ASDM...Workshops and Conferences
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2008 Annual Meeting Registration now open! Join us April 10-12 in Spearfish, SD for a fun, information-packed couple of days! This year's conference, "Caring for Collections," is packed with good information and how-to seminars. Join your fellow Museum colleagues in sharing your experiences and meeting others from around the state. Registration forms are available here. Help ASDM to continue delivering innovative, useful, and inexpensive programs around the state--bring an item or to to the silent auction! Association workshops scheduled for October on "Powerpoint Do’s and Don’ts" Have you ever sat through a truly awful powerpoint presentation? Tiny text, flying figures, shifting backgrounds? Want to learn how to avoid some common powerpoint pitfalls? And see how this powerful computer application can be used at your museum or site? Plan now to attend one of the Association of South Dakota Museums “Powerpoint Do’s and Don’ts” workshops in October. Workshops will be held at four sites across the state. Computer trainers will share their knowledge of powerpoint and explain how it can be put to work for small museums. Workshops will be at the Dakota Sunset Museum in Gettysburg on October 9, the Dacotah Prairie Museum in Aberdeen and at Mount Marty College in Yankton on October 12, and at the Tri-State Museum in Belle Fourche on October 25. All workshops are held from 1-4:30 p.m. Cost for the workshop is $25 per person. A minimum of five attendees is needed to hold a workshop. Join your museum friends and colleagues and learn about “Powerpoint Do’s and Don’ts” The Gladys Pyle House and Dakotaland Museum board hosted an open house on the eve of the annual meeting of the Association of South Dakota Museums that begins, May 3, 2007, in Huron. Museum curators, directors and other people interested in historical preservation gathered Friday in Huron for the Association of South Dakota Museums Conference being held at Huron Event Center. The three-day conference began Thursday night with an evening reception in the Gladys Pyle House Museum. Kevin Bailey of Watertown, association president, said the group was first organized in 1970. He estimated that 15 to 20 people are attending the event. Bailey said the purpose of the association is to provide professional development, education and communication for persons involved in museum work. He said the association brings together organizations and people interested in preserving, interpreting and disseminating the unique and ever-changing cultural heritage within the state. Bailey said this year’s meeting is focusing on programs that museums can share with school museums. For example, Michelle Pollard of the South Dakota Humanities Council in Brookings, told the group about a large pool of available speakers and presenters throughout the state just waiting to be called. And Nancy Van Beek, education manager for the Kirby Science Discovery Center and founder of the Siouxland Informal Educators in Sioux Falls, shared the idea on how to create a network of like-minded peers, letting them work together to benefit the community; further the mission; write grants; extend educational opportunities; and refresh and encourage the museum career. Those in attendance have come from Watertown, Sioux Falls, De Smet, Huron, Brookings, Deadwood, Yankton, Pierre, Sinte Glenska and Aberdeen. Bailey has been the director of the Coddington County Heritage Museum in Watertown for nearly five years. He came to Watertown from eastern Kansas. His museum focuses on heritage in Watertown, Coddington County and Coteau Des Prairie. He said Coteau Des Prairie is a name French explorers gave the region in the early years. The area in question runs from east of the James River to the North Dakota border and east to the Minnesota River Valley. The Watertown museum is located in a 1906 Carnegie Library. His 15-member board has no plans to build a new site. Other speakers on Friday’s program included Chad Tussing, education services coordinator, South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks, talking about the wonders of the outdoors; and Dr. Alan Neville, Northern State University, who discussed incorporating cross-curricula planning into museum environment. Friday’s agenda concluded with a tour of the Dakotaland Museum located on the State Fairgrounds and viewing the many murals that have been painted at locations in the community. This morning, two more speakers will address the conference including Andrea Frey, Aberdeen Central High School teacher, who will discuss state standards; and Anne Rogers, publication coordinator, Adams House in Deadwood, who will cover the manner in which small museums can draw on their own collections and original research to generate publications, exhibit labels and educational programming. She also will address and distribute effective formulas for writing history-oriented text that is accessible to a multi-generational audience and varied educational levels. A breakfast business meeting is planned for 7:30 a.m. today to introduce three new members to the board. Five people are candidates for the three vacancies and ballots are being circulated at the conference. Those seeking one of the three vacancies are Debra Gangloff, Deadwod, Days of ’76 Museum; Mac Harris, Ag Heritage Museum in Brookings; Barbara Hume, Straw Bales Museum in Carthage; Ronette Rumpca, South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center, Pierre; and Carolyn Weber, Adams Museum and Home, Deadwood. The three who are going off the board are Linda Velder, Newell; John Rychtarik, South Dakota Arts Museum, Brookings; and April Woodside, Siouxland Heritage Museums, Sioux Falls. Woodside is the current association vice chairman. The Association has subscribed to, and signed a Resolution by the Mountain Plains Museum Association in support of Native American Museums. The Resolution is as follows: The proposed elimination of funds and closure of the three museums operated by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the U.S. Department of Interior is of serious concern to the Mountain-Plains Museums Association (MPMA). These museums, Southern Plains Indian Museum, Anadarko, Oklahoma, Museum of the Plains Indian, Browning, Montana, and Sioux Indian Museum, Rapid City, South Dakota, are all located in the MPMA region. All three museums are vital centers of cultural expression as well as keepers of tangible examples of Indian traditions. The collections are rich educational resources and need to be kept in their communities. These three museums often give the first exposure for work by emerging Indian artists and also provide the opportunity for mature artists to renew and connect with their heritage. The museums also offer invaluable learning opportunities for their communities and for many visitors. The Mountain-Plains Museums Association strongly supports the ongoing funding of these museums and vigorously opposes closing the museums. In addition, the Mountain-Plains Museums Association fully supports Resolution to Support the Continued Funding Beyond 2007 for the Department of Interior's Indian Museums #TUL-05-100 passed by The National Congress of American Indians, November 4, 2005. |