Washington Museum Association:Annual Conference 2005

Washington Museum Association
2005 Annual Conference
Yakima Valley Museum
Yakima, Washington
June 15 - 17, 2005

Map to Yakima Valley Museum
2105 Tieton Drive
Yakima, WA 98902

Washington Museum Association
Staying the Course Through the Drought Years:
Change, Process, and Community Engagement
WMA Annual Conference
June 16–17, 2005
Download Registration Form
Download Conference Program

Friday, June 17, 2005

7:30-8:45
Clarion Hotel

Special Breakfasts for Directors, Registrars/Collection Curators, and Educators

8:00
Yakima Valley Museum

Registration (continues throughout conference)

9:15-10:30

Concurrent Sessions
Hands-on Experiences That Meet Curriculum Needs of Middle and High School Students
Middle and High School students can be the museum educator's biggest challenge. At the Karshner Museum, interactive exhibits are a catalyst for student discussion of complex social issues such as Japanese internment. Exciting art programs developed by Mary Jo Maute of the Whatcom Museum of History & Art catch the attention of those drowsy Middle School students. And mural painting, claymation, and learning about objects keep them involved at the Yakima Valley Museum.
—Steve Crowell (Karschner Museum), Bev Wiltshire (Whatcom Children’s Museum), David Lynx (Yakima Valley Museum)
Working with Consultants
Participants will learn the basics of working with consultants—why and how of hiring a consultant, how to write a Request for Proposal, decoding the acronyms of the consulting and contracting worlds, and the five steps of working with consultants.
—Chuck Lennox (Principal, Cascade Interpretive Consulting)
Label-Writing and Production
This session will offer some basic rules and tips for label-writing and low-cost label production. Layering information on interpretive labels is too often a labor intensive process with poor results, but, when when done correctly, it is a simple subtractive process. Turning this text into professional quality labels and graphic panels in-house is a matter of simplicity, proportion, and adherance to a design plan.
—Andy Granitto (Curator of Exhibits/Graphic Designer, Yakima Valley Museum)

10:30-10:45

Break

10:45-NOON

Concurrent Sessions
The Visitor Experience: An Analysis of Beyond Lewis and Clark: The Army Explores the West
How effective is exhibit design and content? Six students from the “Education in Museums” course of UW’s Museum Studies Program evaluated the communicative and educational success of Washington History Museum’s exhibit, Beyond Lewis and Clark: The Army Explores the West. The students worked from the premise that most visitors to museums do not read the majority of text in an exhibit. What do visitors learn from exhibits through artifacts and images alone? How do design and content work together to influence visitors’ understanding of exhibit messages?
—Instructor: Peg Tysver (Museum Studies Program, University of Washington)
—Students: Milena Calderari-Waldron, Lori Penewit, Terry Paige, Viviana Herrera, Lynne Faulk
The New Inventory Method: More Birds With One Stone
We all know the importance of collection inventory and condition reporting, but how about incorporating a few more important needs into the process? What can be done all at once? The Yakima Valley Museum Collections Department discusses collections space layout, inventory procedures, digital vs. film photography, and how to set up an artifact photo shoot.
—Michael Siebol (Curator of Collections, Yakima Valley Museum)
Regional Leagues: Pitfalls and Projects
Learn the latest about Washington’s regional heritage and museum associations...their challenges, opportunities and future directions.
—Susan Rohrer (Education Curator, Washington State Historical Society), and others TBA

NOON-1:15

WMA Annual Meeting
Election of Officers and Trustees, WMA News, and Preview of Conference 2006

1:30

Silent Auction Ends

1:30-2:45

Concurrent Sessions
Walking the Talk: Museums, Preservation and Neighborhoods
Learn how museums can create a sense of community and connection to the past by exploring the architectural and physical environment outside of their walls. This session will explore how architecture, art history, and urban design merge with the mission and messages of local museums, and will also feature a walking tour highlighting Yakima’s preservation efforts.
—Michael Sean Sullivan (University of Washington Tacoma and Washington Trust for Historic Preservation)
Interns and the Three R’s: Recruit, Retain, Return
Focusing on a multi-faceted cooperative internship program that is somewhat in its infancy and has thus far proven to be beneficial, speakers will discuss: How to make your museum more appealing to interns while recruiting through various avenues. How to provide a greater educational opportunity through a wide variety of opportunities (from both a small and large museum perspective). What is appealing from the student’s as well as the professor’s perspective. How to juggle your job and supervise interns at the same time. How to keep the interns in your museum.
—Erin Black (Curator, Kittitas County Historical Society), Michael Siebol (Curator of Collections, Yakima Valley Museum), and others (TBA)
Low-Cost Exhibits
Producing quality exhibits that entertain, inform, and display your collections to their best advantage is a matter of knowing your resources. Through re-use, ready-mades, and a bit of invention and innovation, you can create great exhibitions for much less than you thought possible.
—Bev Wiltshire (Two-Time Exhibit Excellence Award-Winner, Whatcom Children’s Museum), Fred Mattfield (Exhibit Volunteer, Ilwaco Museum), Andy Granitto (Curator of Exhibits/Graphic Designer, Yakima Valley Museum)

3:00-4:15

Concurrent Sessions
Teaching the Treaties: Creating a Partnership Among Teachers, Tribal Elders, & the Academic Community
Panelists will share their experiences in creating curriculum for the Washington State Historical Museum’s upcoming web site entitled “The Treaty Trail.” The web site will interpret the treaty process and its aftermath in the Washington Territory, from pre-contact to the present day. Panelists will demonstrate the need for the teaching of treaties in Washington State schools, provide draft outlines of the curriculum itself, and explain how non-Indians can access tribes and tribal members to assist in treaty education at their schools
—Moderator: Maria Pascualy (Curator of Exhibits, Washington State History Museum)
—Shana Brown (Yakama Nation Descendant and Educator, Seattle), Patsy Whitefoot (Yakama Tribal Elder and Educator, Toppenish),
Sally Brownfield (Squaxin Island Tribal Member and Educator, Olympia), Sally Thompson, Ph.D. (Anthropologist and Educator,
Director of the Lifelong Learning Project, Continuing Education, University of Montana)
Viagra For Your Endowment or Increasing Flow In Your Revenue Stream
“Money, Money, Money, Money Makes The World Go Around...”—the immortal words turned into music on the Broadway stage in Cabaret state an obvious fact in all of our museum and personal lives. And it will ever be so, unless we can develop our own Bureau of Currency Development, complete with a solid millage rate. Since this happy state of affairs is mythical, we all shall remain as “social pets with begging tendencies.” Yet, you really can have fun while you beg, borrow, steal, and grovel. Representatives from the Yakima Valley Museum, which receives no governmental support, will discuss some of the techniques they employ in this eternal quest for cold hard cash.
—John A. Baule (Director, Yakima Valley Museum)
End-of-Conference YVM Exhibit Critique
Okay, you’ve been here two days now. Tell us what works and what doesn’t in our exhibits. Ask questions, make suggestions, and basically share your opinions. This session will be an open discussion.
—Moderator and Whipping Boy, Andy Granitto (Curator of Exhibits/Graphic Designer, Yakima Valley Museum)

4:30

Closing Remarks
• Barbara Moe, President WMA

5:00-8:00

Photos by John Kassinger and Rob Prout.

Farewell Gathering and Supper
At the Home of Artist Leo Adams
Join your museum colleagues for casual socializing in the intimate and ever-welcoming home of Yakima Valley artist Leo Adams, featured several times in Architectural Digest and other arts/design publications. Every aspect of this home overlooking the Valley reflects the land itself and the artist’s unique aesthetic genius.

Ask anyone who was here for the 1997 WMA Annual Conference, and they will tell you:
This rare event is worth staying around for!