The Canadian Museum Association Conference

The Canadian Museum Association’s national conference was held in Vancouver, April 9-13th, 2018. The conference, at Vancouver’s Sheraton Wall Centre, and was attended by professionals at Canada’s large museums and galleries, and smaller museums and galleries, from East to West. The participants were academics, artists, conservators, CEO’s, and consultants. Even with such diversity, many established common ground over the challenges of operating cultural spaces in Canada today. Key concerns included managing collections, fundraising, community engagement and repatriation.

Board Members Roz McNulty (Vice-President) and Kristen Anderson-Napoli (Education and Partnerships) were fortunate to attend the conference thanks to the Yosef Wosk Bursary. The keynote sessions, workshops and round tables were dynamic and provided an excellent platform for museum professionals to share their experiences and learn from one another. Some of the more engaging sessions sessions were: • Creating and Effectively Managing a Dynamic Five-Star Board • Museum Storage Reorganization: Lessons Learned from RE-ORG: CANADA • IMPACTS Research: Connectivity is King - Data on the Social Role of Museums • Renovations Expansions and New Construction - Stakeholder Engagement • Keynote speeches by Rick Hansen, Alexandre Trudeau and Michael Yahgulanaas

Report by Kristen Napoli