Using a suite of high-end 3D scanners, Indianapolis, Indiana-based company Connections XR will demonstrate the lifecycle of 3D objects. Presenters will showcase the process to 3D scan, and share outputs that include 3D viewer access, Virtual Reality, and 3D printing.

Many museum workers are at their “braking” point and are choosing to unionize to gain traction in decision-making processes at their institutions. Find out why employees at two museums in the Twin Cities chose this strategy, what they hope it can achieve, and what they’ve learned along the way.

Three years into the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual programming has seen a boom and decline with changing audience needs and expectations. Join presenters for a collaborative session designed to connect you with others doing virtual programming and build solutions together and provide case studies in increasing internal collaboration and defining success.

Are you curious about working with contractors? Join us to learn the basics about working with independent museum professionals (AKA IMPs!). Attend this interactive session to gain resources to address your institution’s IMP needs, find one, and learn some best practices to form a positive and equitable collaboration.

In the wake of COVID-19, societal unrest, and an unplanned leadership transition following a racially insensitive job posting, Newfields has pursued organizational healing through its commitment to integrating diversity, equity, inclusion, and access into all facets of the institution, resulting in a cultural shift within the organization.

Interested in funding to preserve and make accessible your institution’s humanities collections? Attend this session to learn about grants in NEH’s Division of Preservation and Access. We will discuss grants related to collections care and preservation, with time for attendees to ask questions and discuss ideas with a program officer.

In this session, a program officer from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) will provide an overview of grant programs to help you find the best fit for your project ideas among several IMLS funding opportunities. IMLS offers grants designed for smaller institutions; grants for projects that advance your institution’s strategic plan goals; and grants to support research, collaboration, and innovation that will advance the museum field.

Come share stories of community-museum partnerships! Discuss what happens when museums slow down and really listen to community aspirations, assets, and barriers. Learn about one museum’s approach to rethinking education programs with a community-first design process, supporting the development of a new way of thinking about inclusivity and belonging.

How diverse are your digital fundraising efforts? Data has shown a huge increase in online giving as well as the importance of an excellent user experience to secure the gift and retain donors. Learn how to build a data-driven strategy for coordinating and optimizing your digital donation efforts.

While it has long been an ethical imperative for museums to create inclusive institutions, it is now essential for survival. Explore the way three midwestern historical institutions have sought to grapple with and where possible undo the historic exclusion of Latino communities from museum narratives.

Members of leadership and staff at Newfields shared their path to embracing and promoting a culture of equity and racial justice as part of this year’s opening virtual session. Join them during this in-person session to carry the conversation forward and ask follow-up questions.

There are hazards and dangers tucked away in all of our collections, and it is a challenge to know what to do with them. Through this presentation discover how a collaborative effort better informs hazardous collections care while also preparing emerging museum professionals for the unexpected challenges of the field.

A free virtual tour of the Schroeder Saddletree Factory Museum is now available from anywhere in the world. This session will focus on how the virtual tour was created and shared with the public including the funding, formatting, interpretive, and use decisions.

Learn how FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art attracted thousands of visitors to museums across Northeast Ohio by developing an audience-first marketing campaign. This panel explores how FRONT experimented with content partnerships, leveraged owned and earned media, and established cross-promotional campaigns to grow new audiences for contemporary art.

Although sensory-friendly programming for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and sensory processing disorder (SPD) has been steadily increasing, most is for children and families. Join Caroline Braden from The Henry Ford for insights on her institution’s program for teens/adults with ASD/SPD, including ideas for developing and implementing such programming.

As we speed toward a post-covid exhibit model, is it time to tap the brakes and revisit how we think about interactivity? This session proposes new tools, called Interactive Functionality Types, that help us fit varied learning goals to varied budgets and audiences.

Planning is critical to the success of today’s museum. Learn how budgets serve as an important management tool to operationalize the museum’s plans.

Start your engines, repatriation is just the first lap. Using the example of Newfield’s recent repatriation to Kenya, this session will explore how ethical returns can be the catalyst for change and an opportunity to grapple with long overdue reconciliation of ethics, policy, and collection practices.

Change is hard, and guiding volunteers through it can be even more difficult. This session will share strategies to identify volunteers resistant to change, evaluate potential responses, and achieve solutions balancing the needs of the organization, volunteer leader, and volunteers. Participants will leave ready to take healthy and productive action.

Learn to create a strategic plan that incorporates input from multiple stakeholders, facilitates an open exchange of ideas, and makes it easy to synthesize that data into a plan with leadership buy-in. You’ll also learn to incorporate diverse voices, funding streams, and steps to make the plan flexible and realistic.

Creating a sustainable workplace that is diverse, equitable and inclusive requires an ongoing, multi-faceted approach. This can mean disrupting the status quo and shifting gears in various ways. Moving the Needle: DEIA in Recruitment and Retention will explore some “quick wins” around awareness, sensitivity and accommodations.

This session provides a refresher on NEH opportunities for museums large and small and introduce key new programs. An agency program officer will be joined by staff from the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis who will reflect on NEH’s potential impacts on their projects and share tips on preparing grant applications.

You’ve are finally starting your career as a museum professional… Now what? Starting a new career doesn’t have to mean starting over. Learn how to incorporate experiences from your “previous life” into your new one so you don’t lose momentum as you turn that corner.

With the seismic changes that have occurred in our country since 2020, it is no longer acceptable for museums to present history from a “white man’s” perspective. How can we begin to address outdated exhibition, program, and interpretive content? Experienced museum professional Donna Braden presents practical strategies for content upgrades.

From old loans to deaccessioning to collection care issues, and other legal and ethical issues nothing is off the table for this discussion with the Midwest community of collections professionals. You’ll gain practical knowledge and solutions along with gaining a wider network of collection peers.