Since I started the work of figuring out the next stage of my career, I’ve been having amazing conversations with museum colleagues from around the United States. These conversations remind me how much I love having a museum community, and how amazing our colleagues are. Museum educator, consultant, and self-proclaimed pirate Rachel Ropeik (who left…
It has been over two years since my last Museum Questions post, in November 2020. To everyone reading this post: congratulations on getting through the past few years. What’s changed for you professionally since early 2020? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below. WordPress tells me there are nearly 1000 subscribers to…
Over the past few months, while struggling with the devastating economic impact of coronavirus on museums, some of the most interesting and useful conversations I have had have been about reinvention. How do we use this moment to identify ways we can be better? How do we emerge from this situation with a clearer vision…
Art and objects teach us about historical moments, give us comfort, and connect us. What might we collect in a virtual exhibit to illuminate and help us through our experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic? I asked a number of people to share an object or work of art that has resonance for them right now.…
Dean Heffta is a consultant who specializes in leadership, strategic vision, and performance training. He is the host of Communication On Point podcast and trains using the Process Communication Model developed in the 1970s, and since used by NASA and Pixar. Recently I heard Dean speak in a webinar offered by the Peoria Chamber of…
Over the past week, I have heard from friends and former colleagues from around the country and beyond. While these connections are the silver lining in the enormous, dark coronavirus cloud, so much of the conversation is about lost jobs, fear for laid off employees, the sound of ambulances going by, and radical uncertainty. Personally,…
A week ago (but it feels like months) Thinking About Museums blogger Ed Rodley suggested that a day of virtual drinking with colleagues would be good for our museum-loving souls. I am one of 55 people globally who offered to host virtual cocktails. So please join me at 5pm Central Time tonight, with this Zoom…
This is a week for reaching out; for me, that includes working on a post for Museum Questions, after a very long absence. This is a week when, while spending time isolated, we learn we are not alone. This short episode of “The Daily” shares how the tone of the internet has changed over the…
Join our amazing team! The Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum is hiring a Membership and Marketing Coordinator, a part-time (29 hours per week) position with a flexible schedule. This staff member will be in charge of the museum’s membership program, as well as considering data across the museum and coordinating marketing, especially on social media and the museum’s…
A few months ago, Mike Murawski, in partnership with LaTanya Autry of the Mississippi Museum of Art and The Empathetic Museum, created t-shirts to support a “Museums are not Neutral” campaign. Murawski wrote, “Museums have the potential to be relevant, socially-engaged spaces in our communities. Yet, too often, they strive to remain “above” the political and social…
Museum Questions 