| UHA/MANY
2007 Annual Conference |
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For a complete description of conference workshops and sessions plus detailed lodging and registraion information visit the UHA website
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Thank You for your support!  |
| Get up and GO! |
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provide the opportunity to expand horizons through travel to other museums or professional conferences and workshops.
Application deadline for the UHA/MANY Conference is March 31. |
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Did you know...
UHA works in partnership with the Heritage New York, a division of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. |
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Dates to Remember
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Mar 31, 2007 -
Deadline: Special
Go! Grant deadline for organizations interested
in attending the
Syracuse on April 15-17, 2007.
April 1, 2007 -
Deadline:
The goal of the Get Set!
Grant is to provide your
organization with access
to professional ideas and
opinions, knowledge, and
expertise not found in your institution. These skills and new ideas will strengthen your organization and increase
your institution's level of professionalism.
April 15-17, 2007 -
"Long Tails, Tipping Points
and Cultural Literacy: Museums, Trends and Communities" Syracuse, NY.
May 13-17, 2007 -
American Association of
Museums Annual Conference
"Why Museum Matter" Chicago, IL. For more information, visit
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Photo Credit:
The photo featured on our banner in this issue is from The History Center in Tompkins County. To learn how your photos can grace our pages in future issues, contact Kelly at director@upstatehistory.org | |
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Greetings UHA Members!
Wow--time flies when you are a new director! My first few weeks at UHA have been filled with exciting new challenges. Preparing for the Annual Conference with MANY has certainly been at the forefront. It is going to be an outstanding event and I look forward to meeting you there. I have also been learning about the Get Ready! Get Set! Go! Program from a whole new perspective. As a former recipient and now the administrator, I know that it is a terriffic program and I hope you will take advantage of it in the coming year.
Together with an enthusiastic Board of Directors, Jenny-our fantastic Program Coordinator and I will be spending the year evaluating our current programs and crafting a new Strategic Plan that will chart the course for our future.
Time is flying, but it's still early in 2007, so dust off those resolutions and join with us in making it a year for reflection and growth at your organization!
Kelly |
NEH Chairman to deliver keynote
Thanks to support from the New York Council on the Humanities
Bruce Cole, eighth chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, will take the podium on Monday, April 16th, to address participants in the 2007 UHA/MANY annual conference. As NEH chairman, Cole has launched We the People, an initiative to encourage the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture. The initiative includes an annual Heroes of History lecture, the Idea of America Essay Contest for high school students, and a program to distribute classic children's books to libraries and schools across the country.
Under Cole's leadership the NEH's budget has increased for research, preservation, education, and public programs on American history and culture and for the study of culture in other lands and in earlier civilizations.
Cole came to the Endowment in December 2001 from Indiana University in Bloomington, where he was Distinguished Professor of Art History and Professor of Comparative Literature. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Cole was chosen for a second term in 2005, a reappointment unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate.
Cole has written fourteen books, many of them about the Renaissance. They include The Renaissance Artist at Work; Sienese Painting in the Age of the Renaissance; Italian Art, 1250-1550: The Relation of Art to Life and Society; Titian and Venetian Art, 1450-1590; and Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post-Modernism. His most recent book is The Informed Eye: Understanding Masterpieces of Western Art.
Growing Through Partnership
More News About the Conference...
New York Council for the Humanities is Conference Partner This Year We are pleased to announce that the New York Council for the Humanities (NYCH) has joined forces with the Upstate History Alliance and MANY to develop elements of this year's conference. Tuesday program will include Building a Cultural Community: Collaboration and Connection in the Public Humanities. Join Joyce Latham, Executive Director of the Onondaga County Public Library system, and Tom Greenfield, Professor of English and Special Advisor to the President at SUNY Geneseo, for an informal breakfast discussion about ways museums can build partnerships, audiences, and a sense of community by working with other institutions that share their commitment to strengthening the state's cultural arena.
New York State Council on the Arts Supports Conference Sessions Join experts in the field of architecture, education and preservation in this exciting series of "green" sessions dedicated to investigatng the intersection between sustainable design and best practices for museums.
New York State Historical Association Supports Poster Sessions New this year are poster sessions offered by graduate students that highlight new research and techniques.
Questions? For more information about the upcoming conference, visit www.upstatehistory.org or call the Upstate History Alliance at 800.895.1648 |
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You Snooze, You Lose
By: Anne Ackerson, Director, Museum Association of New York
Whether we like it or not, we're living in a sea of change. And the pace of change is quickening. If it's not global warming, the Democrats in the majority in Congress, or the unveiling of the iPhone, it's declining admissions at historic sites or the graying of museum boards and staffs.
The fact is 'we' - personally, collectively, and institutionally - don't live in isolation. What's happening outside the four walls of our homes, our schools, and our museums does impact decisions we make inside our homes, our schools, and our museums.
Way back in 2000, Shellie Williams, a senior consultant at Lord Cultural Resources, offered up her thoughts about the trends cultural institutions ought to have on their radar screens.(i) Here's a partial list:
· Our audiences are going to be more diverse.
· Our audiences will be more highly educated.
· Our audiences will be older.
· Our audiences will also become younger.
· Time is becoming the currency of the new millennium.
· The power of the Internet makes e-products and an e-presence a must.
· There is a greater expectation in the role of and adherence to a clearly defined mission statement.
· Adopt a visitor-centered philosophy.
· Funding bases must become increasingly diversified.
· Creative partnerships are a wave of the future.
From my 2007 vantage point, this list is ringing true. So, among your organizational resolutions for the new year, you might want to make sure to keep your antennae up to detect change and your mind open to the opportunities that change can bring.
Organizational change is, by far, one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome, due primarily to the fact that it involves many people, multiple agendas (sometimes hidden), and precious little resources. Whether you're a board member, a staff member or a volunteer, there are some approaches that help to make instituting change more effective and long lasting. And these approaches work as well for evolutionary change as for revolutionary change.
First of all, some basic rules of thumb:
* virtually any variance in policy or procedure, no matter how informal, can (and most likely will) have an impact on others. If you think of your organization as a dynamic organism, with interconnecting parts, then it becomes easier to understand that when you start to move or change the parts, other parts can be altered or affected.
* the desire or need to change can bubble up internally or can be pressed by external environments.
* a usual reaction to the prospect of change is reticence or downright resistance. Although a few people do thrive on change, especially when it does not affect their own well-being, most people in most groups will resist making decisions that will cause discomfort to others.(ii)
* change is often the last item on an overworked person's agenda.
* for most institutions it's better to lead change than be driven to it. Change is what all of us can expect in greater doses and faster cycles....(we) must come to grips with an external world that is changing so fast that organizational decisions must be timely and relevant.(iii)
In his book Leading Change, Harvard Business School professor John P. Kotter prefers to see organizations lead their change efforts rather than simply manage them because he feels that successful transformation is 70-90% leadership and only 10-30% management.(iv)
Leading change doesn't have to start at the top of your organization, although it's always easier if board and staff leaders support change efforts. So how do you begin that process of leading change? Here are some thoughts from Shellie Williams and John Kotter:
· Embrace change -- when it comes to the future, resistance is futile.
· Have vision and a strategy. A vision helps direct, align and inspire change; the strategy achieves the vision.
· Stretch yourself and those around you -- stretch your imagination, ingenuity and curiosity. Talk to people with new and "weird" ideas. Keep growing.
· Insist on rigorous adherence to standards of excellence and be a slave to visitor satisfaction.
· Believe passionately in what you do -- it is only through the expression of your passion that you will incite passion in others.
· Establish a sense of urgency to get people out of their comfort zones. Build a solid case for change, but don't confuse urgency with anxiety.
· Create a "guiding coalition" of people within your organization who will work as a team to lead change. Lone wolves rarely effect lasting change -- organizational tradition and inertia are too powerful for one person to overcome alone.
· Use every opportunity to communicate your vision to others inside and outside the organization.
· Encourage committees, task forces, staffs, and volunteers to take action to remove the obstacles that are the barriers of change.
· Understand that real transformation takes time - often three to ten years, or longer depending on the extent of change and the ossification of the organization. New approaches are fragile and subject to regression, so don't declare victory too soon.
· And finally, new behaviors must be rooted in the organization's resources, processes, and values if they are to take hold. Make connections between new behaviors and organizational success.
Yep. It's a sea of change. Are you adrift or heading into port?
i Williams, Shellie. Gazing into the Crystal Ball --Trends for the 21st Century, excerpts from the Keynote Presentation: The Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Center, February 3, 2000, Orlando, Florida (www.lord.ca) ii Andriga, Robert C. and Engstrom, Ted W. Nonprofit Board Answer Book. Washington, DC: National Center for Nonprofit Boards (www.boardsource.org). 1997. p.182. iii Ibid. iv Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. 1996. p.26. |
Planning for Collections Care
By: Gwen Spicer, Conservator
We all know that Collection Care is important for long-term preservation of our institution's holdings. But how do we achieve this goal? The first step is planning. This might seem a bit odd coming from a Conservator, but I have found that collection care cannot work in a vacuum. Typically, the museums I have helped or seen work towards improving preservation of their collections are strong and healthy institutions. They have thought beyond the vacuum. This does not mean they have large budgets, but they have a plan, and goals that guide an institution through the process of preservation. Planning can be done such that it focuses on collections care. A plan helps to assign rolls to the various tasks. Just this activity alone helps to establish to everyone that these tasks need to happen. Preservation needs to be a holistic activity that everyone under takes.
No discussion on collection care planning can occur without mentioning the findings of Heritage Preservation in their Heritage Health Index Report on the State of American's Collections. This comprehensive study with horrific results was performed in 2005. Improper storage facilities are listed in the study as the "greatest hazard to collections." All of their data is based on national statistics, however, the collections in New York follows the same trends with the same percentages. With the only exceptions of more state funding available in New York than other states, due to the great efforts of NYSCA and their administrating agencies.
Some of the many horrific findings are:
· 70% of historical societies and museums have the majority of their collections stored in areas too small to accommodate them safely and appropriately.
· 75% of historical societies and 68% of museums have experienced damage to collections due to improper storage.
· 26% of collecting institutions have no environmental controls.
· 59% of collecting institutions have had their collections damaged by light.
· 53% of collecting institutions have had their collections damaged by moisture.
· 80% of collecting institutions do not have an emergency plan that includes collections with staff trained to carry it out.
· 39% of institutions have a significant backlog in cataloging their collections.
· 70% of institutions do not have a current assessment of the condition of their collections.
· 40% have no allocated fund, 36% have no specific line item but use have other budgeted funds available. This leaves only 23% who do have allocated funds and 2% who do not know.
· 50% of institutions do not have written long-range plans for the care of their collections.
· 30% have no staff who perform preservation activities.
· 62% have not applied for external preservation funding in the last 3 years whether private or public sources.
As you read this long list, you might be thinking that these findings do not pertain or describe your institutions. These are museums in disaster regions along the gulf coasts or larger museums like the museums in the city. But no. Eighty-nine museums in New York were surveyed in this study of all sizes with all levels of staffing and budgets in all regions in the state. In fact, small museums have more of an ability to make changes, are more agile, and have fewer bureaucracies to slow change. Change can be simpler at these institutions, needing fewer staff members to implement.
The way out from this predicament is planning for collection care. Begin by allocating funds for collection care and having an assessment performed on the conditions of your collections. Many members of UHA qualify for Conservation Assessment Programs Surveys. You can also apply for a Get Set! Grant from the Grants for Museum Advancement Program to support an assessment of your collection by a conservator. Both of these assessment surveys can provide a holistic list of priorities with the care of collections in mind.
Next, establish a long-range plan that includes collection care with summary of needs, actions, and priorities. Funding for such an activity can be procured with either a Get Ready! Grant or a Get Set! Grant. Work to allocate funds or perhaps adjust staff duties so that all staff members and volunteers participate in the preservation duties at your organization. Often the solutions that are needed are intertwined with other activities that require full staff involvement.
Typically, it is time, not so much money that is required, but that too is needed. Such activities may start with simple activities, such as pulling down shades to reduce light levels in galleries or furnished rooms, or monitoring of sticky traps, or changing the hydgrothermograph papers or downloading the data-loggers. Some additional actions are:
· Begin to monitor your environment. Data-loggers have the least impact on staff time, but the low-tech method can be to install thermometers with a note pad.
· Add preservation activities in your collection management policy.
· Preservation is part of your organization's mission that often gets ignored. Be sure to right this wrong.
· Gift vs. liability, donors might be willing to "endow" care of their donation if they are only aware of this need.
· Begin a conversation with your peers in the field. Often, the solution that is needed at one museum has already been implemented at another. Why reinvent the wheel? Post your questions to the UHA ListServ and see if another organization might be able to offer you advice.
Remember, preservation and collection care takes time and persistence. In your discussions, remember the recommendations from the Heritage Health Index:
1. Every institution recommits to providing safe conditions for the collections they hold in trust.
2. Every collecting institution develops an emergency plan to protect its collections.
3. Every single institution assigns responsibility for caring for collections to members of its staff.
4. Individuals at all levels of government and in the private sector assume responsibility for providing the support that will allow these collections to survive.
Here in New York we are fortunate to have several strong service organizations, such as the Upstate History Alliance, who together enable museums to begin to work towards solving the findings of the Health Index, gathered by Heritage. Be sure to reach out to these organizations as you begin to plan for collections care at your organizations.
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