Exhibitions

By: Dan Keeffe
It’s perhaps cliché that “you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression,” but that was our mantra last spring at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County as we went about planning for the opening of our new Dinosaur Hall in July 2011.  By Labor Day we had successfully navigated opening 14,000 square feet of new exhibition space and nearly doubling our attendance...
By: Jessica Horowitz
The Bay Area Discovery Museum recently welcomed internationally-known artist Patrick Dougherty to create a new sculpture to replace his first piece, located in the Museum’s Lookout Cove, a large outdoor exhibit space. Titled Peekaboo Palace, this new exhibit overlooks the Golden Gate Bridge. This immersive sculpture brings adults and children together through encouraging...
By: Jean Nels
I sit here reminiscing that just a week ago I was in Hawaii at the WMA Annual Meeting.  As a first time attendee, I had many high expectations about the knowledge I would gain and the information I would bring back to my small museum in Mount Shasta, California - the Sisson Museum. I am happy to say that many of my expectations were met and I can sense many ways for my museum to...
By Redmond J. Barnett

Redmond J. Barnett, Secretary of WMA, is the Head of the Exhibits Department, Washington State History Museum

Washington’s governor, Christine Gregoire, faces a $4 billion budget deficit and proposes to close the two independent state-funded museums, the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, saving about $4...
By Celeste Dewald, Executive Director, California Association of MuseumsWhy do people visit museums? How do we create unforgettable moments?
A 2009 report released by the National Endowment for the Arts found that the number of American adults attending arts and cultural events has sunk to its lowest level since 1982. Understanding who visits museums and why is more important than ever for the...
by Allyson Lazar

Evening events at conferences are always fun and often inspiring. A much asked topic in the museum field is that of how to handle contemporary (read: relevant) controversial topics in society. The 2005 Muse Award-winning Modern Oregon Issues segment of the Oregon My Oregon exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society tackles that question head-on--along with a menu of controversies...
By James G. Leventhal
Not too long ago, museums didn't have email. Or websites. Or e-blasts. We've simply incorporated these new technologies as they've arrived. In many cases they've improved our work and made our professional lives easier. Really, it's not even that long ago that we didn't use direct mail and I remember when it was a question as to whether we'd accept credit card donations.  ...
During the weekend leading up to our 2010 conference there are a handful of terrific workshops taking place. One that is definitely on my to-do list is “Tools of the Imagination at Play”, hosted by the Portland Children’s museum (Sunday 17th, 1-5pm).
Who doesn’t have kids coming through their doors? Even if you home institution isn’t a children’s museum per se, there are ideas and practices...
By Stephanie Weaver
I was able to get over to the Autry Museum of Western Heritage to see their newest exhibition called Home Lands: How Women Made the West. It's truly one of THE most creative and engaging exhibits I've ever seen, so I wanted to do it justice with a full blog post and some research. The show ran at the Autry through August 22, 2010 in Los Angeles, and will travel to other venues...
The westmuse is please to help promote the upcoming 10th annual Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability conference from August 25-29, 2010 in San Diego, California.  Conference sessions on August 25-27 and the Capacity Building Workshop on August 28-29 will take place at the Courtyard Marriott San Diego Airport/Liberty Station. Conference sessions on August 28 will take place at cultural arts...

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