At the Jewish Museum of Maryland, artist Loring Cornish leads students from Commodore John Rogers Middle School on a tour of his work. While confronting the economic downturn, the museum has increased outreach efforts. (Staff photo courtesy of Jewish Museum of Maryland.)
As the economic downturn continues, many mid-Atlantic cultural organizations have moved from short-term responses to long-term financial concerns. In the Fall 2009 issue of Cross Ties, directors of three historical organizations explained their early responses to these challenges. This month, Richard Burkert, president and chief executive officer of the Johnstown Area Historical Association, and Avi Decter, executive director of the Jewish Museum of Maryland, have responded to our invitation to provide updates on their situations. How did their organizations’ plans in 2009 work out? What new measures are their institutions taking to address more long-term financial concerns? Their candid reports reflect the ongoing challenges being faced by public humanities programs throughout our region. Read more
Last year, I wrote a post about Broadcastr.com, which allows users to record and present “location-based” stories online. A few weeks later, another location-based site launched: HistoryPin.com. There, users can post audio stories AND photos, videos, and text to a location on a map, as well as create collections and tours. For instance, check out [...]
The other day I was preparing handbooks for the newest members of my Board of Directors and my eye fell on a copy of our Code of Ethics. All staff, members of the Board and volunteers must adhere to the provisions outlined in this document. Included in the Code is a section on interpretation. It [...]
For the past two years, I have been a member of Americorps VISTA which is an arm of the American version of the PeaceCorps. I was stationed in a museum where I wrote community outreach programming for inner-city youths. However, my term of service ended in November and I’ve been unemployed ever since. Some folks [...]
This time of year is known for many things: holidays, the beginning of winter, and a barrage of end-of-year fundraising appeals. Online giving is especially important in December, as people rush to make donations before the end of the tax year. In fact, a significant portion of online giving apparently happens in the final two [...]
The holiday season is upon us and in the museum/public history world it can be a challenging time. Do you decorate for Christmas? What about Hanukkah? Or Kwanzaa? Then there is programming. What kind of December programming is appropriate? A lot of these questions might already be answered for you if your institution is administered [...]
I started this blog with a post called “The Civic Museum.” Civic engagement – it’s the lifeblood of a new vanguard of museums. These museums, big and small, are engaging with their communities on the issues that matter to them. They are finding new and creative ways to foster dialogue and reinforce relationships between people. [...]
It may be a bit early for New Year’s resolutions, but it’s never a bad idea to build time into your professional life for learning new digital skills. Fortunately, you have plenty of great options for building new digital humanities skills whether you’re looking for a semester-long class, a one-week seminar, a single lecture, or [...]
