I am taking the opportunity for this “Letters from Erika” for a bit of shameless promotion of MANY fall programs. I usually use this space to comment on trends and topics I find relevant and important to bring to the attention of colleagues. This time, they are one and the same.

This year’s Museum Institute at Great Camp Sagamore is designed to help museum professionals share ways to build organizational capacity in fundraising, program structures, leadership training, and human resource development through diversity, equity, access, and inclusion. Four days and three nights in this immersive learning experience with experts in the field renews energy and motivates change. Feeling a bit stuck and unsure what might be next for you? Come to Great Camp Sagamore and let us help you find some new choices.

Our fall Meet Ups and Workshops are in places where mission, community, and resources align to create new synergies. Workshops will re-present programs that were the most highly rated by annual conference attendees and will include something for museum professionals of different experience levels and disciplines. We are also trying a new workshop structure; our September workshop in Buffalo will focus on fundraising and institutional advancement. Meet Ups will include exhibition and behind-the-scenes tours as well as refreshments, time to connect with colleagues. and learn what MANY has planned for the coming year. 

Fall 2018 program assessments revealed that people are attending MANY Workshops and Meet Ups to network with individuals from their regions, learn about what is happening at other museums and make connections with Industry Partners; more than a third of the attendees traveled over an hour; half of those who responded to the survey were attending a Meet-Up or Workshop for the first time and 90% said that they would visit the museum again in the future. 

I am so excited to be able to see hundreds of you this fall and have the opportunity to speak in person. I look forward to learning about all the amazing things happening in New York. Please join us, visit a place that may be in your region but you have never seen before, and tell me something good that we can share with all of our members, colleagues, and industry partners.

See you on the road! e