2010 Museums in Conversation Theme: What Say You?

MANY and our conference partner, the Upstate History Alliance, are planning our 2010 Museums in Conversation Conference for April 11-13, at the Albany Marriott (site of the 2008 conference).

We're kicking around theme ideas and we need your help. Should the conference theme be practical or aspirational....or both? Will a conference about leveraging resources bring folks out in droves in these tough times?

Tell us what you think.

MANY Director Wins 6-Word Novel Contest!

MANY Director Anne Ackerson just received word that she is the co-winner of the 6-Word Novel Contest, sponsored by Blue Avocado, the online resource for nonprofits. The news was announced here and a box of avocados is on its way to Troy.

Anne's winning entry was chosen from more than 200 flash-fiction novels. Hers: My secret discovered. Plane ticket purchased.

Judge Janis Lane-Ewart , Executive Director, KFAI Radio Without Borders, Minneapolis, Minnesota, noted this novel's "ability to capture my imagination, sense of escapism, and mystery."

Get ready, MANY readers -- Blue Avocado is sponsoring a 6-Word Mission Statement Contest this fall!!

Photo: White Books by Vicki's Pics

Just 8 Days Left....

...to email us your entry about what inspires you about museums!

That's right, we're looking for your wordles, haikus, photos, videos and you need to get them to us by July 31st.

Amazon gift certificates will go to four lucky, lucky people!!!

AND, your inspirations will help us here at MANY frame our strategic plans for the coming five years.

We've been posting entries on the homepage of our website. Oh, yeah, we'll do that for yours, too.

Photo: magnetic poetry by surrealmuse

Root Causes - Real Solutions

On Monday, the Albany Times Union published commentary from MANY regarding the legislation stipulating that collections cannot use proceeds from deaccession to pay operating or capital debt. You can find it here.

The legislation does not address the very real issues of how museums should generate revenue. That is not its purpose. Once using proceeds is taken off the table as a revenue generating option, it leaves us to really focus on addressing the creation of safety nets that can stablize museum operations and help these important institutions to flourish.

Among the solutions cited in the commentary are:

• A revolving loan fund that strapped museums could tap into to buy time to restructure and figure out their next steps.
• A check-off box on the state personal income tax that gives residents the opportunity to make a contribution to an arts fund. (That legislation is pending.)
• Access to the state's health insurance program and aggregated energy purchasing to help lower two big chunks of operating costs.
• Comprehensive board and leadership training.
• Let's also look at the state's current grant reimbursement system, which can keep nonprofits waiting months or years to receive project funding, forcing them to borrow funds and take on added debt.

These are just a few potential solutions -- all of them are achievable and any one of them would go a long way to helping institutions steward their educational and collecting missions.

Deaccessioning Bill is Subject of Albany Letter to the Editor

Albany Times Union Letters to the Editor, first published Thursday, June 18, 2009

Recently there have been attempts in New York and elsewhere to monetize museum collections and to use that money for purposes other than the protection and expansion of collections. The Troy Public Library is an example ("Troy Public Library sculptures on auction block," June 9.)

The economic downturn has increased the financial pressure on these cultural institutions. However, selling pieces of their collections is inconsistent with accepted practice.

Without a law, the financial pressure and the bean counters will endanger collections that took centuries to acquire, many of which were donated by people who may not have intended to have their gifts sold. Unless these rules are codified, the integrity and existence of collections handed to us by earlier generations will be endangered.

Libraries and museums aren't private businesses. They are the custodians of our common cultural and historical heritage and have always been publicly supported, be it by tax preferences or direct cash. Collections aren't assets, to be tapped when things get genuinely difficult. If you sell sculptures to keep the doors open, soon you'll have open doors and no sculptures.

We have worked with the Board of Regents and the Museum Association of New York to craft legislation (A.6959) that incorporates the long-standing policies of most museums that are necessary to protect our cultural heritage in a time of economic stress. We urge you to join us in support.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky
92nd Assembly District
Elmsford

How Museums Inspire Me

The first of our Wordles and haikus have arrived! We here at MANY look forward to your thoughts about how museums inspire (or challenge) you.

A haiku by David Palmquist, Head, Museum Chartering, NY State Museum:

The deaccessioned

work of art screams

but no one hears

From Lisa Delmonico, Director of Development, Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden (NYC):

Museum tagline:

"Washington did not sleep here,

and neither can you."

Visit the MANY website for more.

Get Creative!

What's your vision for the future of the state's museum community? Where are we going as a community of practice and how do we get there? What do you as museum practitioners and museum-goers need to meet your vision? How do we harness our collective power? How can MANY help?

Get creative and tell us!

• create a wordle image from your written vision by going to www.wordle.net
• make a 1-minute (or less) video about your vision and email it to us or post it directly on YouTube
• email us photos of what you think museums do best
• compose a haiku
• post your thoughts on this blog

and don't forget....

• plan to come to a conversation (see the schedule in the previous post)
• take the survey (the address for it is in the previous post, too)