Bye January!

Caption: Who else felt this way?

Caption: My work from home friend.

Congratulations. We survived January! 

I didn’t intend to do two blog posts from the desk of the executive director this month but surviving the last 31 days seems like it needs celebrating (read to the end… there is even a prize!).

Nearly everyone I talked to this month was feeling the same way. We all had a lot going on making it hard to balance life and work. For me it was balancing the days I got the call from daycare to come pick-up the toddler because she is sick (again) and the days I was trying to work from home with her underfoot. But look… despite everything we made it! AND although I can only speak from the point of view of the ANSM office, but I trust it’s the same everywhere, we’ve done some amazing work this month.

Back to Basics

It won’t come as a surprise that a lot of the focus at ANSM recently has been on the renewal of the Museum Evaluation Program (more of that to come in the next few weeks). This has been a great opportunity to return to museum fundamentals. Back to basics is always weirdly inspiring. There is elegance in collections records. There is hope in interpretive planning. There is security in good governance practices. And in these trying times, there is a reminder to focus on what’s important in emergency preparedness planning.

Caption: What do you save first in an emergency?

If there is an emergency, what does your emergency preparedness plan tell you to save first? Not the new exhibit. Not the computer with all the work files. Not even the most important artifact in the collection. It is the people. We need to help each other and take care of each other first and foremost.

Emergency preparedness is both about responding when things go wrong, but also taking preventative steps. We might be an association for museums, but we know it is museum people we are supporting. People are telling us they are burning out and we hear you. What steps can we all take to help museum people?

How can we help?

ANSM is trying to put this question at the front of our work for you. Our recent survey on virtual vs in-person training was a great opportunity for us to hear how we can meet your training needs but do it in a way that also meets your personal needs. During revisions to the Museum Evaluation Program, we are responding to the concern about how much work the program is (in addition to being a huge value to museums) on an already long list of things to do. We are gathering and planning resources to help you as we hear you say you are both excited but unsure of how to proceed as museums change the ways they’ve always done things in order to be more reflective and responsive to their communities.

Trying something new in February - Your Homework

Let’s make February a month where we support each other. Let's also make it a month when we grant ourselves the permission to support ourselves. With that in mind, I would like to make the following three recommendations as “homework”:

1.     Read a blog, listen to a podcast, or watch a webinar that inspires you. I have recently been reading the newsletter by Mike Murawski. In his recent newsletter he encourages us to all “breath together” as we come through this time of change. We’ve also recently added his book “Museums as Agents of Change” to the ANSM Reference Library for you to borrow and hope to get a book review up soon. Let us know what blog, podcast, or webinar inspired you so we can share it with others.

2.     Talk to your “museum friends.” The pandemic has made this hard as we no longer see each other in person as much as we used to. Even the informal chats before and after meetings are gone if we are meeting virtually. Make a time this month for an in-person or virtual “coffee chat” so you can geek out about what’s inspiring you and share the burden for what is challenging you. It is a bit last minute, but the Museum Association of Saskatchewan is hosting a community chat on February 2 about museum worker burnout. ANSM had been hosting similar community chats with the Village Well.  These were paused with all of the changes at ANSM this fall but let us know if these would be helpful to you if we brought them back in some format.

And here is the prize I promised at the start…

3.     Join us for a free virtual yoga session on Tuesday, February 15^th at 12 pm. ANSM will be providing the yoga instructor and virtual space. You provide the hour of your time. Let’s use this as an hour to come together and breath together. Let’s also use this an hour for ourselves to focus on what is important and reward yourself for doing your best. Yoga isn’t a solution to everything going on, but it’s a small step. It is also one that we can all take together in February until we can gather, hopefully with cake.

Click her to register for the yoga session. Yoga will be led by Jenn King from On the Mat Yoga Studio.

(Registration Form can also be found here: https://forms.gle/Z1nbXteYz6uaq5xC6)