MPMA's
quality educational experiences
take
you to museums during the conference so you can apply what you learned in
sessions
Tours
are ESSENTIAL to your professional training
ALL-DAY
EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES
T1
Top of the Rockies: Cultural Treasures and
Colorado's Highest Peaks
Get
your mountain fix during the conference
T2
Boulder: Art, Nature, History
Visit
art galleries, student interactive spaces and the area's newest
museum
T3
Lariat Loop National Scenic Byway
See
historic routes and houses, geologic wonders and dinosaur
footprints
AFTERNOON EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES
T4 Denver History Tour
Western
Women / City Shapers
See
the Molly Brown House Museum (one of the best in the nation) and hear insights
from CO's best-known women's historians
T5
Visual Arts:
Denver
Art Museum
MCA
Denver
Museum
of Western Art
Visit
three nationally-known museums
T6
Nature and Science:
Denver
Museum of Nature & Science
Denver
Botanical Gardens
Visit two leading scientific research
institutions
To
Register for tours, go here
you can add tours to an existing
registration
For
details on each tour,
scroll
down
WHY
TAKE TOURS???
This
is about applied knowledge. Get out of the hotel
and see how they do it in Denver. This is your ONLY
chance. MPMA tours are ALWAYS good and you'll learn so much.
That's why we have six tours this year. Check here
for schedule, location and details.
But hurry: MPMA tours are popular and fill up
fast.
TOUR
DETAILS
T1
Top of the Rockies:
Cultural
Treasures / Colorado's Highest Peak
Get
your mountain fix during the conference
Visit the highest city
in the U.S. and see the tallest peak in the Rockies. On the way up, you'll
pass historic towns, mining districts, and the Climax Molybdenum Mine. Your
Leadville experience includes 19th-century residences and mines from when
Leadville competed to become the state’s capital. In this town of quaint shops and
Victorian-style streets, you’ll visit the Matchless Mine and hear the part it
played in the scandalous life of Silver King Horace Tabor and his wife, “Baby
Doe.” Next is the Tabor Opera
House. Built in 1879, this is where
celebrities like John Philip Sousa, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt and Harry
Houdini graced its stage. The final stop will be the National Mining Hall of
Fame and Museum where you can find out what it was like to work in a mine where
rock was blasted in narrow passageways deep underground.
Tour Guide: Stephen L.
Whittington, Executive Director, National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum,
Leadville, CO; Vice President, MPMA Board of
Directors
T2
Boulder: Art, Nature, History
Visit
art galleries, student interactive spaces and the area's newest
museum
The
tour starts with a drive up scenic Colorado State Highway 93 right up against
the famous Flatiron rock formations that lead to
Boulder and the University of Colorado campus. The first stop is the CU Art Museum to
see galleries, education areas and a special tour of the vault with Senior
staff. At the CU Museum of Natural History, we’ll explore the Bio Lounge,
a popular exhibit and student interactive and hear Senior staff discuss this
re-imagined biology hall/student lounge and the challenges of changing exhibits
in a constantly evolving space. We’ll see the new Museum of Boulder for a
hard hat tour and hear what staff has to say about the museum’s transformation
from the smaller Boulder History Museum to the larger Museum of
Boulder.
Tour Guides: Maggie Mazzullo, Collections Manager/Registrar, CU Art Museum; Sharon Tinianow, Assistant Director, CU Museum of Natural History; Kristen Lewis, Curator of Collections, Museum of Boulder
T3
Lariat Loop National Scenic Byway
See
historic routes and houses, geologic wonders and dinosaur
footprints
We’ll travel along one
of the Denver area’s original auto tours, the historic Lariat Loop which offers
a setting of dense forests, mountain vistas, winding roads and historic “beauty
spots.” We’ll see the only city-owned bison herd in the world that came
originally from Yellowstone National Park in 1914. Then it is on to Hiwan
Museum, an historic house museum in Evergreen for a behind-the-scenes look at
what was once a cherished retreat for a wealthy family. We’ll take another
scenic route through Bear Creek Canyon to Red Rocks Amphitheater, one of
nature’s geologic wonders and premier concert venues in the world and end our
journey at Dinosaur Ridge, the site of one of the world's most famous dinosaur
fossils.
Guides: Tim Sandsmark, Education Supervisor, Jefferson County Open Space and Director of Lookout Mountain Nature Center; John Steinle, former History Education Supervisor, Jefferson County Open Space and Director of Hiwan Museum
T4
Denver History Tour: Western Women /City Shapers
See
the Molly Brown House Museum (one of the best in the nation) and hear insights
from CO's best-known women's historians
Throughout history,
women who settled in Denver were highly independent and became civic leaders who
turned a rough town into a cultured city. We’ll explore their stories while
seeing historic house museums.
Stops include the Byers Evans House Museum and Molly Brown House Museum -
two thriving historic house museums that use immersive experiences to activate
the stories of uniquely Denver women. We’ll drive past historic locations such
as the Black American West Museum and iconic structures which civic-minded women
helped to build. And, we’ll learn about the women who pioneered models of
historic preservation in a boom and bust city.
Tour guides: Dr.
Marcia T. Goldstein, Colorado Women’s Historian, Denver, CO; Andrea Malcomb,
Museum Director, Molly Brown House Museum, Denver, CO.
T5
Visual
Arts
Denver
Art Museum
MCA
Denver
Museum
of Western Art
Visit
three nationally-known museums
Get a taste of
Denver’s diverse visual arts offerings with this three-museum tour. We’ll visit
Denver Art Museum, one of the largest art museums between Chicago and the West
Coast. The next stop is the American Museum of Western Art, located in the
historic Navarre Building. This permanent home of the Anschutz Collection boasts
over 300 paintings that provides an in-depth survey of Western art and showcases
the history and beauty of the American West. The final stop is the Museum
of Contemporary Art Denver (MCA Denver). Featuring regional, national and
international artists, MCA Denver offers exhibitions that promote creative
experimentation with art and ideas and has established
itself
as an innovative forum
for a culturally engaged community. Head up to the top floor’s terrace bar for a
cocktail.
Tour Guide:
Sarah Kate Baie, Director of Programming, MCA
Denver
T6
Nature and Science
Denver
Museum of Nature & Science
Denver Botanical
Gardens
Visit two leading scientific research
institutions
Denver Botanic Gardens is a living museum with a wide range of gardens
and collections on 24 acres featuring plants from all over the world.
Distinctive gardens define and celebrate a Western identity and a unique
high-altitude climate and geography. Discover this urban oasis with a docent as
your guide or take a self-guided tour. Next explore the Denver Museum of
Nature & Science (DMNS) - -one of the country’s leading natural history
museums---in this exclusive behind-the-scenes tour. Check out some of the
Museum’s 1.4 million artifacts and collections items, ranging from Zoology to
Anthropology and Paleontology, in the brand-new, state-of-the-art Avenir
Collections Center. Your guides will be members of the DMNS scientific
curatorial and collections team who will be ready to engage with you throughout
your visit.
Tour Guides: Rachel V. Murray, Interpretation and Evaluation
Specialist, Denver Botanic Gardens; Curators from DMNS’ Research
Collections
When you register for the conference, enhance your training by taking a
tour. We call them Educational Experiences because this is where
you apply what you learned in the sessions. It is another important level of
learning!!!! Sometimes the big boss doesn't get this. But we
do! That's why we have so many.
See the full list of tours and their times here.
Questions? Contact us at [log in to unmask]
DON'T
FORGET OUR SPECIAL SPEAKERS AT THIS YEAR'S CONFERENCE
Lonnie
Bunch: Founding
Director, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington,
D.C.
Maria
Marable-Bunch:
Director, Education &Public Programs, National Archives & Records
Administration, Washington, D.C.
Barry Petersen:
CBS Senior News Correspondent, reporting for CBS Evening News, CBS
This Morning and CBS Sunday Morning
Steve
W. Turner:
State Historic Preservation Officer/ Executive Director, History
Colorado
Nancy Walsh: Vice President of
Partnerships and Programs at the Denver Museum of Nature &
Science
Adam
Lerner:
Director/Chief Animator, MCA-Denver
Dean
Sobel: Director, Clyfford
Still Museum
Brian Vogt:
President/CEO, Denver Botanical Gardens
John
R. Dichtl:
President/CEO, American Association for State & Local History,
Nashville, TN
Christoph
Heinrich: Frederick
and Jan Mayer Director, Denver Art Museum
Ernest
House Jr.
(Ute Mountain Ute): Executive Director, Colorado Commission on Indian
Affairs Towaoc,
CO
There
are more speakers
here
Mountain-Plains Museums Association
7755 South 23rd Street, Lincoln, NE 68512