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A Cornerstone Conference: OMA 2012

OMA Boardmembers with keynote speaker Dr. Spencer Crew at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Monday, April 16, 2012. From left to right: Jamie Glavic (National Underground Railroad Freedom Center), Johnna McEntee (Ohio Museums Association), William Robinson (Cleveland Museum of Art), Alex Nicholas (Massillon Museum), Mary Ann Stock (Toledo Museum of Art), Spencer Crew (George Mason University), Sharon Dean (Ohio Historical Society), Lauren Hansgen (Cleveland Artists Foundation), Joanne Fenn (Kent State University Museum), Doug Buchanan (COSI), Danielle Ross (Columbus Zoo & Aquarium), Christine Shearer (Canton Museum of Art). OMA Boardmembers not pictured: Ann Basilone (Milan Historical Museum, Inc), Darren Baker (Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center), Christy Davis (Pro Football Hal of Fame), Vic Fleischer (University of Akron), Robb Hyde (Wayne Center for the Arts), Julie Parke (Decorative Arts Center of Ohio), Edward Pauley (Kennedy Museum of Art), Jennifer Souers Chevraux (ICA-Art Conservation), Katherine Brown (Walsh University).

Can a conference be a cornerstone experience? I like to think so.

For the 2012 conference of the Ohio Museums Association, we examined the theme of Ohio museums as cornerstones of their communities: as centers of learning, culture, heritage and creative expression. We looked at how Ohio museums can take their greatest assets, including their collections, their programs, and even their good reputations, and to build a better and brighter future for museums and the communities they serve.

I like to think that OMA 2012 was itself a cornerstone experience for many of our attendees, particularly for our first-time and student attendees. I hope that each of us will be able to take the lessons learned and the professional contacts made and to build on those assets to strengthen our institutions and ourselves. 

We certainly couldn’t have had a better teacher than our keynote speaker, Dr. Spencer Crew. As the current Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History at George Mason University, Crew also served as Director of the National Museum of American History (NMAH) in Washington, D.C., and President of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, the location for our 2012 OMA conference.

Crew spoke eloquently and passionately about the concept of numen – the awe-inspiring power we grant objects of great cultural or historical significance, like the original Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln’s hat, or the Apollo 11 command module. It’s the power of this concept, this numen, that draws thousands of visitors to museums both large and small.

With 117 attendees, this was our best-attended conference in years, a result I believe of a resonant theme, an inspiring venue, and a determination by Ohio museums to find ways around today’s economic obstacles to professional development. Thank you to everyone who helped make OMA 2012 such a success, including our board, volunteers, speakers, attendees, and hosts.

Was OMA 2012 a cornerstone experience for you? Why or why not?