September 28, 2021 Newsletter

EVENT RECAP

Diversity is the Bare Minimum:

What Does Inclusive Representation

Look Like in Practice?

On Thursday, September 9, MuseumExpert.org held the latest webinar in its series on The Post-COVID Museum. The discussion was moderated by Daniel Aguirre, Inclusive Workplace Culture and Community Engagement Practitioner, and presented a panel of museum leaders, all experts in creating more inclusive environments (see panelist details below). The discussion tackled a range of issues such as how a leader’s desire for staff to support their vision can stifle diversity, how job descriptions are too often crafted to eliminate candidates, and the field’s reluctance to be transparent about salaries. We talked about the need for institutions to examine their workplace culture, policies, and practices in alignment with mission and the value of “hiring for individual self-actualization into the ‘institutional why’”.  The events of 2020 changed how museums see themselves. These changes can serve to accelerate movement toward museums as workplaces that invite rather than exclude and allow agency for influencers at all levels of the organization. 

 

Panelists

  • Ashanti Davis: Exhibition Manager at the Fleet Science Center
  • Christian Greer: President and CEO of the Michigan Science Center
  • Micah Parzen: CEO of the Museum of Us
  • Michelle Grohe: Esther Stiles Eastman Curator of Education at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 
  • Monica O. Montgomery, MA: Co-founder of Museum Hue and the Social Justice, Special Projects + Programming Curator with Smithsonian Institution Arts + Industries Building

 

On September 23, we continued the conversation with a less formal online event where MuseumExpert.org members interacted with each other and with special guest, Christian Greer, on the challenging topics of diversity and inclusion. We thank all who participated, particularly Daniel Aguirre who revisited these issues with us.

Watch Recording

SPOTLIGHT

Erick Orellana

Erick Orellana has worked in the museum field for the past 7 years. At the end of March 2020, as a result of the pandemic, he lost his job at the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California. Erick used his time out of work to step back and reflect on the importance of building and maintaining relationships with his colleagues in the museum profession. To this point, he currently co-leads the Bay Area Visitor Experience (VEX) Group as a volunteer. Similar to MuseumExpert.org, VEX hosts monthly meetings, webinars and talks for Bay Area museum professionals who are interested in networking and building new skills. Areas of focus and interest have included exploring DEIA initiatives, building visitor experience best practices, and learning about new employment and museum initiatives. 

 

Erick was just recently hired as the Visitor Experience Lead at the USS Hornet, a sea, air and space museum located on a decommissioned aircraft carrier off the coast of the Bay Area city of Alameda. He is excited that museums, including his own, are starting to reopen safely and believes that strong communication skills are central to being part of a successful team. 

Share Your Story

PARTNER UPDATES

MuseumExpert.org is fortunate to have assembled a cohort of partners from all corners of the museum world. From time to time the newsletter will feature updates on new partner organizations and will post information on MuseumExpert.org partners’ events and resources.

Join us for the ASTC Virtual 2021 Annual Conference, to be held October 5–7, 2021. The conference is one of the premier annual events for science-engagement professionals and leaders in science and technology centers and museums. Register today to join us online.

Register

MuseumExpert.org is participating in

a session at the ASTC 2021 Conference!

MuseumExpert.org proposed a small flash session for the upcoming ASTC conference to inform the science center field about what we have learned about new hiring practices over the last year. The proposal caught the eyes of the ASTC program committee, and it was suggested that we merge with an ASTC "Leadership and Field Development Committee”. We are happy to announce that we are now involved in a major interactive session that will address: “Major trends, perspectives and priorities for field building and leadership development”. The session will focus on four key ideas:

 

  • Opportunities and challenges of rebuilding the field and workforce. 
  • Opportunities for re-skilling; workforce capacity development, and advancement.
  • The need for increasing field-wide leadership related to equity and inclusion. 
  • People leaving the field and taking their expertise, skills, and capacity with them
  • Misalignment of cultures between leadership and non-leadership. 

 

MuseumExpert.org will share perspective on these topics using lessons learned through several of our webinars. If you are an ASTC conference attendee, make sure to connect on 10/6/2021 from 12:00:00 PM - 12:45:00 PM EDT.

Communities for Immunity has awarded the first round of funding to museums, libraries, and tribal organizations to boost vaccine confidence in their communities. Applications for Round Two funding open on October 4 and will remain open through October 29, 2021, with awards ranging from $1,500 to $100,000. Communities for Immunity is administered by the Association of Science and Technology Centers in partnership with the American Alliance of Museums and the Network of the National Library of Medicine, with the support of the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the Centers for Disease Control. See more information at www.communitiesforimmunity.org.

JOIN OUR TEAM!

MuseumExpert.org depends on volunteers to help serve our colleagues and the profession at large. We are a community passionate about museums and the roles they play in our lives. We form community by connecting individuals and opportunities so that “museum people” we can move forward in our lives and livelihoods. For some that is snagging a new museum role, and for others it is translating passion and skills to new fields. Please join our team.

Volunteer
MuseumExpert.org