"Embracing the Future"
Western Museums Association 1996 Conference
October 16 - 19, 1996
Salt Lake City, Utah

Mark your calendars to come to Salt Lake City from October 16 through 19 for
the WMA's annual conference.  "Embracing the Future" is the theme of our
meeting this year.  More than 40 sessions and workshops will strive to show
how we, as museum professionals, can conquer the challenges facing us as we
confront serious questions about the relevance and role of cultural
institutions in the West.

Some of the unique offerings scheduled for the meeting this year include
preconference workshops dealing with the nuts and bolts of operating a museum
and gatherings related to labeling and copyrights.  State associations from
throughout our region will also come together to discuss how they might most
effectively work for their mutual benefit.  A full array of educational
sesions -- spanning topics as diverse as the use of scent in museum exhibits
to the protrayal and role of women in the West, recruiting and keeping
volunteers, and partnerships between for and nonprofit institutions will help
to round out the conference.  Senator Bob Bennett of Utah, a major supporter
of the cultural community, is scheduled to welcome the WMA to Salt Lake City
on Wednesday evening at the opening-night dinner.  Ralph Appelbaum, designer
of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., will open
the conference as our keynote speaker on Thursday, October 17 and Elaine
Heumann Guerian will give a general address to conference delegates on the
topic of institutional trauma on Friday, October 18.  All of this will be
supplemented with affinity group meetings, an AAM bookstore, an exhibit hall
featuring some of the finest products and services offered to the field, and
exciting evening events spotlighting the wonderful museums of Salt Lake City.
 Join us as we "Embrace the Future."

For more information or a preliminary program, please contact Wendy Finch or
James Hanley at (213) 939-6453; fax (213) 939-6493; or E-mail
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