, Deputy Director for Public Practice and Curatorial, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas

Beth Watkins, Education and Publications Curator, Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Joy Beckman, Director and Professor of Art History, Wright Museum of Art, Beloit College

Presenters will share four case studies from institutions across the country about working with collaborators outside of their staff to design exhibitions that share new voices and different perspectives. These projects are diverse in how community and collaboration shaped the resulting exhibitions – from working with contemporary artists to campus partners, students, and community members – but are united by their missions to shift curatorial practice to be more inclusive and accessible. Presenters will share planning, logistics, successes, and lessons learned. Presenters and participants alike should walk away with new ideas and insights for curating more collaboratively.

Session: Art of the Guardians 4:15pm EST

Lambert Fernando, Senior Security Manager, Security Operations Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Maureen Catbagan, Senior Security Officer, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jevijoe VItug, Senior Security Officer, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Emilie Lemakis, Senior Security Officer, Metropolitan Museum of Art

My presentation topic will be about the art of Security Officers at the Met and their profound relationship they have formed with the collection at Met. I will also talk about our experiences during the COVID 19 pandemic and the art that we created during the lockdown. The art that we created during this period was later exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC in a exhibition titled: Art Work: Artists working at the Met. The show was opened to the public and was very well received garnering international press coverage including NBC Nightly News, Aljazeera TV and German ARD TV. We will end with a panel discussion which includes three or four practicing artists/Security Officers.

Panel: Next Practices in Museum Studies  10:15am EST

Jennifer P. Kingsley, Director, Program in Museums and Society, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University 

Suse Anderson, Program Head, Museum Studies, Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, George Washington University

Rosanna N. Flouty, Director, Museum Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University

Intended to push the conversation beyond the concept of “best practices” this session invites session participants to collaborate on identifying key topics for the future of museum studies curricula and pedagogy. Where is the sector on training students and where would faculty, students, and museum staff like it to go? What are some of today’s most pressing questions, challenges, and opportunities for museum studies programs and the museums that partner with them? How does this translate into new learning goals, approaches to pedagogy, and/or program evaluation? We will develop a mind map of our findings to capture our discussion.

Listening Session: Higher Education Accreditation Commissions: Why should academic museums care? 5:15pm EST

Craig Hadley, Executive Director & Chief Curator, Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College

Katie Lee-Koven, Executive Director & Chief Curator Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art Utah State University

John Versluis, Executive Director & Chief Curator, Hill College, Texas Heritage Museum

Youmi Efurd, Museum Curator, Wofford College

Our colleges and universities depend upon national accreditation to communicate the value of higher education to campus and community stakeholders. Join your AAMG colleagues for a listening session that explores the current and future role of academic museums in the higher education accreditation process. How might our academic museums play a more critical role in the broader institutional accreditation process and why does it matter?

IMLS Grant Information – Details to come! 10:15am EST