Aerial view of Baton Rouge, Louisiana's state capital, situated along the banks of the Mississippi River. | |
Keep an eye on this section of E-News to learn more about what the SEMC Council is working toward on behalf of all SEMC members. Questions about the work of the SEMC Council? Please reach out to Zinnia Willits to put you in contact with individual Council members. | |
SEMC Council session with Robert Bull of The Compass Group to prepare for strategic planning. |
SEMC Council members serve a three-year term with the option to serve two consecutive terms. Each year as Council members rotate off or move to officer positions, a Nominating Committee, chaired by the SEMC Past President, considers those identified for Council service. To begin the annual nomination process, current Council members complete an internal self-study to capture a snapshot of the demographics of the SEMC Council. This data assists the Nominating Committee with its responsibility to ensure the Council reflects diverse viewpoints, backgrounds, skills, experiences, and expertise and is a representative leadership base. Each individual brings personal and professional contacts and life experience to SEMC, placing the organization in a stronger position to plan for the future, manage risk, make prudent decisions, and take advantage of opportunities. A diverse Council helps to attract and retain other talented Council members and be in touch with the needs of the SEMC membership.
If you are interested in being considered for Council Service or would like to nominate a colleague, please email Zinnia Willits at zwillits@semcdirect.net for more information on the nomination process.
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Spring 2024 Edition of INSIDE SEMC | | |
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The Spring 2024 edition of Inside SEMC is live! We are thankful to all who contributed to this publication. Don't miss the creative ads by SEMC industry partners throughout the pages. Just click on each ad to learn more about the services each provides.
The summer edition of Inside SEMC will be published in August. Consider submitting an article about a project, program, or exhibit you want to show off across the region! Contact Zinnia Willits zwillits@semcdirect.net for submission deadlines and information.
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2024 Leadership Institute | |
2024 Leadership Institute cohort at the closing reception at Louisville's 21C Hotel. | |
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From April 7-12, 2024, seventeen museum professionals gathered in Louisville, Kentucky to spend five days concentrating on the skills and internal qualities needed in 2024 to become effective leaders for their communities, staff, and boards. Guided on this journey by the amazing Institute Faculty (Marsha Semmel, Dr. Laura Morgan Roberts, and Robert Bull), these individuals accomplished so much and - as a cohort - built a strong foundation to go forth and continue the work at each of their institutions and beyond. SEMC is grateful to all the individuals and organizations that have provided support for this important program, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture - Office of Strategic Partnerships, Association of African American Museums, and the Smithsonian's Our Shared Future: Reckoning with our Racial Past initiative!
Congratulations to the 2024 Leadership Institute graduates!
The next Leadership Institute will run April 12-17, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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The 2024 cohort had the opportunity to experience the April eclipse together. | Sharing experiences and insights with fellow cohort members was a daily part of the Institute. | Robert Bull discusses fundraising in 2024 with the cohort. | Evening field trip to the Muhammad Ali Center. | |
Final banquet and awards. Pictured (L-R) are Michael Morris, Tamara Herring, Ashleigh Oatts, and Erika Witt, recipients of the 2024 White Gloves Award. This award goes to those who took special care with each other during the Institute. Many thanks to Zone Display Cases for always supplying SEMC with white gloves in the Expo Hall! | |
Call For Instructors: 2025 Jekyll Island Management Institute | |
Shawn Halifax leads a session on interpretation at JIMI2023. | |
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The Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) is seeking instructors to teach sessions at the 2025 Jekyll Island Management Institute (JIMI) which will run from January 21 - 28, 2025 on Jekyll Island, Georgia.
The 2025 Institute curriculum is designed for JIMI participants to identify and discuss best practices in a range of visitor-facing and behind-the-scenes roles in a museum, and build networks with other museum professionals.
We are looking for museum professionals (and museum-adjacent professionals) with excellent teaching skills to lead 90-minute sessions during the 8-day Institute. JIMI instructors will provide subject-area expertise and practical approaches to administrative and operational challenges.
Instructors must be able to integrate principles of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion and the use of current technologies into topics they plan to teach.
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2024 SEMC Annual Meeting: Registration Is Open! | |
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The Southeastern Museums Conference will hold its 2024 Annual Meeting October 21-23, 2024 at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
About the 2024 Conference Theme
The 2024 SEMC Conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, focuses on innovation and inspiration. How should museums move forward in a rapidly changing world? Over the last four years, we have experienced substantial shifts in governance, economy, community, societal beliefs, and technology. Despite these challenges, how can we continue to inspire our visitorship? Our donors? Our workforce? Let’s explore innovative ideas for change across our field, to ensure museums remain relevant and impactful now and in the future.
Join SEMC attendees for direct conversation, networking, and professional growth and development next fall in Baton Rouge!
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SEMC2024 Hotel Block is OPEN! | |
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SEMC2024 Annual Meeting sessions and activities will take place at The Hilton Capitol Center Hotel (201 Lafayette Street) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with evening events hosted at Baton Rouge area cultural institutions.
SEMC Annual Meetings are about connecting with colleagues, sharing ideas, and networking. We help facilitate these by contracting with a hotel for a discounted room block and centralizing meeting spaces.
Staying in the official headquarters hotel makes connecting with colleagues easier and helps us keep the Annual Meeting affordable to attendees.
Cut-off date for reservations is October 5, 2024 or when the block is full, whichever comes first.
Room blocks can fill up quickly, so book early to ensure the lowest rates!
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SEMC2024 Expo Hall - Booth Selection is Open | |
SEMC2024 Pre-Conference Tours | |
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Greetings, Members!
May is always a thrilling time for us as it marks the launch of annual meeting registration and the unveiling of the preliminary program. This moment is the culmination of our dedicated efforts over the past year and brings reality to the conference plans.
In the months ahead, we will spotlight the exceptional sessions, workshops, and tours at SEMC2024. At the heart of these offerings are the people who make them possible. This month, I am excited to feature the pre-conference Louisiana Plantation Tour, showcasing Whitney Plantation and Oak Alley Plantation.
Don't miss the opportunity to join this pre-conference tour, a truly unique experience. Scheduled for Sunday, October 20, from 8:30 AM to 4:45 PM, this tour has limited capacity, so act quickly. For just $65, you'll enjoy unique tour experiences, lunch, and transportation.
Secure your spot today!
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Over the past decade, Ashley Rogers has played a pivotal role in shaping Whitney Plantation's mission and operations. Initially serving as Director of Museum Operations, she has been Executive Director for the last five years. Under her leadership, the Whitney Plantation stands out as the first plantation museum dedicated exclusively to the lives of its formerly enslaved population.
Rogers emphasizes the distinctiveness of the Whitney Plantation, contrasting it with other plantation sites that often highlight the perspective of enslavers. "Whitney Plantation is fundamentally different," she asserts. "We are entirely focused on the history of slavery. Our mission is to educate the public about the history and legacies of slavery in the United States. Everything we do, from our operations to our educational outreach, is linked to that mission."
Highlighting the dedication and expertise of her team, Rogers adds, "Our staff conducts extensive research on the individuals who were enslaved on this plantation. We weave their stories into a broader historical context, addressing the widespread undereducation about the central role of slavery in American history."
Beyond its educational initiatives, the Whitney Plantation excels in preservation efforts, artistic collaborations, and community engagement. The site hosts a variety of special events, including community festivals, film screenings, performances, and lectures, making it a vibrant hub of cultural and historical education.
Quotes courtesy of Britannia interview September 8, 2023.
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Student tour group at Whitney Plantation. | |
Promotion for Whitney's upcoming Juneteenth event. | |
"Magic of the Drums: Ancestral History of Whitney Plantation" event. | |
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When asked about Oak Alley Plantation's current focus, Director of Programming, Hillary Loeber, highlights their ambitious restoration project. "We are thrilled to share our ongoing structural archaeology and selective restoration of what historical documents suggest was the ‘Overseer’s House’ on the plantation," she reveals. "This project has been a careful and discerning process as we remove 20th-century modifications, deliberately avoiding preconceived notions of what we might find as 'original.' The outcome will be a versatile interpretive space, offering us new ways to engage visitors without the expectations tied to more prominent areas like the plantation mansion."
Key contributors to this significant effort include Hillary Loeber, Vince Yardas, Doug Pitre, and researcher and genealogist Jae’l Gordon. Although the project's completion date remains uncertain, they anticipate potentially opening the space to the public in 2025.
Oak Alley has a rich and varied history, having served as a sugar plantation, an abandoned investment property, a cattle ranch, and even a battleground against the Army Corps of Engineers. Today, it is a historic site committed to preserving and interpreting every chapter of its 200-year history.
The institution's website states, "Open to the public since 1976, our values encompass complete respect for the National Landmark with which we are entrusted. This is evident not only in our dedication to preservation and maintenance but also in our unwavering commitment to narrative integrity, honoring this iconic historic site’s complex past, including its role as a place of enslavement, alongside its celebrated landscape."
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Archaeology at Oak Alley Plantation. | |
Structural restoration of a building at Oak Alley. | |
Interpretation at Oak Alley Plantation. | |
Thank You SEMC 2024 Sponsors | |
Additional Sponsorship Opportunities Available | |
Is your company interested in supporting the SEMC2024 Annual Meeting through sponsorship? Contact Zinnia Willits to learn more about sponsor opportunities, levels and benefits at zwillits@semcdirect.net or 843-224-0876 | |
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Mixing and Mingling!
Dear SEMC members,
You provided feedback and we heard you!
In recent surveys, many members asked for more opportunities to attend in-person events. As a result, the first SEMC Member Mixer is happening in Atlanta on Thursday, June 13th from 6:30-8:30 pm.
This is a great opportunity for members to gather to share ideas, consider collaborations, ruminate about common issues in the field, and participate in fun icebreakers, all while enjoying light appetizers. Do you have friends who are not members? Invite them to attend too so they can learn more about SEMC and talk with members about what it means to be a part of the southeast museum community.
If you are not local but will visit Atlanta for work or pleasure on June 13th please join us. We would love to see you! Be sure to register so we can plan accordingly:
SEMC Member Mixer Registration
SEMC hopes to replicate this type of event in cities throughout the region. If you are interested in helping to plan a similar event in your city, please let me know. I am ready to help you get started!
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Don’t forget to follow us on social media so you can stay in the know about all things SEMC!
Instagram semcdirect
Facebook southeasternmuseums
Twitter semc2
Have a fantastic week,
Carla
Carla Phillips
Membership & Communications Manager
cphillips@semcdirect.net
Thank you for supporting SEMC through membership!
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Did you miss this program? Access the recording! | | | |
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Over 200 individuals joined this program last week. Access the recording today! | |
Thank you to Patterson Pope for sponsoring this program!
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SEMC Virtual Happy Hour
Friday, June 21, 2024
5:00PM EST (4:00PM CST)
Join your colleagues from around the region for SEMC's monthly virtual happy hour! Bring your drinks and stories from the week....or just show up.
Meet new people! Have a drink and many laughs. Everyone is welcome!
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Meeting ID: 884 5684 9221
Passcode: 216675
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SEMC 2024 Competitions (Publications, Exhibitions, and Technology are open for submissions. Applicants must be current SEMC members (institutional, corporate, or individual) to submit a project or publication for consideration. | | |
SEMC Ones to Watch spotlights museum talent making an impact across our region.
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SEMC proudly features Sally Givens Rogers, as the One to Watch this month! Sally is the Curator of Collections and Development for South Union Shaker Village in Auburn, Kentucky.
Sally's nomination letter highlights her impact on the success of a small museum and her commitment to the museum community in Kentucky!
"As Curator of Collections and Development, Sally Givens Rogers has a remarkable skill set and accomplishes more than seems possible. In our small museum with only two professional staff, she cares for our collection, handles membership records and correspondence, schedules school and adult tours and weddings, and a myriad of other duties that constantly pop up in our profession. She is also very creative in designing print media. On top of that, Sally serves on other local museum boards and committees and as the administrative assistant of our state museum organization, Kentucky Museum & Heritage Alliance. Sally is simply invaluable."
Congratulations Sally Givens Rogers: One to Watch!
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Consider nominating an emerging or mid-career museum professional as a "one to watch" and help SEMC identify and recognize those who are enhancing the profession in a special way and working to make a difference in their community through work in a museum. Nominees do not have to be current SEMC members. In fact, we'll give non-members an individual membership in recognition of their great work!
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The Columbus Museum Grand Re-Opening! | |
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After an 18-month, $28.5 million renovation, financed by a capital campaign and $3 million in public funds, The Columbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia, proudly reopened to the public on Saturday, May 4, 2024! With open sightlines, natural light, and renewed connections to the Bradley Olmsted Garden, the Museum showcases reimagined history and art galleries, an interactive children’s gallery and garden, a welcoming public courtyard, a new grab-and-go café, and more.
Alongside the complete redesign, the Columbus Museum has also rebranded with the nickname “COMU” (pronounced “koh-mew”).
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Congratulations to The Columbus Museum #SEMCProud
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SEMC Institutional Spotlight | |
Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland | |
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Today we are proud to feature another NEW SEMC Institutional member, the Academy Art Museum located in Easton Maryland!
The Academy Art Museum was originally founded as the Academy of the Arts in 1958 by Eastern Shore residents who desired to create a place dedicated to the knowledge, practice and appreciation of the arts. Today, with its location in Easton, Maryland, The Academy Art Museum is the cultural hub of the Eastern Shore for art, music, and educational programming.
The Academy Art Museum is truly the center of art and culture for its community, offering visitors of all ages opportunities to look closely at art, experiment in making it, and get inspired by talks, tours. Exhibitions are drawn from a collection of over 1,700 artworks from the 17th century to today. Highlights include works on paper by Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Mary Cassatt, Francisco Goya, Graciela Iturbide, Zanele Muholi, Pablo Picasso, Martin Puryear, and Rembrandt van Rijn, among many others.
Currently on view is Darlene R. Taylor: Heirlooms. This exhibit examines the presence of Black women in Maryland’s Talbot County communities and Taylor’s own ancestry and follows her experience researching and interpreting photographs found in archives and family albums. Her use of women’s personal effects draws inspiration in part from artifacts unearthed during two excavations commissioned by the Museum at the former home of Henny and James Freeman, one of the earliest- documented free Black landowning families who lived on the Hill Community site from 1787-1828.
The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday from 10am-4pm. Visit their website for more information about their programs and exhibits! https://academyartmuseum.org/
Welcome to the SEMC community!
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SEMC: Posts that made us stop scrolling and LOOK this week.... | |
SEMC IS THANKFUL FOR ALL NEW AND RENEWING MEMBERS! | |
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We greatly appreciate your support through membership and will continue to work hard in 2024 to provide training, connection, and resources to our southeastern museums' community.
THANK YOU!
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SEMC: Around the Region..... | |
SEMC staff has the opportunity to interact with members across the region each week...and we see and hear so much. Watch this E-News feature for information we pick up in weekly calls, emails, Zooms, and in-person visits with members! | |
North Carolina Museum of Art Features Exhibit Exploring Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art
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Entrance to the exhibit, "To Take Shape and Meaning." | |
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Earlier this spring, the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) debuted the exhibit, To Take Shape and Meaning, which brings together a wide range of Indigenous world views, ideas, experiences, traditions, cultures, and media and emphasizes the continuity and evolution of Native arts, both collective and individual expressions of Native America.
Organized by guest curator Nancy Strickland Fields (Lumbee), director/curator of the Museum of the Southeast American Indian at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, the exhibition, composed exclusively of 3-D artworks by 75 Indigenous artists, includes baskets made of blown glass, cars transformed into works of art, and cutting-edge fashion ensembles embellished with elaborate beadwork and feathers. This project supports the NCMA’s ongoing goal of presenting expansive and inclusive art historical narratives in all aspects of the Museum and of bringing in contemporary artists whose works focus on themes that are particularly relevant to the concerns of the current moment. It will be on view through July 28, 2024.
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Thank you SEMC members for all you do for the museums in our region! | |
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Dear SEMC,
June 1st marks the start of the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season. Based on the graphic below, it looks like those of us in coastal communities may be in for another wild ride. As we know, hurricanes and associated winds, rain, and power outages (all the things..) can impact communities far inland too. So SEMC museums...the time to prepare is now!
I know all of you have detailed disaster plans, safe spaces to evacuate collections, and have thought about how to communicate with staff during possible long stretches of museum closure.....right?
As many of you know, I worked in collections at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina for many years before my role as Executive Director of SEMC. The staff and I weathered countless hurricanes (ok, maybe not countless, but at least 20!) together and even today I remember that it took our small team exactly two hours to clear the galleries (with windows) and secure the building and artwork during hurricane prep. We had it down to a science and even though the hurricanes often (thankfully) turned and we just got gusty wind and rain, it always felt good to be prepared and know exactly what to do. I found the images above from my stash of hurricane prep memories....nothing left in the galleries but the large cup of coffee I needed for all the heavy lifting!
Fingers crossed for all of us this hurricane season! SEMC will be here to help whatever may come.
Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Zinnia Willits, Executive Director
zwillits@semcdirect.net
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SOUTHEASTERN MUSEUMS CONFERENCE
P.O. Box 550746 | Atlanta, GA 30355
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