OMA

You Need To Be Here

Do you work for an Ohio museum? Do you want to work for an Ohio museum?

You need to be at OMA 2013.

OMA 2013 is the annual conference of the Ohio Museums Association. Just about two weeks from now, on Monday, April 22, 2013, museum professionals from across the Buckeye State will gather in Sandusky at the beautiful Sawmill Creek Resort for OMA 2013.

Just once a year, Ohio museum professionals gather together to discuss everything museums are, do, and aspire to be. If you work for an Ohio museum, are a museum board member, volunteer, or have your eyes set on a museum career, you belong at OMA on April 22.

Are you a professional? Bring your business cards and network. Are you a student? Bring your resume and make yourself known to people who might end up hiring you. Are you a volunteer? Come represent the awesome force that are museum volunteers (most of us couldn’t do it without you) and share your enthusiasm for preservation and education.

And what about the cost? OMA isn’t expensive. You don’t need to fly or even spend a night away from home. Students can attend Monday’s sessions for just $35. Museum professionals can attend all of Monday’s sessions for $140, and that includes meals. Is your museum an institutional member of OMA? Your single-day registration drops to just $115.

If you’re looking for a more in-depth experience, come Sunday, April 21 for our Progressive Museum Tour and Annual Awards Program Dinner. Want even more? Come Saturday, April 20 for our pre-conference tour of historic South Bass Island.

My family’s making OMA 2013 into a full weekend, driving up form Columbus on Friday night to have fun at Sawmill Creek Resort before doing the South Bass Island pre-conference tour. My girls (ages 6 and 8) are already looking forward to getting to ride the ferry and exploring the island.

So bring your staff, bring your volunteers, and yes, even bring your family for the pre-conference activities.

Most of all, bring yourself to OMA 2013.

See you in Sandusky!

Ohio’s Connecting to Collections Partners Present our Preservation Boot-Camp!

The Ohio Museums Association and the rest of Ohio’s Connecting to Collections partners want you to save the date for an upcoming two-day preservation boot camp!

The Preservation Boot Camp will take place July 31 – August 1, 2013 at the Holiday Inn, Worthington. Registration for the boot-camp is completely free — including conference lodging and meals!

We are excited to bring both practical and tactical sessions to provide Ohio’s museums and libraries a focused, educational event which will bring together the best practitioners in the state to showcase Ohio best practices. Sessions will address key preservation issues, including environmental controls, demonstrations for disaster recovery, collections care, and digital collection basics. Sessions will include:

•  “How to Build Your Preservation Program” conducted by Wes Boomgaarden, Head of the Preservation & Reformatting Department at The Ohio State University Libraries and Laura Hortz Stanton, Director of Preservation Services, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts
•  “Preservation Program Basics” with panelists Holly Prochaska, Head of Preservation Services and Lab, University of Cincinnati Libraries, Kathy Lechuga, Conservator, University of Cincinnati Libraries, Jennifer Souers Chevraux, Education Outreach Officer, Intermuseum Conservation Association, and Christine Shearer, Development Director, Canton Museum of Art.
•  “Collections Care” with Alexandra Nicolis Coon, Executive Director, Massillon Museum and Jun Fransicso, Director of Collections, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
•  “Digitization/Digital Preservation Basics” with Janet Carleton, Digital Initiatives Coordinator, Ohio University Libraries, Laurie Gemmill, LYRASIS, and Jillian Carney, Manager, Digital Services, Ohio Historical Society.

The event will bring together teams comprised of museum staff and library staff as a means of encouraging collaboration and shared problem-solving. Attendees will be asked to provide outreach and information to other cultural organizations in their home areas following the Boot Camp.

What you can do now:

•  Begin to seek a partner from another type of cultural heritage organization in your county.
•  Talk with your supervisor/director. The application form requires a signed commitment statement from supervisors. The letter is already written – all they will need to do is sign. Remind them that registration, lodging and food is covered by the grant.
•  Read about the Ohio Connecting to Collections project.
•  Look for the announcement that applications are available. Applications will be available late February and will be due by May 1, 2013.

The Preservation Boot Camp is sponsored by the Ohio Connecting to Collections planning partners. The planning partners includes representation from statewide organizations, the State Library of Ohio, the Ohio Historical Society, and the Ohio Museums Association, as well as institutional representatives from Follett House Museum in Sandusky, the Kennedy Museum of Art at Ohio University, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, the Massillon Museum, and Digital Initiatives, Ohio University Alden Library. Tom Clareson, Senior Consultant for Digital & Preservation Services at LYRASIS is consultant for the project.

Stay tuned for additional boot-camp information as it becomes available. We hope you can join us this summer in Worthington, as we whip our collections into shape!

This project is funded by an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Connecting to Collections grant awarded to the State Library of Ohio and partners. To learn more about IMLS, please visit www.imls.gov.

Meet the Artist – 2013 OMA Conference Logo Designer Erik Myers!

In preparation for the upcoming OMA Annual Conference, April 21-22, 2013 in Sandusky, the Ohio Museums Association held what has become our annual Conference Logo Design Contest.

This is the second year OMA has held the contest, which is open to any Ohio student with an interest in art or graphic design. We had many incredible entries from across the state, making the decision very difficult for our panel of judges. Our thanks go to all the talented students who submitted logo ideas this year!

The Ohio Museums Association is pleased to announce Erik Myers as our 2013 Conference Logo Design winner!

Erik Myers’ winning design — OMA’s 2013 Conference Logo

A busy student, Erik was gracious enough to talk to OMA about design, museums, his take on this year’s conference theme, and more!

OMA: Hello Erik! Thanks for talking with us today. First, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?  Where you go to school, what you are majoring in, when you are graduating…

Erik: Hello! My name is Erik Myers and I am a junior at Ohio University. I’m currently in the process of attaining my Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in Graphic Design. If everything goes as planned I should graduate in the summer of 2014.

OMA: Ah, another OU Bobcat! Last year’s contest winner also went to school in Athens. They cultivate great designers down there! Did you grow up in Southern Ohio?

Erik: I grew up in Solon, a small suburb of Cleveland. After graduating high school my family moved to Streetsboro.

OMA: The Cleveland/Akron/Canton area, has such a wealth of cultural institutions – that part of the state is really a gem for museums! I’m sure there were several, but if you had to pick just one: what was your favorite museum when you were growing up?

Erik: Without a doubt the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, nothing could beat their awesome dinosaur exhibits!

OMA: True, their dinosaurs are pretty awesome. So, how did you become interested in graphic design? How long have you been designing?

Erik: Ever since I was a kid I’ve always been artistic. I really got interested in Graphic Design after a “Computer Graphics” course I took in high school. It perfectly melded my love of technology and computers with the artist inside me.

OMA: It’s great that you found this passion while still in high school! Did any experiences at a museum or art gallery help to shape your attraction to the field?

Erik: I had a few actually. One was during my senior year in high school when I did a two-week apprenticeship with Hector Vega and his sister Maria Vega. Mr. Vega, who is an amazing painter, showed me his personal workspace as well as invited me to one of his showings at a local gallery. His sister Maria who owns Pentagon Gallery and Framing in Cleveland Heights showed me what is was like to run and operate a gallery as well as create and mount frames. They gave me the first glimpses of what being an appreciated and successful artist is all about.

OMA: What an amazing experience! It’s wonderful to hear about successful professionals who are able to “show the ropes” to emerging pros. What a great introduction to the field!

So, how did you learn about the OMA Conference logo design contest?

Erik: My awesome design professor Sherry Blankenship.

OMA: We’re happy she helped to spread the word! We love your winning logo design, and the idea of the “blue ribbon!” What inspired you when you were creating it?

Erik: The name of the Conference “The Very Best Ideas Out There” really got the gears turning in my head. I picked the blue ribbon because it represents just that -“The Very Best”. I thought it would be a great symbol for the conference.

OMA: Our judges definitely agreed! The logo looks great on our facebook, blog, and website. I’m looking forward to seeing it on our other conference material.

What do you plan to do after graduation? Have you ever thought about a career in the museum world?

Erik: That’s a great question! Haha, joking aside, I definitely plan on being a designer, more specifically a User Experience Designer. I feel a career in the museum world could be another great option, especially if it involves art of the Italian Renaissance (my personal favorite art movement).

OMA: That is definitely a beautiful (and exciting) time in art history. I’m sure the museum field would be lucky to have you if you choose that route!
What advice would you give aspiring designers? Anything you know now that you wish you could go back and tell yourself when you first started designing?

Erik: The best advice I could give is to just keep designing. I try to design something everyday to keep my mind sharp. Another tip would be to immerse yourself in the design world. Instead of logging onto facebook maybe try browsing a design blog. Keeping up with what’s trending in the design world will give you a plethora of knowledge and ideas.

OMA: Great advice! I think those are ideas that can apply to many fields. Ok, so last couple of questions: what is the last museum you visited, and what was your favorite piece during that visit?

Erik: The last museum I visited was the Kennedy Museum of Art, which is located here on the Ohio University main campus. For a class that I took last semester “Metaphysics of Making”, my classmates and I had the amazing opportunity of displaying our work in the museum. It was the museum’s first-ever undergraduate show, and needless to say we worked our butts off to get everything together. My favorite piece/pieces had to be all of my fellow classmates work, which made the show a truly unforgettable experience.

OMA: Wow, amazing opportunity is right! That had to be a wonderful feeling, being in the first-ever undergrad exhibit. It sounds like it was a great show!

Congratulations again on your winning entry, Erik! I hope to see you in April at the Sawmill Creek Resort in Sandusky for the OMA Conference. Best of luck for the rest of the semester!

Be Recognized with the OMA Awards Program!

It’s January, and that means award season. The beginning of a new year is marked by iconic awards such as The Golden Globes, SAG Awards, Critics Choice Awards, and of course, the OMA Annual Awards Program!

Unlike those other award programs, the Ohio Museums Association’s Annual Awards are all about Ohio – more specifically the museums in our great state and the wonderful museum professionals who work in and for them.

The Ohio Museums Association Annual Awards Program is divided into two sections: the Awards of Achievement, and the Visual Communication Awards.

OMA Awards program is now accepting entries!

The Visual Communication Competition recognizes creative excellence in Ohio museums by its field professionals and organizations producing material for museums. Articles for submission can include: Annual Reports, Audio-Visual/Electronic Media, Books, Brochures, Catalogs, Campaigns, Education Materials, Fundraising Materials, Institutional Identity, Invitations/Announcements, Newsletters/Magazines, Posters and Press Packs just to name a few.

Deadline to submit your nominations is January 31, 2013!

The Achievement Award categories honors the outstanding quality and caliber of work by Ohio museums and their professionals. The awards are divided into two groups: Individual Achievement Awards and Institutional Achievement Awards.

Individual Achievement Awards include: Professional of the Year, Emerging Professional of the Year, and new for the 2012 Awards – The Betty Bryan Volunteer of the Year.

Institutional Achievement Award categories are recognized in two budget levels, and include: Best Exhibition, Best Exhibition Catalog, Best Community Collaboration/Partnership, Best Education/Outreach Program, and OMA’s Institution of the Year award.

The 2012 Ohio Museums Association Award winners will be recognized at the 2013 Ohio Museums Association’s Annual Conference, April 21-22 at the Sawmill Creek Resort in Sandusky. Nominations and entries from the field are considered by a distinguished panel of judges, selected to represent the diversity of the museum community.

To learn more about the annual awards program, or to download nomination forms for both the Awards of Achievement and the Visual Communication programs, visit the OMA Awards page.

There is still plenty of time to submit your nominations – the awards deadline is January 31, 2013.

Don’t miss your chance to be recognized! Submit your nominations today and you could be on your way to a big award season win — without the hassle of red carpet paparazzi!

How do we tackle the ‘Art Market Bubble’?

Today’s post comes from guest blogger Katey Brown, Director of Museum Studies and Assistant Professor of Art History at Walsh University, and a member of the Ohio Museums Association’s Board of Trustees

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Some of you may have read in this past week’s Sunday Magazine of the New York Times a series of letters in the “Invitation to Dialogue” Opinion section (click here for the link) with an ensuing and engrossing discussion about the high prices of contemporary art and thus the suggestion of an “Art Market Bubble.”

Aside from how high prices of art affect private collectors and auction houses, I am mostly concerned about how high prices affect art museums’ abilities to add such works to their collections. Especially for small or mid-sized museums, prices that range in the millions of dollars make some works of art simply unobtainable.

How is your museum tackling the Art Market Bubble?

Larger museums may be fortunate to have donors who will acquire, or provide matching funds to acquire, multi-million dollar masterpieces of art. Other donors may collect such works privately, sometimes with curatorial input or an art historian’s advice, and then leave them to an art museum as a bequest.

I invite your comments or thoughts about how the rising prices of art, and contemporary art in particular, have affected your museum’s ability to collect 20th century art.

Some museums may steer more towards prints, drawings, photography or other works on paper that may be more affordable than a major painting, sculpture or installation and yet allow representation of major “isms” or artists within the scope of a collection. Others may formulate a Collector’s Circle or other group of museum members whose interest is in advancing the acquisitions fund for the museum. Other museums may need to tweak, update, or change their collection policy to accommodate fluctuating art prices and thus make their collections policies feasible. Some curators may patiently wait–decades even–to monitor if or when prices of desired works may come down.

Notice that I am steering clear of some of the issues brought up in the Dialogue letters, such as whether or not works by various specific artists are “worth” the high investment. Such connotative and interpretive issues are best left to connoisseurship and time.

Relevant to members of OMA, I’m interested in to what extent high art market prices have affected your museums’ abilities to collect. Food for thought!

Katey Brown
Director of Museum Studies and Assistant Professor of Art History, Walsh University
OMA Board Member

Zoos and OMA

Did you know I live in a museum?

Recently I was talking to a friend about OMA.  My friend expressed surprise that a zoo would be a member of a museums association.  For a lot of people when they think of museums, zoos are not the first thing to come to mind.  But really, we share a lot in common.  Whether we are a traditional or non-traditional museum, we all play an important role.  So I did a quick Google search of the word museum and found this definition under dictionary.com – “a building or place where works of art, scientific specimens or other objects of permanent value are kept and displayed.”

While I don’t know that “objects” is the proper term for our animals, the creatures housed in zoos/aquariums are most certainly of permanent value.  And I personally would make a case for their scientific and artistic value, but that is a discussion for another day.

Like other types of museums, zoos can have a big impact on their communities.  According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), accredited zoos throughout North America reach over 175 million visitors per year.  And they educate approximately 12 million students every year.  Most zoos are mission-based, non-profit institutions focusing on wildlife conservation, environmental or science education and family fun.  We work not only to change attitudes about wildlife and wild places, but we also aspire to changing people’s behavior so they will help with our conservation efforts.

OMA institutions can inspire and provoke us to care about the world around us.  Just this past week, I visited the Air Force Museum in Dayton and was stirred by the stories of sacrifice and heroism from those who have served in the military and fought for our country.   I have been moved by a beautiful work of art and also by watching a young elephant interact with his mother.  Museums come in a wide variety, but every one of us has an important story to tell.  So whether you are traveling over the holidays or hosting out of town guests, I encourage you to visit the local art museum, science center, historical site and of course zoo/aquarium!

Bring Your Best Ideas to OMA 2013!

It’s hard to believe, but the 2013 OMA Annual Conference is right around the corner! This year’s meeting will be held April 21-22 in Sandusky at the Sawmill Creek Resort.

OMA 2013 is about IDEATION: the process of collectively generating and sharing GREAT ideas – the kinds of ideas that can change how you think, grow, communicate, work, and succeed. For OMA 2013 we need your ideas – great ideas – in museum curation, education, fundraising, exhibition design, business practices, and marketing to make Ohio museums better, stronger, and more relevant to our communities than ever before.

Bring your very best ideas to OMA 2013!

This year’s theme is The VERY BEST Ideas Out There, and we need your help! OMA is currently accepting session proposals for innovative and engaging sessions that will create an interactive experience for our conference attendees.

Click here to download a Session Proposal form!

What makes a great OMA session? Our attendees love programs with  high take-away values—something that equips them with knowledge and skills they will be able to immediately put into practice. Sessions that engage the attendees in open discussion, and provide an opportunity for museum professionals to discover how others solve problems, develop programs, produce exhibits and deliver what the public wants while staying true to a mission are always big hits. Because OMA is a state-wide conference, the audience comes from a wide variety of institutions that vary in size and discipline, so sessions that can engage this unique group are highly sought after.

We invite proposals that examine different points of view, involve innovative thinking, and take new approaches to problems. Sessions on a variety of topics would be welcome; however, for 2013 we would encourage proposals that focus on:

• Removing obstacles – how to get groups in the door
• Appealing to niche and non-traditional audiences
• Working with “free” employees (volunteers, interns, etc.)
• “Top 10” best/forward-thinking/creative ideas in your department
• Using technology in museums for the digital age
• Un-success stories – Lessons learned
• The very Best practices at your institution
• Topics for emerging museum professionals

 A variety of formats are encouraged from hands-on sessions, round table discussions, and workshops (to name a few).

Session proposals are being accepted until December 14, 2012. For complete Session Proposal information and up-to-date conference details, visit the OMA 2013 Conference Page.  Please feel free to contact the OMA office at 614.297.2375 or oma@ohiohistory.org with any questions.

OMA 2013: Share, show off, sample, and yes – steal! – the cutting-edge practices that are making Ohio museums great. We look forward to seeing you in Sandusky!

Teacher Conferences: The Top Ten Reasons Your Museum Should Be There

COSI Booth at the 2012 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Area Conference in Louisville, Kentucky (October 2012)

Going to teacher conferences can be expensive and time-consuming, but there are few better ways to meet and talk with a wide range of teachers in a short time. These are the same teachers who bring students to your museums, who attend your professional development sessions, and who also come to your museum with their own families. I travel to lots of teacher conferences for my museum, COSI – Columbus’ Center of Science and Industry. I find them to be a consistently rewarding and worthwhile investment of COSI’s resources.

Here are the top ten reasons (in addition to spreading the word about your great programs and resources) your museum should seek out and attend Ohio teacher conferences as an exhibitor:

1. You’ll meet leaders in education. Today I attended the Cleveland Regional Council of Science Teachers (CRCST) fall conference. I just met Bill Badders, the incoming president of the National Association of Science Teachers (NTSA), a fantastic contact. Bill also gave today’s keynote address about the current status of the new national science education standards. I’ll be able to share Bill’s slides with my colleagues back at COSI. I also had the chance to speak at length with Susan Clay, the CRCST’s incoming president, another great contact.

2. You’ll see what your competitors are offering. Okay, since we’re mostly non-profit museums, maybe “competitors” isn’t the right term, since we’re all in this together (and readily share the secrets to our successes). But still, it’s great to see what other museums are offering to the same audiences you’re working to engage.

3. You’ll see where school dollars go. At larger teacher conferences, museums usually make up a small percentage of the exhibitors. Most exhibitors I encounter are companies selling classroom technology, software, food services, even athletic field design and construction. Being a museum vendor at a conference in a sea of for-profit exhibitors will give you a good sense of who you’re competing against for limited school resources.

4. You get to meet (and talk with) your customers face-to-face. At a typical conference, I speak with dozens, or even hundreds, of teachers at COSI’s booth. You’ll learn something new with just about every conversation. Today I spoke with a teacher who’s a fan of Autopsy, one of COSI’s interactive videoconference programs. She adds all kinds of student exercises to our program that gives Autopsy a new depth. I’ll be following up with her later to connect her with the program’s director at COSI.

5. You’ll meet potential partners. At the last Science Education Council of Ohio (SECO) conference I attended, I met a sales representative from PASCO, the science lab equipment manufacturer. Later we worked out a donation of their EcoZone terrarium system that COSI was able to use as a giveaway prize for teachers. Nice!

6. You’ll get to know your own product line. Nothing prods you to study up on your own programs like knowing you’re going to be getting lots of questions directly from your customers. If there are holes in your lineup, or if your programs don’t meet teacher needs, you’ll hear about it right away.

7. Conferences can be a bargain. Yes, lots of conferences do charge (sometimes substantial) vendor fees to help offset their own costs. Yet many are surprisingly affordable, and for nonprofit museums, some are even free. You can always team up with another local museum to defray costs and spread out the time needed to staff your booth or table.

8. You’ll build your mailing list. A simple giveaway of tickets or a membership to your museum is a great way to get table visitors to join your mailing list. Make sure they know they’ll be receiving emails from your museum when they enter your drawings, though. That way you’ll stay in compliance with anti-spam legislation.

9. You don’t need to invest thousands for a great-looking and eye-catching table display. Sure, you can get a custom-imprinted tablecloth for a few hundred dollars, and it’ll last for many years, but you can spend even less with a little creativity. Okay, so I spent quite a bit over several years on my LCD TV and my pop-up COSI banners, but I spent a total of about $75 on the “cadaver” pictured above. To help promote COSI’s Autopsy interactive videoconference program, I bought a pair of latex feet and an inflatable mannequin from a haunted house supply website. A local hospital let us borrow a gurney and a set of sheets. The result? A display that few conference attendees can pass by without a comment or question. Some even stop to take pictures!

10. You’re showing support for teachers. By participating in their conferences, you’re helping affirm that teachers are critical to institutions of informal learning like museums. It’s hard to find bigger fans of museums than teachers. Just by being a part of a teacher conference, you’re showing your museum’s support for teachers and the fantastic work they do. It’s all about solidarity.

Has your museum participated in a recent teacher conference? If so, what did you learn? How did you find out about it? How did your being there benefit your museum? Here’s to seeing your museum at an Ohio teacher conference soon!

2013 OMA Conference Logo Contest is Now Open

Attention Graphic Art and Design students!

Are you looking for a way to expose your design talents to the largest network of museum professionals in Ohio?

Design the logo for the Ohio Museums Association’s Annual Conference!

The Ohio Museums Association will hold their 2013 Annual Conference in Sandusky, April 21-22 at the Sawmill Creek Resort. OMA needs your help to design a logo for this year’s conference!

This year’s state-wide gathering of museum professionals is titled: “The Very BEST IDEAS Out There”

The conference logo will be used on all conference materials (printed and electronic), as well as on all promotional materials – including but not limited to: The Ohio Museums Association website; OMA’s social networking sites; OMA conference brochure; OMA conference program book; vendor prospectus; registration material; on-site signage; and other uses as determined by the Ohio Museums Association.

Design entries will be reviewed by a panel of industry judges, and the contest winner will be announced no later than January 15, 2013.

Deadline to submit entries: December 14, 2012

Click here to download the official rules & submission info.

Speak Up For Ohio Museums! Day is October 1, 2012

Advocacy is a crucial function for museums as a way of connecting to elected officials who make important funding decisions that affect our institutions. It is our responsibility as museum professionals to inform these officials of the ways in which our institutions enrich students’ educational experiences, provide important and engaging programs, and preserve the cultural heritage of our communities.

As a way of banding together our resources to voice the need for museums as a vital component to quality of life, the Ohio Museums Association has created Speak Up For Ohio Museums! Day, to be held annually on the first Monday in October, during National Arts and Humanities Month.

Advocacy for Museums Matters!
When you make advocacy part of your normal operations, you are creating a win-win situation for both your museum and museums at-large.  Issues that affect you as an institution affect institutions across the museum field. Engaging in regular advocacy means you will be in a better position to have a favorable impact on local, state, or federal policies that affect your museum.

Nearly every legislator in Congress represents at least one museum within their congressional district — museums are available to citizens and visitors across the country, serving as sources of education, and places of reflection, contemplation, and connection with others. Every elected official should be informed about the public services of the museums they represent. And they need to hear it from you!

There has never been a more important time to connect with your elected officials!
Advocating for your museum and museums across the state is not just an important act during election time — it is an essential mission all year to communicate with your elected officials, and the public, the importance of our institutions in our communities. Don’t wait until your museum’s future is on the ballot! Building a relationship now, based on an exchange of information, makes it easier to communicate with your legislators when the need for an “ask” arrives.

In this inaugural year of Speak Up For Ohio Museums! Day, OMA encourages Ohio institutions to explore the many advocacy resources available on the OMA Advocacy page at www.ohiomuseums.org/advocacy.html. Speak Up For Ohio Museums! Day on October 1 is the perfect time to spread the word about the importance of your museum and museums across the state – to your members, community, and elected officials – and encourage them to Speak Up! about the crucial role of museums in our communities.

There are several ways you can participate:

• Contact your local or state officials with news about your museum
• Invite your elected officials them to an upcoming event at your museum
• Follow up and share your outreach efforts with other museum professionals and members of your community
• Highlight the impact of your advocacy through social media
• Send a letter or email to legislators at the local, state, and federal level about a current issue with the potential to impact museums
• Follow your local, state, and national elected officials on their — Facebook, Twitter and blogs!
• Write and Economic and Educational Impact statement to highlight your museum’s impact on the community

These few examples are just the tip of the iceberg — there are so many ways you can help advocate for your museum, and we want to hear what you are doing at your institution! Send an email to oma@ohiohistory.org and tell us what advocacy efforts you are taking at your museum.

We also encourage you to post your advocacy efforts, ideas and questions on our Facebook wall, and on Twitter!

Best of luck in your advocacy activities! Keep watching you inbox, and OMA’s social media pages for more advocacy information and inspiration.

Let’s all work hard on October 1, 2012 to Speak Up For Ohio Museums!