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Note from the President

 

Dear NAME Colleagues,

The NAME Board is going through its biennial transition.  We’re an organization run almost exclusively by volunteers who work largely in the background and with little recognition. So a full helping of gratitude is due to those members who are transitioning off the NAME Board for their contributions. This gratitude extends to their respective institutions and firms as well. THANK YOU!

  • Phyllis Rabineau, Immediate Past President. Chicago History Museum
  • Sean Duran, Member-At-Large, Miami Science Museum
  • Beth Redmond-Jones, Member-At-Large, Redmond-Jones & Associates
  • Jeri Robinson, New England Regional Representative, Boston Children’s Museum
  • Aaron Goldblatt, Mid-Atlantic Regional Representative, Metcalfe Architecture and Design
  • Charles Counter, Mountain-Plains Regional Representative, University of Colorado Museum & Museum Field Studies Program
  • Kevin Schlesier, Membership Co-Chair, NASCAR Hall of Fame

 

Eric Siegel from the New York Hall of Science deserves special recognition for his leadership as President. He has guided us with thoughtfulness, insight, and good humor. I am especially grateful he will continue to serve as Immediate Past President, easing my transition.

During my six years on the Board, under the leadership of both Phyllis Rabineau and Eric, I’ve witnessed NAME’s astounding progress. The Exhibitionisthas made a quantum leap forward in both style and content. The website has grown dramatically in its usefulness and now offers free downloads of our journal. A new retreat called Creativity and Collaboration was successfully launched (more on that later). All the while, NAME has continued with its traditional activities: sponsoring sessions at the conference, co-sponsoring the Excellence in Exhibition Competition, supporting students and new professionals with Fellowships.

I’m excited to announce that planning has begun for another Creativity and Collaboration (C2) Retreat in 2011. This begins what we expect to be a biennial tradition. The next conference will be an east coast event (broadly defined) in Chautauqua, New York, October 28-30, 2011. It will again be kept intentionally small to allow the kinds of activities and reflections not possible in larger settings. So stay tuned as registration opens in early 2011.

I recently attended my first Standing Professional Committee Council Meeting, which brings together SPC Chairs, AAM Board and Staff. In light of the AAM’s new strategic plan, The Spark,the discussions focused on the big questions around mission and identity.  How would AAM be different if the SPCs disappeared? And the flip side, how would the SPCs be different if unaffiliated with AAM? SPCs like NAME are in a unique position, committed to their discipline and yet part of a larger museum organization. Surprisingly, today only 20% of AAM members belong to an SPC. So these are questions worth considering as we chart our course to make the SPCs more relevant and accessible to the larger AAM membership.

As the incoming president, I look forward to working with all of you and in particular our new Board in fostering NAME’s creative momentum on all of these projects.

 

Doug Simpson