Job Vacancy: Museums Alaska Executive Director

Alaska’s statewide museum association seeks a motivated professional to work with its board of directors and members and to lead and advance professional standards and best practices for the organization and its member museums. Click here to view full job vacancy announcement.

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Call for Presentations

Sharing Our Knowledge: A Conference of Tlingit Tribes and Clans, March 29 - April 1, 2012, Sitka, Alaska. The 2012 conference will afford another opportunity for Native tradition bearers, tradition learners, academic scholars and students to share their knowledge and work involving a wide variety of topics. The deadline for submissions is January 18, 2012. To view programs from previous conferences, visit the Clan Conference website.
• Call for presentations (.pdf)
• Proposal form (.doc)

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Save the Date:

Small Museum Association Annual Conference, February 19-21, 2012, Ocean City, Maryland (.pdf)

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Notes from the 2011 MA/AHS Conference:

Now posted on the Conference page: The power point from the Nuts and Bolts of Copyright for Museums and Archives session held on Thursday, September 22, 2011; the Copyright Resources list with website links for references in connection with the Perspectives on Emerging Copyright Law and Policy panel on Friday, September 23, 2011; and the Resources for Found Objects, including the list of databases for stolen objects.

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Conference Evaluation Survey

After the conference, please take the time to fill out an evaluation survey. Evaluations are an important reporting requirement for the grants which support this annual event, and a valuable tool for future conference planning. Your opinion counts! An evaluation survey will be handed out at the awards banquet, or you may take the survey online: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L25N898

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Alutiiq Museum earns AAM Accreditation

Congratulations to the Alutiiq Museum on their recent AAM Accreditation! Read the press releases here and here.

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Alaska State Museums Bulletin Online

The Alaska State Museums Bulletin is now available as a monthly, web-based publication. Visit http://museumbulletin.wordpress.com/

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Current Exhibits in Alaska

There is now a page on the Museums Alaska website for featuring current exhibits in Alaska. Check the Museums section to see what's currently on display!

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Anchorage Museum Receives Highest National Recognition

The American Association of Museums (AAM) announced the Anchorage Museum has again achieved accreditation, the highest national recognition for a museum.

“Accreditation is an entirely self-motivated process, and is no small task,” said Ford W. Bell, AAM president. “Accreditation is clearly a significant achievement. But put simply, it means the citizens of the communities served by these museums have in their midst a truly outstanding museum.”

AAM’s museum accreditation program is the field’s primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation and public accountability. Of the nation’s estimated 17,500 museums, 775 are currently accredited.

“AAM accreditation places the Anchorage Museum among the top 5 percent of museums in our nation,” said James Pepper Henry, Anchorage Museum Director and CEO. “It provides the credentials necessary for our institution to host some of the most exciting exhibits and programs the world has to offer.”

Accreditation signifies that a museum fulfills its obligations to the public as set forth in its mission. The Anchorage Museum was initially accredited in 1979. All museums must undergo a reaccreditation review at least every 10 years to maintain accredited status.  For the newly expanded Anchorage Museum , accreditation recognizes a commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards and continued institutional improvement.

Accreditation is a rigorous but highly rewarding process examining all aspects of a museum’s operations. A museum must conduct a year of self-study and then undergo a site visit by a team of peer reviewers. AAM’s Accreditation Commission considers the self-study and site visit report to determine whether a museum should receive accreditation. The process can take up to three years.

The Anchorage Museum is the largest museum in Alaska , and one of the top 10 most visited attractions in the state. The museum’s mission is to share and connect Alaska with the world through art, history and science. Learn more at www.anchoragemuseum.org.

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Emergency Response for Cultural Institutions Affected by Volcanic Ash

The American Institute for Conservation (AIC), the national association of conservation professionals, is offering free emergency response assistance to cultural organizations. Please help make sure that staff members of collecting institutions know to contact AIC-CERT when a disaster--hurricane, flooding, earthquake, fire--has damaged collections. View details (.pdf).

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