European Decorative Arts: Baroque to Art Nouveau will run from 31st May to 24th June 2016 at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London, England. This is an intensive course which focuses on object-based teaching and makes use of the rich resources of London’s museums and historic …
Preventive Conservation June 18 – July 1, 2016 Staatsburgh State Historic Site, Staatsburgh, NY Instructors: Genevieve Bieniosek, John Childs, Catherine Coueignoux, Cathy Mackenzie, Kirsten Schoonmaker Description: The 2016 Preventive Conservation Workshop is a 14 day course for pre-program conservation students, focusing on historic housekeeping. The workshop will take place at Staatsburgh …
Last week, a number of current and former Museum Studies students took part in a workshop put on by the Museum Studies Department and led by Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko, President and CEO of the Abbe Museum. “The Art of Schmoozing” discussed networking beyond trying to get a job or making a conference more bearable. Networking helps you talk to potential (and current) donors, volunteers, and community members. Knowing how to speak intelligently and politely is important both professionally and personally (picture sitting at a dinner party and not knowing how to talk to the people around you).
While many of us panic at the sight of a crowded conference happy hour, and the prospect of talking to billionaires (should we be so lucky) can evoke anxiety, there are several small tricks that can help ease the nerves. Cinnamon imparted some of her own first-hand experiences with some of the following tips:
Cinnamon’s presentation was frank and funny, and included tips on knowing how to work with people with different personality types (check out DiSC if you’re interested). Afterwards, participants were able to practice their new skills over wine and snacks.
Keep your eye out here and in the Museum Studies newsletter for further fun workshops!
Museum Conversations: Curating Data/Challenging History Date: Monday, April 11, 2016, 6:30pm Location: Northwest Building, B-103, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA Free event parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage. Fred Wilson, artist and Laura Kurgan, Associate Professor of Architecture, Graduate School of Architecture …
REGISTER NOW FOR THE VISITOR STUDIES ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE July 19-23, Hyatt Regency Boston With 14 in-depth workshops ranging from introductory statistics to data visualization and reporting, over 45 presentations of papers, roundtables, and think tanks, and keynote speakers from across the fields of data visualization …
I follow the American Association of State and Local History on facebook (which I would highly recommend!). The other day, they reposted an entry from their blog that caught my eye.
“5 Ways to Get a Woman Out of the Kitchen,” written by Dollie Boyd, discusses an important aspect of interpretation: how to bring to life the people often found on the periphery. In this case, the person in question is Sarah McEwen Doak, wife of Rev. Doak of Doak’s House in Greeneville, TN. The only mention of her in the visitor tour was in relation to her 13 children, which Boyd recognized as an issue that often happens in historic houses. The article talks about strategies that can be used to transform the way that we think about existing interpretation. It can be easy to continue on with current tours or exhibitions, especially with low budgets or small staff numbers. However, it is important to take a step back from everyday museum life and examine what we are interpreting and how.
This article is a good reminder for any museum, aside from historic houses, not to become complacent with the interpretation that is already in place. Who is on the margins of the stories we are telling? Whose voices are not being heard? Keep in mind that even if there is a particular point of view present, it may be marginalized, as was the case with Sarah McEwen Doak.