MAM Blog

Minnesota's 500+ museums are now at your fingertips with the free MN Museums app, now available for iOS and Android.

Browse by name, category or location and let the app guide you to your next museum adventure. Create an itinerary, check off museums you've visited, and upload your favorite museum photos.

Get the MN Museums app in the iTunes Store and Google Play. Search for MN Museums.

MN Museums was developed by the Minnesota Association of Museums and the Minnesota Historical Society.

Made possible by the Legacy Amendment through the vote of Minnesotans on Nov. 4, 2008.

The 2013 Annual Meeting of the Minnesota Association of Museums will be held Sunday-Monday, October 6-7 in St. Joseph and Collegeville. This year's theme is Take This: A Collective Effort. With an opening night reception at the Haehn Museum and sessions at Saint John's University, the meeting promises thought-provoking discussions, resources, and ideas that you'll be able to take back to your own museum.

Call for Session Proposals

We encourage proposals that focus on best practices and innovative approaches leading to creative solutions for museums. To prevent many sessions from serving as "case studies," proposal ideas that reflect a single museum should seek to include perspectives of other museums on the same topic. Presenters representing a variety of disciplines and sizes of museums are encouraged.We're looking for the following session formats:

• 1.25 hours
• 2.5 hours (double session)
• Roundtable: informal dialogue on specific issues; two or more presenters
• Panel: different perspectives on one topic; two or more presenters plus a chair/facilitator
• Poster Session: an informal report on projects and demonstration of new practices; may be organized by discipline, job (educator, registrar, etc.), or student projects
• Workshop: half day, in-depth exploration of topic; two or more presenters

SUBMIT A SESSION PROPOSAL ONLINE

Session Proposals are due Friday, June 7. If you'd prefer, you may print out and mail or email this form.

Coming Soon:

• Registration Information
• Information about Conference Hotels
• Sponsorship Opportunities

Want to Make History?

The Minnesota Historical Society invites you to attend one of five listening sessions being held throughout the state of Minnesota in December.

We want to hear what you have to say about Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. What do you think history should look like in 20 years because of the investment we make in Minnesota with these funds?

These listening sessions are open to the public and especially geared toward Minnesotans not employed by local historical societies.

Unlike previous listening sessions MHS staff will not be on hand to answer specific questions about grant projects or other programs. Franke Wilson Consulting will be facilitating the meetings on behalf of the Minnesota Historical Society.

Each location will host two sessions. The morning session, 10:30 a.m. to noon, is open to people currently working in a history-related field. The second session, 1-2:30 p.m., is open to the general public.

Please find the location nearest you and email your RSVP to: mnhistory@comcast.net today!

Questions? Contact Nancy Franke Wilson at (763) 545-2684 or mnhistory@comcast.net.

DECEMBER 4
Location: Marshall

Dear members and friends,

I'm proud to unveil an updated logo and completely overhauled website for the Minnesota Association of Museums, launched today.

Visit www.minnesotamuseums.org and take a look around!

Send us photos of your museum.
As you'll see, the new site does a great job of showcasing Minnesota's museums. We'll keep adding more photos throughout the site. But we need your help! Email us photos of your museum for consideration on the website. We're especially looking for images that convey community and museum programming, not just building shots. Large, high-resolution images work best.

This is just the beginning.
In the near future we'll be bringing back the complete list of Minnesota museums, and in the coming months we hope to publish articles, resources, and tutorials on topics of use to museum professionals. In our members-only area, we'll be building up the forums and in-depth materials. Not a member? Join today!

I hope you enjoy our new site. And let us know what you think! Email information@minnesotamuseums.org with your comments and suggestions.

Sincerely,

Eric Mueller
Communications Chair
Minnesota Association of Museums

The Minnesota Association of Museums partnered with the University of Minnesota to determine the economic impact of museums in Minnesota. The report was released in time for the American Association of Museums conference in Minneapolis.

The New York Times profiled the new Minnesota Museums Month!  See the full article here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/arts/artsspecial/minnesota-starts-museums-month-in-may.html?_r=3

Interested current research and evaluation being done with and about visitors to museums and other informal learning environments? Check out the Visitor Studies Association (VSA - www.visitorstudies.org)! VSA is proud to again offer emerging professionals and students the opportunity to apply for the April Award and student scholarships for the 2012 VSA conference in Raleigh, NC (July 24-28). The April Award helps VSA members who are new to the field attend their first Visitor Studies Association conference. • The April Award consists of a complimentary conference registration fee and a $500 travel stipend. The Student Scholarship Program promotes student participation in VSA. A limited number of Student Scholarships are available to student members of VSA to help them attend their first VSA conference. • The Student Scholarship consists of a complimentary conference registration fee. Applications for both the April Award and Student Scholarships must be submitted on or before March 1, 2012. For more information and the applications: http://visitorstudies.org/conference-overview/scholarship-offers

As part of planning for the upcoming AAM conference, the local PR committee is creating a Minnesota Museum Month for May 2012, hopefully to become an annual event. MELSA member libraries are interested in proposals from museums for adult and family programs to be offered in libraries during May 2012.  They would be promoted through the MELSA system as special offerings during “Minnesota Museum Month”, and are funded with Legacy dollars. A few things to consider:

• Funding is available to be paid the museum for each program, usually in the $300-500 range. No tuition or fees can be charged to participants.
• Any adult or family-focused program would be welcome, whether arts, history, science, literature, culture, current events, etc.  (Note: children’s programs already exist; this initiative is exclusively focused upon programs for adults and families.)
• Proposals can be as wide-ranging as possible and can include hands-on activities. 
• The program should be between 60-90 minutes long; ideally on evenings or weekends.
•  Most of the systems have at least a couple of branches that have community rooms that hold at least 40-60 people.  Several branches can accommodate up to 200 people.  For programs that have hands-on components, feel free to set a limit of participants, and the libraries can require registration.

Program proposals are due by November 15.

A proposal should contain the following information:

1.       Name of museum

2.       Contact person

3.       Brief description

4.       Target audience

5.       Fee

6.       Number of times the program can be offered at different sites

7.       Capacity limitations (up to 20?  unlimited?)

8.       Please note if you are interested in a specific county and/or library; the offering will be shown to a broader group, but some specificity will help the program be seen by those you are most interested in working with

For examples of program descriptions,  visit the MELSA website (www.melsa.org); go to the Datebook section to find listings of programs.  It's recommended that you use the following search parameters on dateBOOK to get some good examples:  Uncheck the default "all program types" and select "Arts and Entertainment" and "Author" events.  Then uncheck the "all audiences" default and select "adults" to get a narrower list.  (When the libraries enter calendar events, they can choose up to three categories for audience, so "adults" will often also be "all ages" and "55+" depending on the program.)

Program proposals should be sent by November 15 to:

Sally Lederer

Community Relations Manager

MELSA (Metropolitan Library Service Agency)

1619 Dayton Avenue, Suite 314

St. Paul, MN 55104

651-645-5731, ext. 102

www.melsa.org

sally@melsa.org

***Special alert for Minnesota museums***

How did the MN government shutdown affect your museum?
AAM was pleased to hear that the MN government will be re-opening for business after nearly 3 weeks of a shutdown. Please tell us:

• Did you have to close your museum?
• Did you have to postpone or cancel programs?
• Is there state funding you did not receive?
• Were your collections jeopardized?

While we won’t know right away the longer-term impact of the budget agreement (which could create even more economic challenges for museums), this initial information can help us better make the case to lawmakers at all levels about the impact of public policy decisions on museums of all types. Please email mat@aam-us.org to share an anecdote or any data you've collected.

This information is from a listserv posting on RCAAM (Registrars Committee of the AAM)