3126 W. Cary St., #447 | Richmond, Virginia 23221-3504 | 804. 358.3170 | www.vamuseums.org | Fall 2012

Voice

Exploring Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens

i Technical Insert: Implementing Wellness ProgrammingMember Profiles: Rappahannock Historical Society & The Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center

Photo courtesy of Rich Young.

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What is Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens?

Let’s Move! is a national initiative to get kids moving and eating healthy food. Let’s Move! was launched by First Lady Michelle Obama. The goal of the initiative is to reverse the problem of childhood obesity in a generation. Visits to museums and gar-dens are high-impact learning opportuni-ties with the power to make a difference in children’s lives and their futures. Let’s Move! is about putting children on the path to a healthy future, and offering parents helpful information and fostering environments that support healthy choices. Therefore, museums and gardens are natural partners for the Let’s Move! initiative.

There are an estimated 17,500 museums in the U.S. which collectively host at least 850 million visits each year. Through the Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens initiative, museums, zoos, public gardens, historic sites and science and technology centers can join the call to action in fighting childhood obesity. Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens is a project of the US Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Which Virginia and Washington, DC Organizations Currently* Participate?

Virginia

William King Museum - Abingdon

Arcadia at Woodlawn - Alexandria

Gadsby’s Tavern Museum - Alexandria

Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech - Blacksburg

Monticello - Charlottesville

Virginia Discovery Museum - Charlottesville

Morven Park - Leesburg

Old City Cemetery Museums & Arboretum - Lynchburg

Amazement Square - Lynchburg

Virginia Living Museum - Newport News

Hermitage Museum & Gardens - Norfolk

Norfolk Botanical Garden - Norfolk

Virginia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum - Portsmouth

Reston Historic Trust - Reston

Children’s Museum of Richmond - Richmond

Valentine Richmond History Center - Richmond

Science Museum of Virginia - Richmond

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden - Richmond

Suffolk African American Cultural Society, Inc. - Suffolk

Museum of the Shenandoah Valley - Winchester

Distirct of Columbia

Ford’s Theatre Society

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden

The Phillips Collection

National Children’s Museum

Washington Youth Garden

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens

Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, The George Washington University

Smithsonian Gardens

*As of 10/03/2012, according to IMLS.

Why Should My Organization Participate?

Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens provides your organization an opportunity to engage new audiences and develop enhanced visitor experiences by adapting existing programs or implementing new initiatives.

This is an opportunity to tell your story. Your site can participate in Let’s Move! Mu-seums & Gardens and partner with IMLS to showcase how you are supporting your community to create a generation of healthier kids. The outcomes achieved can have a significant positive impact for your community and your institution.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to forge this

path alone. The IMLS provides a plethora of resources to help you implement Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens at your institu-tion. For example, you can download web and print logos, approved quotes, press releases, videos, talking points, fact sheets, posters, get links to sample projects and guidance, and receive a monthly Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens newsletter. Additionally, programming resources and resources for parents are available for you to provide to your program participants. All of this can be found online at http://www.imls.gov/about/letsmove.aspx.

What Can My Institution Expect if We Initiate a Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens Program?

In September, December, March and June the Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens part-ners will contact you to ask for a report about action you’ve taken to contribute to the project goals:

• providing eat-healthy, get-active exhibits; • providing eat-healthy, get-active programs;• providing healthy food service; and• providing eat-healthy, get-active inter-

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Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens:A National Initiative with Local Benefitscompiled by Heather Widener

Gardening at the National D-Day Memorial’s Victory Garden, Bedford, VA.

Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens:A National Initiative with Local Benefitscompiled by Heather Widener

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pretation within food service operations.

With help from participants, the govern-ment can track our progress on these goals and help inform the public about the important role museums and gardens are playing to address childhood obesity. Your progress report will be combined with those of other project partners to build the national report for the White House. The data from your initiative will not be reported alone but will be ag-gregated with that of the other Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens participants.

Additionally, when you sign up to be a Let’s Move! museum or Let’s Move! garden you agree to take action related to at least one of the first two priorities. Institutions that serve food also select at least one of the second two priorities.

These priorities are:1. Eat-healthy, get-active exhibits2. Learning about healthy food choices and physical activity through afterschool, summer and other programming3. Healthy food service4. Learning about healthy food choices and physical activity using food service operation

The Priorities Explained

Priority #1: Eat-healthy, get-active exhibitsIdeas for interactive exhibits:• Museums and gardens create exhibits and spaces where families can be physically active, while learning about the appropriate amount of daily screen time.• Museums and gardens develop programs or exhibits to help families learn the differ-ence between healthy and unhealthy food choices and the impact of those choices.• Museums and gardens cultivate organic food/vegetable gardens, provide assis-tance for school and community gardens and offer related programs.• Museums and gardens provide inside and outside spaces and programs that use principles of universal design to create experiences that enable children and adults of all abilities to actively engage in exhibits and programs.• Museums and gardens create exhibits

and/or host forums or discussions for the community considering the local impact of built environment policies and regula-tions on human health.• Museums and gardens, many in urban locations, have or build safe and acces-sible parks and playgrounds on museum/garden grounds and off-site, in other locations.• Provide outdoor opportunities for children to enjoy recreation activities, including walking, hiking and free play on or off museum/garden grounds.• Museums and gardens work with local government to provide space for chil-dren’s indoor and outdoor recreation.• Museums and gardens create exhibits, web experiences or apps that utilize tech-nology to encourage physical activity.

Priority #2: Learning about healthy choices through afterschool, summer and other programsIdeas for programs:• Museums and gardens develop programs or exhibits that help families learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy food choices and the impact those choices can make (see also Priority #1).• Museums and gardens provide profes-sional development opportunities for teachers on nutrition (may or may not be integrated with gardening).• Afterschool programs at museums and gardens offer nutritious snacks and pro-mote good nutrition at home.• Museum and garden restaurants and cafes offer and promote healthy foods; provide only healthy foods in classes, programs or camps.• Museums and gardens offer programs for children and families on how to grow, harvest and cook healthy, organic food.• Museums and gardens provide outreach to schools to train faculty on ways to offer recess that promote physical activity and social skill development.• Museums and gardens serve as community partners, providing afterschool programs that offer and enhance physical activity.• Museums and gardens create exhibits and/or host forums or discussions for the community considering the local impact of built environment policies and regulations

on human health (see also Priority #1).• Museums and gardens, many in urban locations, have or build safe and acces-sible parks and playgrounds on museum/garden grounds and off-site, in other loca-tions (see also Priority #1).• Provide outdoor opportunities for chil-dren to enjoy recreation activities, including walking, hiking and free play on or off mu-seum/garden grounds (see also Priority #1).

Priority #3: Healthy food serviceIdeas for food service:• Museum and garden restaurants and cafes offer and promote healthy choices.• Museums and gardens cultivate organic food/vegetable gardens, provide assistance for school and community gardens and of-fer related programs (see also Priority #1).• Museums and gardens provide space for local farmers to sell fruits and vegetables. Museums and gardens connect families to farmers through programs.• Museum and garden restaurants and cafes offer and promote healthy foods; provide only healthy foods in classes, pro-grams or camps (see also Priority #2).• Museums and gardens pressure food service providers to develop healthy choices that are appealing to children and young people.

Priority #4: Learning about healthy food choices and physical activity using food service operationLearning ideas:• Museums and gardens create exhibits to help families learn the difference between advertising for healthy and unhealthy food.• Museums and gardens develop programs or exhibits that help families learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy food choices and the impact those choices can make (see also Priority #1 and #2).

Find out more about Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens, or register as a participating site, by visiting the IMLS Let’s Move! Muse-ums & Gardens website. z

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“Nutritious food, outdoor exercise, increased self-confidence, teamwork, eco-logical awareness, the wonder of watch-ing a seed become a foot-long carrot - those are the products of the W. E. Stevens Family Victory Garden at the National D-Day Memorial. Remembered by those youngsters and perhaps, in due time, refreshed and enriched in garden plots of their own, those experiences will continue to bear fruit long after the season’s soil is turned under in the Memorial’s Victory Garden. World War II ended in 1945, but the victory garden, as a vehicle for discovery, has immediacy still. The value of a harvest like that is beyond measure.” – April Cheek-Messier, Vice Presi-dent for Operations and Education, National D-Day Memorial

From the fresh air and exercise inherent in pulling weeds to the nutrition of a garden salad; from knowledge gained in gourmet healthy-cooking classes to added flexibility and calm after a yoga class; a visit to a museum or garden has more benefits these days than meet the eye. Increasingly, museum leaders are recognizing the importance of broadening their programming and engaging new audiences in creative new ways. Smart leaders also recognize that doing so not only meets vital needs in the communities they serve, but also positions the museum as a relevant, vibrant learning institution where a va-riety of demographics can turn to enjoy an ever-wider range of activities.

The theme for this Fall edition of the Voice centers around wellness pro-gramming, featuring the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) initiative, Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens (see lead article, page 2). While wellness programming is not the

only way to expand your organization’s reach, it is more critical than ever at a time when childhood obesity and Type II diabetes have become all too common across America. Yoga, T’ai Chi, Pilates, walking tours, healthy cooking classes, Victory Gardens, and more are popping up in museums across Virginia, DC, and the country. Sure, Let’s Move! Museums

and Gardens provides an impetus to join the trend, but the connection between wellness programming and museum and garden settings has been well es-tablished for years. “…Mind-body-spirit activities within the museum setting encourages cross-pollination which always results in new and exciting devel-opments,” says Dana Walters, Director of Operations, Project Yoga Richmond. We’ll look at some programs that have forged a path and borne fruit – figuratively and literally – for museums and the commu-nities they serve.

Planning a Program

Planning wellness programs with an eye toward encouraging repeat visits and strengthening your museum’s core

audience is vital. We spoke with Betty Ann Galway, Lifelong Learning Program Manager at the Norfolk Botanical Gar-dens (NBG). The NBG offers T’ai Chi, yoga, Pilates, ‘boot camp,’ and dance classes in addition to garden gourmet classes, meditation, and walking tours. Accord-ing to Galway, having such an extensive menu of offerings really adds value to an

NBG membership. “I think they are an added benefit to our members and the Hampton Roads community.” The NBG has reported that once people try their wellness programs, they be-come regulars in the program (which makes them regulars at the Garden).

Similarly, the National D-Day Memo-rial has structured their Victory Garden program so that students visit weekly to weed and water. They also learn about historical gardens and ecology through activities and crafts. These repeat visits have a renewed purpose and result in a passionate and engaged audience.

In program planning, flexibility is a key. Classes sometimes must move

to accommodate a space rental, for ex-ample. Project Yoga Richmond’s Dana Walters echoes this, “Soften your ideas around what is ‘appropriate.’ When we let down our barriers, magical things happen.” As you consider what your site has to offer, consider too who will deliver your programming, and what their needs are. At the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), for example, Project Yoga Richmond appreciates “the wide open space, the availability of parking and bicycle/scooter racks, the natural setting, the landscaping, and the sound of the water….,” says Walters. In addi-tion to working with Project Yoga Rich-mond, the VMFA also offers a Mind, Body, and Spirit strand within their Studio School, which includes yoga instruction.

Technical Insert: Implementing Wellness Programming

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VAM thanks April Cheek-Messier, Vice President for Operations and Education at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Betty Ann Galway, Lifelong Learning Program Manager at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, and Dana Walters, Director of Operations at Project Yoga Richmond for their contributions to this article.

Children work in the Victory Garden at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia.

Forging Partnerships

In addition to consideration of your museum or garden spaces, also consider who will deliver your programming. This depends on many factors, including the size of your institution, the nature of the program (i.e., are their liability issues that must be considered?), whether your cur-rent staff or volunteers are qualified to deliver the programs, and what partner-ships would be beneficial to your site, the program, and the community.

For example, the National D-Day Memorial has a small staff. They rely on a well-organized network of commu-nity partnerships to keep their Victory Garden green. In fact, the project has engaged a dozen different agencies and organizations from the public and private sectors. The Bedford Coopera-tive Extension Service and 4-H provide gardening and ecology lesson plans, and hundreds of volunteer hours from tilling through harvest. Assisted by members of the Kiwanis Club of Bedford, the Bedford Master Gardeners present a range of garden-based craft activities each week from March to August. “The Victory Garden project is - in every sense of the word - a community project. We found [help] in the shape of volunteers from various civic organizations who as-sist in the implementation of the lessons. Because our expertise focuses on history instead of science, we ask our local 4-H extension service to provide the lessons. Master Gardeners assist with lessons. Much of our success comes from the fact that this is a popular project and one that local businesses and organizations have supported through grants and sponsor-ship dollars,” says Messier. Her advice to others? Line up financial backing prior to embarking on a bold new project, and be patient while “working out the bugs” (no pun intended) in the program. This, too,

takes time.

The value of community partnerships cannot be overstated. Currently, Project Yoga Richmond, whose mission includes enhancing the quality of life for indi-viduals and communities by nurturing, expanding, and unifying the greater Richmond yoga and movement arts collective, is wrapping up a season of free Saturday yoga the VMFA. Says Dana Walters, “Art and yoga go hand in hand. Yoga opens energetic channels…. [and] looking at a painting, we might find ourselves saying, ‘I bet I could do that!’ - it’s the same energy.” One might call it inspiration; but whether you get your inspiration from yoga or art, cooking or gardening, no one organization can provide it all. By seeking community sponsors to help keep programs ac-cessible and hold down costs, and by seeking experts and volunteers who are passionate about their craft – whether it be Pilates or pruning – you can forge valuable ties in your community.

The Community & Your Audience

At the NBG, staff has discovered a few things about the folks who sign up for their wellness classes. First, as we men-tioned, they become repeat partici-pants, and usually become members of the garden. Another thing they’ve learned, points out Galway, is that their wellness classes are attracting a dif-ferent crowd than a traditional gym’s classes – “Make the classes social…. Most people that take the exercise classes here are not looking for an ex-treme workout.” Seemingly their audi-ence is looking for a richer experience than they can find at their local gym; one where they can combine physical activity, a love of nature, and socializing.

Back in Bedford, many of the children involved in the Victory Garden have

never held a spade. As the program develops each season, a sense of teamwork appears, as older chil-dren help younger ones and sharing becomes commonplace. Friendships form between young gardeners and adult volunteers. New attitudes show themselves, too: motivation, curiosity, and a sense of pride and ownership (after all, the children get to take home and share their healthful bounty with their families!).

The Victory Garden Program concludes each year in August with an end-of-season picnic, featuring foods grown in the Victory Garden. A newfound community gathers to recognize the hard work that goes into the project, to reflect on what has been gained, and to celebrate the success of their combined efforts. Indeed, each season grows a group of youths who have become passionate about gardening, have learned their history and science, and who have made memories to cher-ish forever at the museum’s garden. z

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VAM thanks April Cheek-Messier, Vice President for Operations and Education at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Betty Ann Galway, Lifelong Learning Program Manager at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, and Dana Walters, Director of Operations at Project Yoga Richmond for their contributions to this article.

Participants enjoy T’ai Chi at the Norfolk Botanical Garden.

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Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts 2012Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts creates awareness of the necessity of preserving artifacts in the care of museums, libraries, and archives throughout Virginia and Washington, DC.

With over 120,000 public votes and the review of a professional collections care review panel, the selected artifacts help share the significant stories of our local com-munities, our state, and the nation.There’s no time like now to get in-volved and help save our cultural and historic treasures for tomor-row!

www.VATop10Artifacts.org

The program is coordinated by the Virginia Association of Museums, under the Virginia Collections Initiative (VCI), which is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum & Library Ser-vices. IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the na-tion’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The mission of IMLS is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.

Contact: Christina E. NewtonVCI Project Manager804.358.3173cnewton@vamuseums.org

Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts 2012

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In our Member Profile, we are featuring the two organizations that were recently awarded VAM’s F.C. Vogt Conservation Assess-ment Grant. The program is for

VAM institutional members and is sponsored by F.C. Vogt Company - a Richmond-based professional conservation firm dedicated to the preservation of antique furniture and wooden artifacts.

This year, we were able to make two awards. One went to the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center for the assessment of a Civil War-era trunk of great his-torical significance to the Battle of Fredericksburg. The second grant was awarded to the Rappahannock Historical Society in Washington, Virginia for the assessment of three wooden artifacts related to domes-tic life on the frontier.

Rappahannock Historical Society

The Rappahannock Historical Society (RHS), a largely volunteer, 501(c)3 organization, founded in 1965, is “committed to collect-ing, preserving, interpreting and disseminating the unique history and heritage of Rappahannock County, promoting knowledge of the past for a better understanding of the future.” They are governed by a board of directors and rely solely on member-ships, donations, sales and small grants for income.

The RHS facility (ca 1820 with a year 2000 addition) includes an office/reading room, library, boardroom, museum and archival storage. The organization serves a diverse modern audience: genealogical re-searchers, researchers investigating a range of specific topics, commu-nity members with knowledge and interest in local cultural traditions and economy who often share their knowledge and documents; county residents to whom the RHS reaches out with varied programs, and visitors to the county who are looking for something to do.

Outreach activities include a variety of topics such as: antique appraisals, the local Apple industry, old post offices, stories of former residents of present-day Shenan-doah National Park, concerts of Civil War era music, and history-oriented road rallies. The Society also produces numerous booklets on county history, a CD with a list of local cemetery ‘residents,’ and

it conducts extremely detailed property searches, producing com-prehensive histories of real estate parcels. The RHS has also provided research support for a county project to erect 33 Virginia Civil War Trails markers and has conducted a number of marker dedication ceremonies.

The Society sponsors an annual early eve-ning, family-oriented, New Year’s Eve event, Last Night Rappahan-nock, now in its third year, featuring music, food, and yes, a touch of local history.

The small mu-seum contains local artifacts, both owned and on loan to

the society. These items range from portraits, farm implements, a communion set, a wooden gear wheel from an old mill, old school desks, a bayonet used both in the War of 1812 and the Civil War, and numerous small items. As visitors tour the museum, the Rappahan-nock County story is tailored to individual interests. A recent grant from VAM will allow a conservator to provide advice on preservation techniques for several of the most important wooden artifacts.

RHS has also recently received a grant from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) in support of the initial phase of digitizing their archival holdings. This proj-ect will allow the RHS to move to-ward an on-line catalog of holdings and to create web-based multi-me-dia presentations on various topics.

Wooden Mill Gear to be assessed under the VAM / F.C. Vogt Conservation Assessment Grant

VAM & F.C. Vogt Conservation Assessment Grant Winners:

Rappahannock Historical Society and Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center

VAM & F.C. Vogt Conservation Assessment Grant Winners:

Rappahannock Historical Society and Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center

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As part of the effort, they also plan to collaborate with colleagues from Encyclopedia Virginia at VFH to explore ways in which portions of local historical society collections with wide appeal may be shared with broad audiences.

Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural CenterThere is a lot in store for the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center’s (FAMCC) visitors and members this coming year. This fall the Museum is opening two new exhibitions dealing with textiles. The first show, Community Artist Series: Fiber Art exhibits the work of local fiber artists. The intent in curating this exhibition was to highlight the diversity of work within fiber art and to promote the art form in the region. Continuing with the Museum’s textile driven exhibitions for the fall is Quilt National, a traveling exhibition on loan from the Dairy Barn Arts Cen-ter in Athens, Ohio. This exhibition of contemporary quilts serves as a perfect catalyst for the public to rethink what can be done with the art of quilt making. To complement these shows the Museum is team-ing up with the local arts center Libertytown and the University of Mary Washington Galleries, who are

also hosting textile exhibitions, for a joint exhibit preview on October 25.

Additionally, as part of its continu-ing Civil War sesquicentennial participation, the FAMCC recently opened a new exhibition titled Picturing the Civil War. This show debuts several pieces from the Museum’s collection, and explores how the visual arts (in often moving, and sometimes bizarre ways) served both commercial and emotion-al purposes following the conflict.

On the education front, in an effort to provide program opportunities for an even wider audience, the FAMCC is developing three new programs to provide more op-tions for middle and high school students. The first, History through Symbols, will utilize the Museum’s currency exhibition to provide learners a better understanding of the history of the American currency system and its usage. The second, Big River, Big News, will incorporate multimedia to teach students about life along the Rap-pahannock River. Finally, Connect-ing a Country will give students the chance to understand the concepts of the railroad and highways sys-tems, as well as mapping skills.

Finally, the Museum’s popular Art Comes Alive! program is back for the third year in a row. On Sep-tember 22 the FAMCC hosted a fun-filled evening of local artists, music and great food. The artists

were chosen to represent differ-ent genres, mediums, and inter-pretations, reflecting just a small sampling of Fredericksburg’s visual arts. They each painted a creation within the Museum’s galleries, producing impromptu works of art infused with the energy and enthu-siasm of the event. The liveliness of community participation helped

in the construction of the final product. All artwork was then auctioned to benefit the FAMCC.

If you are interested in learning more about either the Rappahan-

nock Historical Soci-ety or the Fredericks-burg Area Museum and Cultural Center,

visit them online:

Rapahannock Historical Societyhttp://www.rappahannockhistsoc.org/

Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Centerhttp://www.famcc.org/

Photo from FAMCC’s “First Friday Concert Series” in the Historic Market Square.

“Sycamore Tree / She” Needle felted wall piece by local fiber artist Barbara Posey. It will be featured in “Community Artist Series: Fiber Art”

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VAM NewsSave the Date for another fantastic VAM conference - to be held March 9 - 12 at The Homestead in Hot Springs, VA. The Home-stead has extended a fantastic room rate of just $95/night for conference attendees - plan to join us! Visitation SurveyPlease take a moment to complete this quick, 7-question visitation survey! We’ll use the data to make the case for YOUR museum as we advocate on your behalf at the state and national levels. Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered ArtifactsVAM announced the 2012 Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts Honorees in September. We received over 120,000 public votes this year! Christina Newton, VAM’s VCI Project Manager, recently represented the Associa-tion and the Virginia Collections Initiative at the Connecting to Collections Exchange dur-ing the AASLH Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah! Upcoming Programming from VAM

New Online Course: Marketing and Development for Collections CareVAM is teaming up with John Tyler Com-munity College to bring you quality online classes to meet your needs and conform to your busy schedule. Check out our latest addition - Marketing and Development for Collections Care begins October 9th and runs through October 29th. Priority: Disaster PlansBe prepared and register today for one of these great upcoming sessions presented by the Virginia Collections Initiative: October 15, 2012 - CharlottesvilleJanuary 28, 2013 - Hampton February 25, 2013 - DanvilleMarch 25, 2013 - Fredericksburg Registration fee is $25 per person and includes lunch, materials, and a “disaster planning wheel” for the first 15 registrants! Non-Traditional Ways to Showcase your Collections October 22nd, National Sporting Library, Middleburg; Certificate credit: exhibitions or

collections managementSpeakers: Mary Helen Dellinger, Manassas Museum System; Gretchen Bulova, Gadsby’s Tavern; final speaker to be determined.Exhibits in permanent or changing museum galleries have always been the primary method of providing access to our collections for the public. But many museums are finding new ways to share their collections, through programs and non-traditional exhibit venues that can reach a bigger audience, or allow more of your collection to be on view. Join us for a day of exploring these non-traditional, yet very effective, methods for showcasing your collection to the public.

Using Personality Styles for Better Customer ServiceNovember 13th, Union Station, PetersburgCertificate credit: education/ outreach or external affairsSpeakers: Bobbie Walker, Virginia Tourism Corporation; Nicole Dressler, Portsmouth Museums; Jennifer Thomas, VAMKnowing a little bit about how different visi-tors think and why they act they way they do can make the job of a docent or educator much easier. This workshop will introduce you to different personality types, and how they each learn differently, and then give you a refresher course on how to make sure your customer service skills are up to the challenge of responding to all sorts of personalities! This is a great workshop for all front line staff, and those who train them!

Member NewsThe Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) announced the Virginia Living Museum has been awarded Top Honors in Marketing for budgets under $175,000 for its Protect What’s Precious campaign.“This award provides well-deserved national recognition for the creativity and marketing expertise of the staff at the Virginia Living Mu-seum,” said AZA President and CEO Jim Maddy. The AZA Marketing Award recognizes excel-lence in marketing campaigns developed and executed by its AZA member institutions.

“The Protect What’s Precious Campaign was a major rebranding to tap into the emotion of the unique experience awaiting visitors to the Virginia Living Museum,” said museum Executive Director Page Hayhurst. “The campaign was a great way to showcase the value of the museum as a place where

families connect with each other and make memories as they learn and care for the environment together.”

Virginia Living Magazine recently featured the James Monroe Museum’s loan of the Rembrandt peale portrait of Monroe to the Virginia Executive Mansion.

In a new study published on Forbes.com, “Top 100 Lead Response Companies at salesforce.com’s Dreamforce 2012,” Guide by Cell (a VAM business member) was ranked in the Top 100 for response time to inquiries out of over 4,300 companies included in a blind study. Congratulations!

Patricia Hobbs, associate director/cura-tor of University Collections of Art and History at Washington and Lee, was one of 32 academic museum and gallery leaders from throughout the United States attend-ing the inaugural Leadership Seminar of the Association of Academic Museums and Gallery (AAMG), and the only participant from Virginia. While attending the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Annual Confer-ence recently in Phoenix, Arizona, Virginia Aquarium Executive Director Lynn Cle-ments was honored for her outstanding efforts as the outgoing chairman of the AZA Government Affairs Committee. Ad-ditionally, Clements was recently elected to the AZA Board of Directors and began her three year term at the conclusion of the conference. As such she will be the board liaison to two committees: Govern-ment Affairs and the Enterprise Committee. Congratulations, Lynn!

The James Monroe Museum recently announced two Bowley Scholars - Can-dice Roland and Sarah Mendelsohn. Both Candice and Sarah are juniors at Mary Washington and have already dived head-on into a number of curatorial tasks. This year, the Bowleys will be working on digital imaging of collections, loan organization, education, and exhibit development.

Congratulations to Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont for being voted Fredericksburg’s #1 attraction on TripAdvi-sor.

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The Valentine Richmond History Center will host the Richmond History Makers Celebra-tion on October 16th. Honored this year are John C. Purnell, Jr., Dr. Charles Price, Home-ward, Dominic Gibbons Barrett and Ralph White.

On Aug. 25, water from a flash flood inundated the entire lower level of the main museum building at the Virginia Living Museum (VLM), as well as the Wason Education Center. This was the worst flooding in the museum’s 45-year history, overwhelming floodgates that were designed to withstand a 100-year flood. Much of the damage will be covered by insur-ance, but the museum must raise $50,000 to meet the insurance deductible. This is the second time this year that the museum been flooded and the second time it must meet the insurance deductible. The d’ART Center held a dedication and ribbon-cutting of a new Landmark Sculpture on October 3, 2012. Honored guests wel-comed d’ART’s new Landmark into the heart of the City of Norfolk. This vibrant 14 foot steel sculpture delivers a striking piece of public art and a recognizable landmark to downtown Norfolk. With the monumental help of world class sculptor and Norfolk native, Rodney Carroll, the d’ART Center will be noticed, from Main Street, the waterfront and beyond. On August 15th, Stratford Hall’s rare book catalog went on-line as Stratford became an active partner, along with the libraries at Mount Vernon and Gunston Hall, in the Founding Fathers Library Consortium. Recently, thieves stole the American flag from the Virginia War Memorial. “I was appalled that someone would commit a despicable act like that,” said Virginia War Memorial’s Executive Director Jon Hatfield. “I don’t know why they would have singled out our national flag which we as Virginians and American’s honor.” A new flag was donated by Pharaohs Soul mo-torcycle club. Members of the club said they were compelled to do something - to show their love for our nation’s veterans. Despite the fact the flag was pilfered, Hatfield said he is grateful the community came through: “I have been proud as an American to see the outpouring from locally and around the State, as people felt the same way that I do.”

Hails and FarewellsMartha Katz-Hyman has accepted a new position - as collections manager at Chip-pokes Plantation State Park. She’ll be working primarily with the Farm and Forestry Museum collection that is now the responsibility of the VA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation. Congratulations Martha!

Sarah Whiting is the new executive director at St. John’s Church in Richmond. Formerly of Preservation Virginia, Whiting replaces Kay Peninger, who is moving out of state. Brian R. Pitney, President of St. John’s Church Founda-tion Board of Trustees, had this to say: “Sarah is uniquely qualified and a perfect fit for the Foundation. She is skilled in fundraising, histor-ic preservation, building collaborative partner-ships, and in bringing diverse groups together to attain strategic goals. I am looking forward to working with her.” Best of luck to both Sarah and Kay in their new adventures!

Caroline Nichols recently accepted a position with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as writer in the Advancement Division of the Founda-tion. Nichols started in this position in August. Best of luck Caroline! The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia has appointed art historian Melissa Jordan Love as the museum’s first full-time academic curator. She joined the museum staff Aug. 15. The position, funded by a three-year, $315,000 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant, strengthens the museum’s curatorial and academic programming mission as a teach-ing institution. Love will develop educational programming around the museum’s exhibitions that will both enhance the learning of students at the University and the public’s understanding of art.

The Museum of the Confederacy welcomes two new members on their development team, Con-stance Bowden and Amanda Pow-ers. VAM welcomes you too!

Waterford Foundation has ap-pointed a new executive director. Kenneth W. Rosenfeld will be the this award-winning preservation organization’s new executive di-rector, starting October 16. “We are

delighted that Ken Rosenfeld has enthusiasti-cally accepted our offer of employment,” says Foundation President Walter Music. “He brings 15 years of partnership development, commu-nity relations, and program administration to our organization, as well as the political experi-ence he gained as chief of staff for a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors earlier in his career.” Welcome, Ken!

Elizabeth Hutton Turner will step down in Janu-ary as the University of Virginia’s vice provost for the arts, a position she has held since its creation in 2007, after completing her five-year term. Turner, who also is University Professor of modern art and teaches in the College of Arts & Sciences’ McIntire Department of Art, returned to the University - where she earned her bach-elor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees - from The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., where she was senior curator. A noted scholar of 20th-century American art, her work as a curator and educator has brought new perspectives on a wide range of artists who bridge the relation-ship between America and Europe during the modernist period. “As the University’s first vice provost for the arts, Beth oversaw significant growth in arts programming, the display of public art on Grounds, and the expansion of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection and The Fralin Museum of Art,” Executive Vice Presi-dent and Provost John Simon said. “In her five years, she established the role of vice provost for the arts as collaborator and advocate.”

Backyard, and Beyond...

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Call for Governing Council Nominations

Would you or someone you know make a great VAM Council member? Want to get more involved in your state museum association? Find out more and nominate yourself or a colleague today. Nominations are due by December 1, 2012.

Dear Members,

The Museum world is a little less groovy these days.

Our good friend, mentor, colleague and cheer-leader Joe Gutierrez left us on July 17, 2012 after a brief yet valiant battle with cancer.

Joe was a true force of nature. He was always passionate about what he did, and what he did was extraordinary. Throughout his career he was a school teacher, a maritime historian, an educator, an author, a faculty member, a direc-tor, a reviewer, and a president. He was also a devoted husband and father. He loved travel, and music, and time with friends. A child of the 60’s, for Joe, things were never just “ok” – they were “groovy.” And if someone seemed upset about something – anything – Joe would say “Peace signs! Peace signs!”

A native of Winston-Salem, NC, Joe headed east for his college years – to East Carolina University where he received his B.A. in Politi-cal Science and History and then his M.A. in American History (Civil War Maritime) a few years later. Then he headed west – all the way to Wyoming where he taught school and at-tended the Taft Institute of Government at the University of Wyoming.

But the call of the sea was strong, and Joe came back east, this time to Virginia, where he led the education department at The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News for eight years. Then it was on to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation where eventually Joe would lead the Museum Operations and Education division as Senior Director. In that role, he was responsible for all public programming, includ-ing museum exhibits, re-created structures and ships, costumed interpretation, education programs, special events and volunteers at both Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center. Under Joe’s leadership, the new permanent galleries at Jamestown Settlement opened in 2006 and he was actively work-

ing on the development of the galleries and programming for the new American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, which will open a few years from now.

Joe also loved to give back to the communi-ties that helped shape him. He gave back to the higher education community by serving as Vice-Chair and then Chair of the Thomas Nelson Community College Local Board. In the Museum world, he was one of the early volunteer leaders of the Peninsula Museums Forum, and became heavily involved with the American Association of Museums (AAM), serv-ing as both executive committee member for EDCOM and as a peer reviewer for the MAP and Accreditation programs of AAM.

And then, there was VAM. As president of the or-ganization from 2010-2012, Joe exemplified the true meaning of leadership. Joe worked closely with staff and was always available for assistance and as a sounding board for ideas. He pushed us to excel on behalf of members, but reined us in when we needed to recognize the limits of our resources.

He was optimistic about the years ahead for VAM, but he knew that we had to plan ahead to secure VAM’s future. Joe insist-ed that Council examine our current funding sources, as well as look for new sources. Two ideas that Joe encour-aged Council to explore were increased advocacy for our organization, and the potential establish-ment of an endowment fund.

His untimely passing has left us with a void that cannot easily be filled, but has also left us with the motivation to con-tinue his work on behalf of VAM. We are actively advocating for VAM (and for Virginia museums overall) at the State and National levels. And while Council is still con-sidering the formation of an endowment fund, we are pleased to say that

VAM is creating the Joseph A. Gutierrez, Jr. Memorial Fund* as a way to honor Joe’s com-mitment to your state museum organization. We invite you, if you are able, to contribute to this fund, and encourage you to share with us your ideas for how the fund could best be used to honor Joe’s legacy.

In closing, we on Council wish farewell to Joe, a true leader and a caring individual. We are all better off for having had Joe in our midst. Let us carry forth with the good work he started, knowing he is cheering us on.

Sincerely,

Anna Holloway, Tracy Gillespie, and Margo Carlock

* Visit www.vamuseums.org and click on the “Donate” link in the upper-right to make a donation to the Joseph A. Gutierrez, Jr. Memorial Fund.

In Memoriam: Joe Gutierrez

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Our Governing Council

President, Tracy GillespieVP, Planning & Resources, Al SchweizerVP, Programming, Gary Sandling

Secretary, Barbara Batson

Treasurer, Sean FearnsPast President (Acting), Scott HarrisPast President (Acting), John Verrill Ex-Officio Member, Robert C. Vaughan Ex-Officio Member, Robin Nicolson

DirectorsGretchen BulovaDonald BumaNorman BurnsApril Cheek-Messier Diane DunkleyLin EzellDebi GrayPage Hayhurst Anna Holloway Melanie L. Mathewes Robert OrrisonCheryl Robinson Barbara Rothermel Charlotte Whitted Our StaffExecutive Director, Margo CarlockDeputy Director, Jennifer ThomasCommunications Dir., Heather Widener Accountant, Su Thongpan

Project Manager, VCI, Christina Newton

Our VoiceVAM Voice is a member benefit pub-lished quarterly for museum profes-sionals and volunteers. The editor encourages readers to submit article proposals. Contact the Communica-tions Director for more information.

Our Contac tsPhone: 804. 358.3170 Fax: 804. 358.3174www.vamuseums.org membership@vamuseums.orgmcarlock@vamuseums.orgjthomas@vamuseums.orgtimetravelers@vamuseums.orghwidener@vamuseums.org

Our News D eadlinesSpring: February 15th

Summer: May 15th

Fall: August 15th

Winter: November 15th

Our MissionThe mission of the Virginia Association

of Museums is to serve as the resource

network of the Virginia and District

of Columbia museum community

through education, technical assis-

tance, and advocacy.