Small Museum Association

2006 Call for Papers

 

 

The Small Museums Association (SMA) is planning its 22nd Annual Winter Conference in Ocean City, Maryland on February 26 - 28, 2006.  This conference brings together more than 200 museum professionals from a wide range of institutions each year, primarily from the Mid-Atlantic region.  The conference aims towards improving professionalism within the small museum community by providing a unique and comfortable environment for individuals and institutions with diverse experiences to meet and learn from each other.  Conference sessions typically provide practical, relevant discussions, and examples for small museums and institutions with limited budgets. 

  

This year, the Winter Conference seeks to recognize the changing face of the Small Museum through the theme of "Learning Large with Small Museums."  This topic addresses the need for museums to reach beyond normal comfort zones, look outside the box, and develop new and exciting educational programs, long range plans, collections policies and more.   Information and ideas will be disseminated through workshops, panel discussions, and speakers.

 

As small museums work diligently to meet daily challenges, resources within the larger community can be overlooked. One of the goals of the Winter Conference is to give professionals and volunteers practicing at small museums the necessary tools to form strong community relationships and to mine the wealth of unsuspected resources available.  Strong partnerships can lead to increased capacity for small museums and increased awareness of the needs of the surrounding community.

 

We invite proposals for conference sessions surrounding the following subjects, in two tracks, a "nuts and bolts" track and an advanced track:

 

v      Educational Programming for Adult Learners, Teens, Family Audiences, Holiday Programs

v      Traditional & Nontraditional Fundraising

v      Display of Archaeological Collections

v      Cleaning & Preparing Historic Interiors

v      Creating Living History Programs

v      How's and What's of Appraising Your Collection

v      Developing a Mailing List

v      Reaching Teachers Who Are Forced to Teach "To the Test"

 

Individuals from the museum/historic preservation and related supporting communities who would like to present at this dynamic and friendly conference are invited to submit proposals to the address below by July 1, 2005: 

 

Marianne Della Croce, SMA Speakers Coordinator

American Merchant Marine Museum

United States Merchant Marine Academy

Kings Point, NY 11024

 

516.773.5515

 

Or via e-mail to: [log in to unmask]

 

Individuals with questions regarding the Small Museums Association or its conference, or who have suggestions for topics they would be interested in learning about at future meetings, can contact the organization at the same address.


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