Museum Association of New York

What's New

December: Join our new listservs!

November:
2008-09 Salary and Benefits Survey Available

September 22:
Post a Job with new online system

sponsors:
(click images for more details)

NEW: Succession Planning Webinars Rescheduled!
Join Boston-based consultant Laura Roberts to explore how your institution can address issues of leadership succession:

Webinar #1: EMERGENCY SUCCESSION PLANNING
What if your museum's CEO was suddenly unable to fulfill his or her leadership role? Would senior staff know how to carry on? Has succession planning been discussed at your institution?

Join Museum Consultant Laura Roberts for a two-part webinar on Emergency Succession Planning. Designed for CEOs, Board Members and Senior Staff Members, this webinar will help to initiate a dialogue on preparing your museum for an unplanned disruption in leadership. Readings will be circulated in advance and participants will gauge their progress and continue conversations via a dedicated blog.

Part I: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 10:00am-12:00pm EST
Part II: Thursday, February 26, 2009 10:00am-12:00pm EST
A final, face-to-face meeting follow-up will take place at the Museum Association of New York's Annual Meeting in Tarrytown, NY, March 29-31, 2009.

Webinar #2: BUILDING LEADERSHIP THROUGHOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION
Leadership departures mustn't always be abrupt; all CEO's must retire or move onto their next opportunity at some point in their careers.

Museum Consultant Laura Roberts will lead a two-part discussion on how to create a a plan for developing the leadership talent on your staff and board, within which participants will custom design a plan for their institutions. Designed for CEO's, HR Managers, or Department Heads, readings will be circulated in advance, and participants will gauge their progress and continue conversations via a dedicated blog.

Part I: Monday, January 26, 2009 10:00am-12:00pm EST
Part II: Monday, March 2, 2009 10:00am-12:00pm EST
A final, face-to-face meeting follow-up will take place at the Museum Association of New York's Annual Meeting in Tarrytown, NY, March 29-31, 2009.

WHAT IS A WEBINAR, ANYWAY?
A webinar is a "web-based seminar" that participants "attend" from their individual computers. These MANY webinars will incorporate an audio function via a toll-free telephone call, as well as a video function that will be viewed on their own computers via high-speed internet access. Participants will hear the lecture through their telephone line and will view a web-based seminar on their computer screens.

This webinar series is made possible by generous grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and Corning Incorporated Foundation.

For more information please contact the Museum Association of New York (518) 273-3400.

NEW: Regents Approved Revised Rule Amendment
During the regularly monthly meeting of the Regents Cultural Education Committee, members unanimously approved a revised amendment to the rules for SED-chartered museums and historical societies. There was NO discussion of the �emergency rule� regarding use of deaccessioning proceeds to pay debt.

In its place was a newly revised rule with a 90-day sunset that included an about-face on the proceeds matter, closed the window on historic structures being designated by boards as part of collections, and set out four criteria for all deaccessioning.

1. In no event shall proceeds derived from the deaccessioning of any property from the collection be used for operating expenses, for the payment of outstanding debt, or for capital expenses other than such expenses incurred to preserve, protect or care for an historic building which has been designated part of its collections�

2. �historic structures owned by an institution shall be considered as part of a collection only when so designated by the board of trustees of the institution by vote conducted on or before December 19, 2008.

3. Any institution may deaccession an item or material in its collection only where one or more of the following criteria have been met: the item or material is not relevant to the mission of the institution; the item or material has failed to retain its identity, or has been lost or stolen and has not been recovered; the item or material duplicates other items or material in the collection of the institution and is not necessary for research or educational purposes; and/or the institution is unable to conserve the item or material in a responsible manner.

NEW: NYSCA Funding � Contact Your State Legislators NOW
There are more than 60 museums and heritage organizations waiting to hear whether or not they will receive funding for 2008-09! Of these, more than a dozen are waiting on General Operating Support requests.

Contact your state legislators and ask them to provide NYSCA with the funding to make General Operating Support and multi-year contracts whole for 2008-09. Click here for sample letter

NEW: IMLS Reauthorization
As many of you know, we have been engaged in a longstanding conversation about how best to approach reauthorization of the Institute of Museum and Library Services� Office of Museum Services, which is due to occur by September, 2009. Read More

NEW: MANY Debuts Leadership Development and Succession Planning Tools
With funding assistance from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Corning Foundation, Inc., MANY is pleased to announce the following programs for institutions and individuals engaged in issues of leadership development and succession planning.

Succession Planning Portal - See Left-hand Navigation Bar
Whether you are a board member, executive director, staff member, emerging leader or volunteer, if your organization faces leadership change the information listed here provides answers to the myriad questions that emerge during leadership transition.

� Being the Best, Encouraging the Best, information on talent development for boards, executive directors, and individual staff members;

� Giving Back, articles and Web sites on mentoring-how to be one and how to get one;

� Double X and Leadership, information on what it means to be a woman in the non-profit world and more particularly in the museum world.

This portal contains links to a variety of Web sites other than our own, many of which are not museum-related. We hope you will find this information useful, and that it leads you to new and imaginative ways of thinking about leadership. Comment boxes at the end of each section to describe your own experience or respond to what you have read.

New Listservs
MUSEUMDIRECTORS: This discussion list is for museum directors to share leadership and management insights, to exchange information about governance, HR and development best practices, and to generally support one another in an increasingly challenging environment. It's often lonely at the top - whether you're directing a small shop or a multi-layered institution - we all benefit from opportunities talk about what we do with our peers. Directors from all sizes and disciplines of institutions and with all levels of tenure are encouraged to subscribe and participate. To subscribe, send an email to: MUSEUMDIRECTORS-SUBSCRIBE-REQUEST@home.ease.lsoft.com

MUSEUMSUCCESSION: This discussion list is for institutions that are addressing issues of
leadership transition, staff and board development, and executive search. Come share your insights, exchange information and ask lots of questions! Let's create some great models together for building and growing a museum's human capital. To subscribe, send an email to MUSEUMSUCCESSION-SUBSCRIBE-REQUEST@home.ease.lsoft.com.

NEW: Managing in Tough Times, a Bridgespan Group Report
Tough times force hard choices. And these are rapidly becoming the toughest times most of us have ever seen. Even for nonprofit leaders who are accustomed to 'making much of little,' the repercussions of the unfolding economic downturn are likely to pose unprecedented challenges. It�s hard to imagine that many (if any) of us in the sector will escape unscathed. Read the report

Museums Weigh In About Investment Funds in this Economic Climate
Visit our blog, MANYe-connect, to read how MANY member institutions are handling their investment funds. Read and Comment

2008-09 Salary and Benefits Survey Available Here
This biennial publication examines compensation and benefits of more than 70 job titles from 109 New York State museums and historical organizations. Order Here

MANY Board Approves 2009 Advocacy Agenda
At its October board meeting the MANY board approved a three-pronged advocacy agenda for the next year. Among the items are maintenance of current funding levels for museums from various state programs, assessment of the energy needs of museums, and several administrative efficiencies. Read More

Museums Weigh in on Economic Crisis
It�s been a tough autumn for New York�s museums. Wall Street�s September roller coaster ride sent CEO�s, finance committees, and staff leaders back to the drawing board to prepare for what may be lean times in the museum world. Read More and Comment

Keynoters Named for 2009 Museums in Conversation Conference
Nina Simon, an independent consultant who exhibits and museum experiences that relate to visitor participation, and Elizabeth Lynn, director of the Center for Civic Reflection at Valparaiso University, are slated to address conference-goers at the 2009 Museums in Conversation Conference, March 29-31, in Tarrytown. Read More

Conference Seeks Student Volunteers
Volunteer 4 Hours�Receive Free Conference Registration! A limited number of undergraduate and graduate student volunteer slots are available at the upcoming Museums in Conversation Conference on March 29-31, 2009 at the Doubletree Hotel Tarrytown, and at several off-site locations around the Tarrytown area. For more information, contact Stephanie Lehner, Program Coordinator, at 800.895.1648; stephanie@upstatehistory.org

Sponsorship Opportunities Available
Is your company or organization looking for ways to reach out to museum staff and volunteers? Become a sponsor of the Museums in Conversation Conference! For more information contact Executive Director Catherine Gilbert at director@upstatehistory.org or call 800.895.1648

Mid-Career Training Program Funded by IMLS: An Interview with Gretchen Sullivan Sorin, Director, Cooperstown Graduate Program

Gretchin Sullivan Sorin is having a good day. Read More

MANY Institutes New Position Listing Program
Employers can now list jobs via the MANY website at any time and pay for the listing via PayPal. Positions will no longer appear in the monthly e-newsletter. �This change makes it easier for employers to list � it�s more responsive with much quicker turn around,� says MANY Director Anne Ackerson, �and offers far more options regarding length of time a listing can run. I think it will be a real benefit to all our employers.� Find out how you can list positions

Green Museums Wiki
Share and learn -- that's what it's all about at Sarah Brophy's wiki. Greening not just for the big institution or the newly constructed one anymore. Going green is on the minds of all sizes of museums. Check out our resource page.

Governor Signs Abandoned Property Bill � Law Will Take Effect September 4th
In the closing hours of the legislative session, both Assembly and Senate passed a revised abandoned property bill that had the backing of many stakeholders throughout government, the museum field, and allied organizations. Governor Paterson signed the bill into law on July 7^th.

The law addresses a difficult issue every museum, collecting institution, large and small, regardless of discipline, struggles with: custody of property lent decades ago where it is impossible to trace the lender and forced custody of property literally left on the doorstep of their premises. In addition, the bill addresses another problematic issue which is using deaccessioning funds from sale of historical artifacts for operating or other non-collection related expenses.

The text of the law is still available on the NYS Assembly or Senate websites, where you can click on bill search. Search by the bill�s numbers: A11719 or S8650.

To read MANY's summary of the law, click here.

GenYers Speak Out
Anyone who doesn�t believe there are generational differences between museum goers probably wasn�t in the audience at the session titled Mass Appeal at the MANY/UHA annual meeting April 14. Led by Susie Wilkening of Reach Advisors, the panel gave three Generation Y adults�all of whom were either in graduate school or already working in the field�a chance to comment on what appeals to them and more importantly, what doesn�t, when they go to museums. Read More

Mapping Museums in New York State
Thanks to the work of Kevin Heard of the Binghamton University GIS Department and Joann Lindstrom, a graduate of the University's Masters in Public Administration program, we now have tools to help us better understand the geographic impact of museums across the state, as well as the distribution of museum disciplines. Click the images below for the detailed maps:


All Museums	Museums by Type
Detailed maps are 3300 x 2550 pixels - scroll to see all areas of the maps. Internet Explorer users: Use the image control in the lower right corner to expand and shrink. Firefox users: click maps to expand and shrink.

MANY Unveils Report on Succession Planning in NYS Museums at Annual Conference
A status report about how museums across the state are addressing issues of leadership transition and development of staff leadership through succession planning was released at the UHA/MANY Annual Conference this week in Albany. The report is the result of a year's worth of field research funded by the New York State Council on the Arts. Among the findings: the very term "succession planning" is almost universally not well understood; an affinity for the concept has a great deal to do with where a person is in his or her career; and since the likelihood of adding succession planning to already long "to-do" lists is slim, it must be integrated as seamlessly as possible into an organization's planning culture.

Trends We Think Are Important
Trends come and trends go, but our list -- along with its implications for museums -- cites major issues that are both new and long-unaddressed. Learn More

Federal Formula Grant Coalition
Did you know that the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) provided $210.5 million to libraries in 2006, while museums received only $36.5 million? Why the difference? Federal formula grants given from IMLS directly to the states accounted for $163.7 million of IMLS� library authorization. Learn More

In 2006, representatives from over two dozen federal agencies, nonprofit professional organizations, and not-for-profit organizations came together to agree on the definitions of common terminology used by interpreters, environmental educators, historians, and others in nonformal settings such as parks, aquariums, zoos, nature centers, historic sites, and museums. Learn more and download the list

Must Reading for Staff and Boards
Click on Join/Renew to order an Individual or Institutional membership subscription or on Publications for a variety of timely and useful books and surveys.

MANY White Paper:
Who's Next? Questioning the Future of Museum Leadership in New York State
Who will mind the store? As Baby Boomers�who now make up a minimum of 25 percent of all museum positions�begin to retire, the field will find itself in a whole-scale search for new leadership. New York has about 1,900 museums and heritage organizations with about 12,000 employees. Between now and 2020, at least one in four of them will retire.

Around the Water Cooler discussion guides are based on the white paper and are designed to help staffs and boards get talking about succession planning and institutionalizing professional development opportunities.

If you've got something to say about the future leadership of the state's museums, MANY and your colleagues want to hear from you! Visit our online bulletin board at www.manyonline.org/discuss.

So, here's the first question: If we believe recruitment is a continuing, comprehensive strategy for identifying and encouraging future leaders, how can New York�s museums change the process to make it more inclusive, supportive and enticing for the next generation of executive directors?

Fundraising is important for all of us. ShopforMuseums.com is an online fundraising program where anyone in your community can do their everyday online shopping and have a percentage of their purchase amount donated to your museum at no extra cost. Registration and participation is free. There are over 300 stores to shop including Target, Staples, CompUSA, and Lands End. Additional stores can be added by request. And now�s the perfect time of year to visit the site, get registered, and start promoting this benefit to your members!

Use the Amazon.com Portal at the Upper Left to Shop Online and Help MANY Earn Extra Cash
Now MANY members along with their friends and family can help MANY earn extra income each time they shop online at Amazon.com. Just begin your online shopping trip at MANY's homepage. Click on the Amazon icon located in the lower left corner of the homepage. MANY will receive a small commission from your purchase -- at no extra charge to you!

New York State Education Department Annual Report
Museums, Historical Societies & Similar Cultural Agencies
2001

In the news:

Americans Identify Museums as a Source of Information They Can Really Trust