2024 NAEA Museum Education Division Preconvention

Creating What We Need

Museum Education Division Preconvention
Wednesday, April 3, 2024 | 9:30am–4:30pm CT
In Person | Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN

Gather with colleagues on Wednesday, April 3, at the Minneapolis Institute of Art for an immersive, day-long exploration of how art museum educators are “creating what we need” for 2024. Advocating for both museum visitors and ourselves is challenging work. We’re expanding institutional partners, honing community-facing advocacy work, and centering responsive engagement strategies for our audiences, all while balancing stress, fatigue, and burnout. Together, let’s connect through a diversity of perspectives: with a keynote speaker, in conversations with colleagues, through gallery activities, over refreshments, and with materials in hand.

The Museum Division Development Committee seeks submissions for presenters in one of two categories:

Gallery Teaching Lab: Do you have a new or experimental approach to your gallery teaching? Have you been working on an engagement strategy for your visitors that you’d like to share with colleagues? It can be something you’ve practiced frequently, or something you’re still fine-tuning. Bring your innovative gallery teaching ideas to share with fellow museum educators, using a work of art from the Minneapolis Institute of Art. You should be prepared to present a 30- to 40-minute in-gallery experience, and allow time for questions, responses, and feedback. Note: You may be asked to present your session twice. Submit here.

Hot Topic Conversations: As we consider the needs of our visitors, departments, staff, and ourselves, we are frequently required to advocate for a variety of institutional changes to best address those needs. Whether it’s increasing the role of DEAI across the museum, best practices for managing staff and volunteers, or collective bargaining, what is a “hot topic” that you’ve been contemplating or addressing in your museum? These sessions are not designed to provide perfect solutions, but instead to brainstorm together the resources and strategies you may need to succeed, and to hear examples of small and big wins around these hot topics. You should be prepared to present the context of your hot topic, an example of a related challenge that you’ve been working on, and facilitate an open discussion around a set of four or five guiding questions. Note: You may be asked to present your session twice. Submit here.

Deadline for submission: Monday, January 8, 12:00am ET.

Final presenters will be notified of their selection on January 19, 2024.

NOTE OF ENCOURAGEMENT: We are all stretched thin these days, so don’t agonize over your proposal to make it “perfect.” It’s more important that you share your ideas and thoughts rather than have smooth transition sentences or perfect editing. We want your contribution!

If you have any questions about the proposal process email: naeamused@gmail.com.

We are happy to help!

We are excited to see you in Minneapolis on April 3!