Tapestry Newsletter | February 14, 2018
CONFERENCE NEWS
Plans are coming together for an exciting 2018 Conference. Registration is open!
  • The conference will be held at the beautiful restored Pennsylvania Match Factory in Bellefonte. Tours of the facility, including behind the scenes collections areas are being planned.
  • The conference will kick off with tours of the Pasto Agricultural Museum and Palmer Museum of Art with a reception at the historic Centre Furnace Mansion.
  • On Monday, April 16, Seema Rao, author of Objective Lessons: Self-Care for Museum Workers, will be our Keynote Speaker.
  • We will hold a ceremony to honor the winners of our 2018 Special Achievement Awards Monday evening, April 16, at the Pennsylvania Military Museum.
  • On Tuesday, April 17, John Fea, author of Why Study History? will be our Keynote Speaker.
ADVOCACY MATTERS

Governor Wolf presented his Executive Budget last week as expected. Late Friday night, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and Speaker of the House Mike Turzai delivered a redrawn election map of Pennsylvania to the governor. Governor Wolf rejected this proposal on Tuesday. The deadline for having new districts drawn is February 20. This struggle over redistricting is likely to take a lot of air from the room until then in Harrisburg.

The Senate Appropriations Committee released its schedule for appropriation meetings that are part of the budget process, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is not scheduled to testify. This is not unusual. The PHMC does not have a budget hearing every year as some of the Commonwealth's agencies do.

Both major political parties held meetings in the last week to select party endorsements for candidates in the upcoming elections. House Speaker Turzai announced he would leave the governor's race; Senator Scott Wagner won his party's support for his campaign for governor. The Democratic Party did not officially announce its backing for any candidates for Lieutenant Governor.

The American Alliance of Museums is organizing Museums Advocacy Day in Washington, DC to bring its members together with U.S. House and Senate offices. Museums Advocacy Day is a unique opportunity to join with other museum professionals and supporters to make the case for museums. PA Museums is a proud supporter of Museums Advocacy Day. The 2017 event brought together over 380 advocates in Washington, D.C. Museums Advocacy Day includes activities on February 26-27, 2018.
SUPPORT FOR YOUR MUSEUM

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) seeks applicants for its Save America's Treasures grant program. The deadline to apply is February 21, 2018.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) issued a news release about their Keystone Grants for Historic Preservation.

The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) announced its scholarship program for professionals from small museums to attend the AASLH Annual Meeting.
PA MUSEUMS AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT

PA Museums is pleased to announce our 2018 Special Achievement Awards winners. We hope you will join us at the Pennsylvania Military Museum on April 16 to celebrate these awards.

MEMBERSHIP SURVEY

PA Museums invites our members to take a survey about our services and your relationship with PA Museums. While the survey should not take very long to complete, not more than 3 or 4 minutes, your feedback is crucial to our success in serving our membership. The survey will close tomorrow, February 15. We look forward to sharing key survey results at our conference in April in Centre County.
SURVEY: HELP BUILD A CONFERENCE SESSION!

One of the sessions at the 2018 PA Museums Conference will be about creating exhibitions for small museums and historic sites beautifully and economically. "Exhibits on a Dime" will be presented by Mary Sorensen, Centre County Historical Society and Rita Graef from the Pasto Agricultural Museum at Penn State. As part of their session, they would like to feature ideas of how colleagues from other institutions approach their exhibit planning and display creation and installation.

We invite you to share your tips and ideas, through a survey, that can be shared in the presentation and in an electronic "handout" in one of PA Museum's Tapestry e-letters after the conference. It will be a compilation of tips, tricks and ideas to serve as a resource.

Please contact Mary Sorensen if you need any assistance.
JOB LISTINGS

PA Museums posts jobs regularly on our website. We already posted 7 this week!

If your institution or organization is seeking candidates, please send us your job postings or suggest it to your HR manager.

Please click here to go to our jobs page.


RECOMMENDED READING

Laura Lott, The American Alliance of Museums' President and CEO, issued a statement regarding the White House budget released this week.

PHMC's new annual report is available.

Here's an article about opportunities for cultural organizations in Philadelphia in the wake of the Eagles' Super Bowl victory.
PA MUSEUMS IN THE NEWS

Shippensburg University's Fashion Archives and Museum was awarded a $40,000 grant for its upcoming exhibition, The Fashions of Fiction from Pamela to Gatsby.

The Erie Maritime Museum will have two ships soon!

Congratulations to the National Museum of American Jewish History and the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia for securing $1 million grants for their work.

The Senator John Heinz History Center opened the exhibition, American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.

LancasterOnline got to know Patrick Morrison at the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum.

Exhibit renovations are underway at the Academy of Natural Sciences.
MEMBERSHIP NOTES

PA Museums is preparing to mail our March membership renewals. Please be on the lookout if your membership has expired or will expire in March 2018. Thank for your renewing with us!

If you have questions about your membership status, please feel free to get in touch with us. Call Rusty Baker at 717 909-4951 or send an email.


PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Looking for an opportunity to expand your skills and knowledge? We have updated our listings of workshops, symposia, and conferences. Check out what's going on!

PA Museums | 717-909-4951 | rusty.baker@pamuseums.org | pamuseums.org