September 2023 Update & Retirement Announcement

Hello everyone and Happy Friday!

It is the end of the month and that means it's time for our monthly blog post. As we've been onboarding Devin (and Alyssa and Daniel), we've been doing a lot of walks & talks down memory lane. We've also been recognizing what an interesting, dare I say special, time it is right now for ANSM. We've grown from a 3 to 4 person team, we've brought in a new Executive Director, and we've been building bridges into communities and learning so, so much from these relationships.

Karin during site visit travels
Cape Breton highlands, 2008

In 2008 ANSM was still figuring out its new focus on museums, leaving behind the Federation of Nova Scotian Heritage identity. We were getting a lot of questions from member museums, and one of the requests was for increased communications about daily activities. People wanted to know how we were spending our time in the office and on the road. Totally fair. So with the help of a CMA conference workshop, I started this blog to share updates about the Passage Project (now Advisory Service) part of the ANSM operations. Over the years the blog grew and evolved beyond a reporting tool to one that shared book reviews and recaps of training opportunities, ruminated on museum theory and practice, and allowed me to indulge my love of writing. 

It is with a smile on my face that I share that this blog is being retired. 

Ryan, Allie & Karin
Queen Elizabeth Jubilee
Medal Ceremony, 2022

When the blog was started I was a fresh-faced emerging professional, figuring out adulthood on my own. Over the years this blog became a place for me (and other staff) to share our experiences in this wonderful profession and some pretty important personal milestones. I feel so incredibly privileged to work for ANSM and its member museums. I am so thankful for the professional relationships and friendships that have been forged over the past 15+ years. I believe in what we do, love that we are all on this journey together, and am so excited for what's coming next. 

Rest assured that we will not only keep up with communications, but are ramping up. We are embracing the built-in blogging capacity of our new website and will continue to share news, updates, and musings on our work and the work of the broader museum community. Thank you for reading and I hope that you will continue to follow along with ANSM's adventures. 

In the words of a wonderful mentor of mine, ONWARDS!

~Karin

August 2023 Update

TRACK

We have had some incredibly helpful feedback in our latest round of piloting, and are slowly but surely working through this input and incorporating suggestions into the assessment document. This morning's TRACK working group meeting felt very productive as the group made decisions about the program timeline, assessment process, and more. 

The Tuesdays on TRACK webinar series continues. We now have five webinars under our belt and have begun to reach out to museums that receive funding from CMAP. A new requirement of CMAP is participation in TRACK, and this year that means participating in at least four Tuesday on TRACK webinars, and we want to make sure that everyone meets this requirement. Our next webinar is being facilitated by Virginia Stephen and will explore different types of boards and what they do. This is a great opportunity for board members (new and old!) to learn about governance options and alternatives that can help your museum move forward. To register, click here.

Mi'kmaq Cultural Training Day

Registration for the Mi'kmaq cultural training day in Digby is open! One of the key messages from last year's Unlocking Collections gatherings with Mi'kmaq communities was that museum workers need cultural awareness training. This will be our fourth session and every one has resulted in some wonderful learning. There is no limit to the number of people you can send, and we hope to see staff, board members and volunteers from every museum in the Southwest region and beyond! Join Theresa and Roger, and meet the new ANSM team on this important day.

ANSM Conference 

Another upcoming training opportunity is our annual conference. This is the first time we'll be getting together in-person since before COVID, so we are a tad excited. You can read all about the program, venue, and financial assistance for attending on our website.

CollectiveAccess & NovaMuse

A number of updates have just been implemented in the database as part of our MAP-funding AV inventory project. Last night, all the databases were updated to the latest version of CollectiveAccess, and have had metadata extraction, fixity checks, and Whisper transcription for av materials added. And we've also made a little change to NovaMuse. Ever since we launched the site in 2012 we've been sorting/displaying search results in order by accession number. We are changing this so that recently added records will appear at the top of the list. With this ever-evolving display of records, we hope that it will be a bit more interesting to our online community and also demonstrate that museums are actively working in their collections.

Your image lesson of the month is a bit different from previous ones. During this summer's site visits we've been hearing a lot of comments about image quality - frustrations with digitization by students, a desire to go back and redo early photos because of new lessons learned, and hopefulness that future digitization is of a higher quality. These are some big issues. Let's look at each one:

1. Student digitization work - training & supervision are the best things to combat these frustrations. It is easy to make assumptions around young people and technology, but students need to hear that digitization work becomes part of the museum's permanent and professional record...part of its public obligations. They also need hands-on training on photography setup, equipment use, image processing and naming. If you don't feel well-equipped to give that training, reach out for help, or find other tasks for the students to tackle. If students are working on digitization, it is absolutely critical to check their images and work throughout their time with the museum. Don't slack off on this. Give feedback, suggestions, and guidance. 

2. Retaking photos - this really underscores the above point...the need to take your time and make sure anyone involved in digitization has the training and supervision that they need. If this is done properly, there won't be any need to redo digitization work. But if you find yourself in this situation, be sure to plan out the work. Roll it into inventory, or your collections management game plan so that it doesn't seem like a burdensome task. 

3. Improving digitization quality - Moving forward, ensuring that everyone understands the "why" of digitization needs to be the first step. Once everyone is on that same page, it will be easier for people to put in the time and attention to detail to capture good images. We've also said before that it can be easier to start with 2-dimensional digitization of photos, postcards, letters etc. before you dive into 3-dimensional objects. When you move to 3-d, ANSM has a photography studio available to members to borrow, and we can also help you set up your own studio. We also offer digitization support and training through our Advisory Service.

Unlocking Collections

AV Survey Results

What a difference a month makes. Last month we said thank you for completing the online survey and were actively booking site visits. Now we can share the results of the survey and the amazing news that we've physically inventoried 1,426 audio and video recordings. 186 of these have cultural affiliations noted on their labels and/or documentation. To give you a sense of how quickly these numbers are growing, on Monday we went out an update to community members who joined us at an Unlocking gathering last year and had 'only' inventoried 1,032 recordings. Having heard loud and clear the importance of finding recordings of elders and community events, we are thrilled to be able to share updates like this and show communities the care that has been given these recordings, and that digitization planning is underway.

Hub training sessions are going well, and if your museum is a member of the Advisory Service and hasn't signed up yet, you still have three opportunities: Sept.6 in LaHave, Sept.14 in Enfield, and Sept.27 in Middleton. Click here to register for this free training opoportunity.

Our friends at CNSA are also thrilled with the inventory progress and we're looking forward to strategizing next steps and digitization options for our shared members.

Educational Partnerships

We said goodbye to Katie and Lydia this month, and we did our best to give them a good send off. They accomplished so much to help us and museums. It was lovely to have them on our team. And in usual ANSM style, we are now looking ahead to new opportunities. This fall we will be hosting an MSVU student who will be helping with NovaMuseEd initiatives. We recently confirmed our participation in the annual Social Studies teachers conference so this timing is perfect. 

We also got some great news from the University of Toronto this month. Our proposal to work with their Masters in Museum Studies students on a teaser exhibit about Pere Clarence d'Entremont's life and work for the Acadian World Congress was accepted! We've been chasing funding for this project (another idea that came out of the Unlocking gatherings) since last fall so this is very exciting. We'll be framing up a work plan and timeline over the coming weeks and are also keeping fingers crossed for some additional support to cover travel & print/design costs. It is really heartwarming how everyone wants to support Unlocking initiatives. 

Farewell from Lydia

After a wonderful 7 weeks, my time as an intern at ANSM has end! I am so fortunate and thankful that, through Saint Mary’s University, I have been able to work with ANSM this summer. I have enjoyed having the opportunity to learn and grow surrounded by the most wonderful staff members I have had the pleasure of working with. Working at ANSM provided me with the unique experience of seeing the “behind the scenes” that helps keep our Nova Scotia museums moving forward. I have been so inspired by the hard work and dedication that everybody brings to the heritage sector, and I can only hope that I can bring a similar passion to the field one day.

I am also very fortunate that I was given the opportunity to work on so many different projects throughout the summer. I especially enjoyed working on our A/V Hub training project, as I was given the task of diving into research about A/V material and equipment care and conservation, assisting in developing a presentation for the training sessions. Additionally, I put together a database of potential digitization resources that can be utilized in future digitization projects. It has been a pleasure to see how the work I have done is being implemented in the real-world, and that it is used to help museums improve and learn about their collections.

I also worked extensively on cleaning up the CollectiveAccess database. I scanned through thousands of records, and made manual changes to somewhere around 2,000, ensuring information could be found about the condition of the object in the newly established “Condition & Treatment” field. While exhaustive and tedious, this helped me to achieve a greater understanding of the database, as well as get a look into some of the objects in holding at Nova Scotia Museums. I also worked on adding information to the Made in Nova Scotia database by reading material, and supplementing new information for existing entries, or creating entirely new ones.

I am infinitely grateful to ANSM for all I have learned, and for the support they have given me. As I continue my education at the University of Edinburgh this fall, I am confident that a strong foundation for museum work has been laid because of my work at ANSM.

~Lydia

Farewell from Katie

Hello Everyone,

The time has come for me to say goodbye to the lovely people at ANSM. Where did the last 14 weeks go? I feel like I just started my internship journey and now it’s over.

While with ANSM, I had the opportunity to…

• work with CollectiveAccess and help museums by adding images and data cleaning
• refresh member museums' records on Artefacts Canada
• attend TRACK webinars
• research and create advocacy materials
• review older resources and make suggestions for updates
• write blog posts on webinars I viewed
• work on the A/V Inventory project, including making two site visits

Even though I was only with ANSM two days a week, I feel I accomplished a lot. I am very grateful for being given the opportunity to participate in a split internship, remotely with ANSM and in-person with Randall House Museum, as I got to experience the best of both worlds.

A big thank you to Karin, for allowing me to be a part of the ANSM team. It’s been a pleasure!

All the best,

Katie

Webinar Review - Everything You Need to Know about Building a Newsletter

Hi everyone! Katie here. Today, I'd like to share some highlights from the CanadaHelps webinar, Everything you Need to Know about Building a Newsletter. It originally took place on June 22, 2023, and was presented by Tamara Rahimi. Even though this webinar was charity-based, the information is transferable and can easily be applied and adapted to museums and historic sites regardless of their charitable status.

Why Produce a Newsletter?

Rahimi feels that a newsletter gives you the opportunity to maintain regular communications with your supporters. They can assist in building trust, making connections and educating people about your organization. Newsletters are a great outlet to showcase your site by providing updates on what you've been doing, what you are planning on doing and the impact you have on your community or sector. These are all things that can improve supporter confident and provide transparency. Some supporters will even start to look forward to seeing your newsletter in their inbox. 

The Value of a Good Newsletter

According to MailChimp, charity emails have a higher rate of being opened, 25% more in fact, compared to other industries. This certainly works in the favour of museums!

This medium reaches all generations, which is a huge bonus. Newsletters are easy to print off, forward on to friends, post on social media and gives people something to talk about. All these things contribute to expanding your reach.

Rahimi reminded that a good newsletter will educate and inspire the reader. Using good visuals, ones that match your newsletter's goal, theme or purpose, provoke emotion far better than words alone. Show off your achievements, let people know your value and place in the community, and share with them why you can't do it alone. Using a Call to Action is imperative. Tell your readers what you want them to do. If you want them to click a link, share a story, tag a friend or make a donation, this is the time to ask!

What else can a Newsletter do for my Museum?

Attract Volunteers

Some interesting statistics were shared in the webinar. Did you know that 58% of charities are run solely by volunteers? Across Canada, the volunteer sector is waiting for a rebound, as volunteer numbers are lower than before the pandemic. 

Rahimi encouraged participants to think of a newsletter as a great recruiting platform. Since youalready have a captive audience that supports your organization on some level, since they are subscribed to your newsletter, make the ask! Use their motivations to get them interested in you. Some of the top reasons why people volunteer - they want to learn new skills, they have a genuine interest in wanting to help, for self-fulfillment, they may have a personal connection to the cause, or to gain experience. Share volunteer opportunities, let them know what they'd be doing, humanize the volunteer experience and share volunteer wins and success stories to attract new volunteers to your team. 

Fundraising

Newsletters are a great way to promote your campaign and to gain new donors, while encouraging past donors to give again. Be sure to outline the purpose of your campaign and share stories and images. Don't forget to include timelines regarding what you are doing or will be doing, and how the raised funds will be spent. The more transparent you can be, the better. Include a link to your online donation form so that the donation experienc eis as easy and seamless as possible. It never hurts to include a phone number too, as some people don't like donating online.

Trust Building

Storytelling and testimonials can be excellent ways to build trust. According to CanadaHelps, 23% of people don't give because they don't believe the money is being spent responsibly or they just don't trust the organization. To curb this, use numbers to prove your track record. Imagine being able to share something like this: that thanks to a fundraiser, the  museum was able to restore three paintings in its collection. 

Rahimi cautioned the importance of including an overview of exactly where your donors' money is going. If you're running a program, what is the cost to run it? How long is it? Who participates? What are your other sources of revenue? You can even go one step further and share an impact report. This report is a more detailed document on financial data, key goals and more; it educates readers and builds greater trust. 

What does a good newsletter look like?

Rahimi reminded that content should be easy for your reader to scan through. Using bullet points, easy to read fonts, highlighting key areas, using heads, sub-headings, short blocks of text and good images will all help to tell your story. If you don't grab your reader's attention in the first few seconds, they may stop reading.  

Before you jump into your newsletter writing, focus on a goal, purpose or theme, will help you to narrow down the key content that you are trying to express. If your newsletter isn't focused ,your audience will either stop reading or they will become confused about the purpose of your newsletter. keep your writing clear, concise, and make sure your reader knows exatlt what you want them to do.

Did You Know?

Being consistent when sending out your newsletter is another way to build trust. A good target is once a month, unless you have a big campaign coming up, such as Giving Tuesday.

Good quality images that are relevant to your content are a must. Your images should reflect the goal, purpose or theme of your newsletter. Your reader should be able to identify what your newsletter if about as soon as they see that first image. 

Rahimi said that 'Donate Now' buttons are important, but 'Unsubscribe' buttons are just as important. Infact, in Canada it is mandatory to have an easy-to-locate button or link for unsunscribing. It has other benefits too, as this simple button helps to improve transparency and shows that you respect your supporters' decisions. After all, just because someone unsubscribes from your newsletter, doesn't mean that they no longer support your organization. 

Depending on the software that you are using, you can schedule a delivery time for your newsletter. This can be a very helpful feature when it comes to planning and organizing. Some programs also allow you to insert the recipients name in the subject line, which can help your organization build a personal connection and relationship with your reader. 

So, do you have a Newsletter?

If newsletters are not already a part of your communication plan, you might want to consider adding them. The value of a well thought-out newsletter is worth the effort. If you are already producing a newsletter, is it working for you or is there room for improvement?

I hope this review helps you and your museum unleash the potential that newsletters can bring to your facility. It's just one way you can promote all the wonderful things that you and your museum are doing!

The full webinar can be viewed here.

July Update 2023

ANSM Staffing

The past two weeks at ANSM have been very exciting! Karin took a much-needed vacation and came back to two new staff members. Alyssa has joined us as our new Museum Services Coordinator, and Daniel is our new Communications & Admin Coordinator. Both have hit the ground running in these new roles (you might notice that we have a new blog url), and we are feeling so great about our newly expanded ANSM team. Unfortunately we also said goodbye this month to Jacob. He impressed us so much during his internship that we kept him around to help us get through the hiring process. We are so grateful for everything he did, and yes of course we had cake delivered to him in Toronto. 

TRACK

Meetings with pilot museums continue, and we are getting some great feedback, ideas, and suggestions. Maggie and Karin will be rolling these suggestions into the assessment document over the coming month, and everyone is feeling good about a Fall launch of this new program. 

Meanwhile, Tuesdays on TRACK webinars continue. Remember that if your museum receives funding from CMAP (community museums assistance program), you need to participate in at least four webinars this year. We are now at the halfway point, so if your museum isn't on TRACK to meet this requirement, Karin will be in touch very soon. To request recordings or register for upcoming webinars, click here.

Unlocking Collections

We are very happy to announce that our MAP grant application was successful, and we are hitting the ground running on an av (audiovisual) inventory of Advisory Service museums. Thanks to everyone who completed the survey this Spring! It was incredibly helpful to begin to understand what is out there. Now we are preparing for hub training sessions on the assessment, management and care of av materials, and actively scheduling site visits to do a province-wide inventory. This is a huge undertaking, partially because we've never explored av materials before. But it came up time and again during last year's Unlocking sessions, so we know it will be worthwhile, and wonderful to report back to community partners that we acted on their request. If your museum hasn't yet signed up for a hub training session, please do so asap! The first one is this Friday. Registration is free thanks to Government of Canada's MAP funding, but the sessions are limited to Advisory Service members. If that's your museum, click here to register. 

The ReconciliAction Plan was updated this month, so if you haven't yet read through it, or it's been a while, this is the great opportunity to see how the Unlocking initiative continues to grow and evolve. 

Looking ahead, we have booked another Mi'kmaq Community Engagement Day, this time in the southwest! We'll be at the Digby Pines on September 18th. Theresa Meuse and Roger Lewis will be facilitating this day of learning, which will follow the format and agenda from previous sessions elsewhere in the province. Registration will open soon, so watch the Beacon and your inbox for that announcement.

CollectiveAccess & NovaMuse

As we noted last month, addressing backlogs and being transparent about what is in museum collections is part of the ReconciliAction Plan. This was another great month of movement on this issue, with member museums now sitting at more than 373,000 object records and 349,000 associated media files in the databases. Just keep checking in with those summer staff, reviewing new records, and making sure that you are entering as much information as possible (in the correct fields!). Slow and steady wins the race. Always assume you'll never have the chance to go back to a record. 

Your image lesson of the month is this interesting Made in Nova Scotia medicine bottle. Here are some basic rules about object photography:
1. Place the object in its natural position. For a medicine bottle, that's standing up. 
2. Use a contrasting background. Glass can be tricky sometimes, so try both a light and a dark fabric and see which one makes the object 'pop' to your eye. 
3. Centre the object in the photo. This photo tries to centre the scale and bottle rather than just the bottle. The scale should be incorporated into a nice framing of the object. 

If you ever want feedback on your object photography, feel free to pop Alyssa an email (the services@ansm account) and ask her for feedback and tips. It's much better to ask early on in digitization work than after the summer is finished.

In addition to hub training, we are hitting the road for on-site visits, again focusing on inventorying av materials. When you get your email about a visit, please respond asap! We are tag-teaming on site visits this year, so you may see Alyssa, Angie, Karin, or Katie. We are also continuing with virtual site visits. If your museum doesn't have a visit booked yet, check your inbox! We're waiting to hear back from a number of people and want to get in as many visits as we can this summer.

Educational Partnerships

Katie is with us two days a week and she is definitely making the most of those two days! She's  refreshed museums' records on Artefacts Canada, made notes and updates for a variety of ANSM documents, drafted an advocacy package, helped a museum upload a ton of images, researched makers for Made in Nova Scotia, and helped prep for hub training. Maggie and Karin (and Allie) had a great trip to the valley to see Katie, and Allie took this great photo.

Lydia has been doing heaps of work preparing for hub training sessions and the av project. She's also been getting to know CollectiveAccess quite well. One of her current tasks is to move any legacy condition information to our new condition report feature, so if you see an ANSM Intern account active in your database, this is what's going on. Once she's done, we will remove the old legacy condition tab from the database. She's already reviewed more than 10,000 records! It will be so great to finally close the door on the old feature. 

Karin had a meeting with the University of Toronto this week to talk about their Masters program and potential projects for these students that will benefit ANSM members and accomplish some goals from the ReconciliAction Plan. While nothing has been decided yet, everyone left the meeting feeling excited about the possibilities. 

Phew! It's been a very fun and interesting month at ANSM, with so many wonderful things on the horizon. As a former Executive Director used to say...Onwards!

Farewell from Jacob

Hello everyone!

Even though it ended up being longer than we first expected, all good things must come to an end and my time at ANSM is coming to a close. What started out as an internship ended up being a bigger opportunity than I could have imagined, when I got the chance to come and work for ANSM as an employee for a few months. My experience here has been nothing short of fantastic, and I’ve learned so much!

I was interested in learning about as much as I could in the limited time I was with ANSM, but I was especially interested in learning about advocacy in the museum sector, and the process behind creating educational materials with museum resources. Fortunately, I was given the chance to do both 
things in depth during my time here. I was given the chance to sit in on and learn from a wide variety of meetings and working groups, which gave me a much better understanding of what goes into working in the heritage sector. I was also given the opportunity to create two new educational activities for educators and the public to use in Nova Scotia. Hopefully, many of you are able to make use of them in the future, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them!

However, this was not all that I was given the chance to do during my time here. ANSM provided me with the opportunity to participate in a huge variety of their programs and daily activities, and I was  able to learn so much from all of them. This included everything from helping a museum migrate into their new CollectiveAccess database, not only helping keep it organized but also helping set up translation for the backend, to helping create social media posts of all kinds for our Facebook and Twitter pages. It was exciting to get to see so many of the things that ANSM does for its members, and to get the chance to help with them!

This opportunity has given me a chance to learn so much, and I appreciate ANSM giving me this fantastic opportunity! Any potential intern who has a chance to work with ANSM in the future will get so much out of their time here, and I cannot recommend it enough. Many thanks to Karin, Maggie and the rest of the staff at ANSM for giving me such great guidance and mentorship! I’m excited to see where ANSM goes from here, and how it continues to grow as an organization.

Best of luck,

Jacob

Introducing Daniel

My name is Daniel MacDonald and I am the new Communications and Admin Coordinator here at the Association of Nova Scotia Museums. I am from Nova Scotia and I have been working in communications, design and marketing for more than 15 years.

My introduction to museums began in 2007 when I started working for the Nova Scotia Museum out of the offices above the Museum of Natural History on Summer Street in Halifax. I continued in that role for 8 years. Along with all the new people I will be introduced to in my new role, I expect I will have the opportunity to see many familiar NSM faces. In recent years I have been working with technology start-ups, and I am very excited to be working with museums again.

ANSM Members will likely connect with my work through memberships, the ANSM website, social media, advocacy outreach, and the Beacon newsletter!

Outside of work I am an amateur photographer, and letterpress printer. I just got my hands on a 1960s proofing press last used at The Nugget Newspaper in North Bay, Ontario. With a little TLC I am confident I will be able to pull prints on it once again.

I am thankful for the welcoming staff here at ANSM and I am looking forward to getting to work, and being introduced to wonderful people and interesting stories.

Introducing Alyssa

Hi everyone! My name is Alyssa Giles and I am the newly hired Museum Services Coordinator here at ANSM. I’m originally from a small community outside of Bonavista, NL, but have been living in Truro on-and-off for the past 10 years.

I completed my Bachelor of Science in Animal Science from Dalhousie University’s agricultural campus in Truro in 2016, and later a Graduate Certificate in Museum and Gallery Studies at Georgian College in Barrie, ON in 2019. Throughout my studies, I worked summer jobs interpreting at historic sites, including the Cape Bonavista lighthouse and the Mockbeggar Plantation heritage home in Bonavista, NL. I also completed an internship at the Penetanguishene Centennial Museum and Archives in Penetanguishene, ON, where I processed a backlog of new acquisitions and created a user-friendly guide to museum collections management software for staff and volunteers. After moving back to Nova Scotia in 2019, I worked several contract positions at the Colchester Historeum Museum and Archives, focusing mainly on the reappraisal, reorganization, preventative conservation, and digitization of archival materials. Since early 2022, I was a Science Educator at the Discovery Centre, developing and providing STEAM-related workshops and educational programming across Nova Scotia.

In my spare time, you can find me in my community garden plot tending to my vegetable jungle, doing crossword puzzles, playing music, or camping in our province’s beautiful parks. I love to learn and explore and am looking forward to visiting all the wonderful corners of Nova Scotia.

I am very excited to put all my knowledge and experiences to good use to help support ANSM’s member museums in whichever ways possible. I look forward to meeting with you all, and catching up with those of you that I’ve already had the pleasure of working with! Please feel free to reach out to me anytime, and I’ll see you soon!

Webinar Review - Mobile Marketing Tips for Every Generation

Hello everyone! Today, I’d like to share my review of a webinar called, Mobile Marketing Tips for Every Generation. It originally took place on May 16, 2023, and was hosted by Molly Coke from Firespring. The webinar recording is available online. This webinar focused on how Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z, view media on their mobile devices.

Why your social media appearance matters! 

Before delving into the mobile habits of each generation, it’s good to know why the user experience, regarding mobile devices, is so important. 

Speed. Websites need to be fast! After approximately 6-10 seconds, users will abandon a page if it doesn’t load. 

Navigation. The user wants a seamless experience. If the user has to pinch the screen, do a lot of scrolling and search for links, you’ll lose them! 

Consistency. Websites need to look the same on both desktop and mobile devices. If someone is viewing your website on a computer and then later views it on their mobile device, they’ll expect the information they previously sought to be in the same location. If not, you’re going to frustrate and ultimately lose your viewer. 

Boomers 

Every generation is embracing the mobile world.
It’s time to get to know how to market to them.
Photo credit: hoole.co 

70% of this generation uses the internet on their phone; email, Facebook and various texting apps. They also use their mobile device as their primary phone, as opposed to a landline. If you want to reach this generation, these are the tools to use. 

That being said, it’s important to remember that 30% don’t bother with the internet. Phoning or usingsnail mail is still a great option for communication. Not only will the majority actually read what you send, chances are they’ll respond to you by mail as well. So go ahead and send that newsletter, survey or fundraising ask, you might end up receiving the response you are looking for! 

Gen X 

This generation likes to use their devices for practical things like consulting maps, choosing restaurants or reading the news. They will also use it to research organizations before they donate (another reason you want a mobile friendly website… donations!) They have a strong presence on Facebook and Twitter. They are also the generation that spends the most time on social media. 

Want to reach this group on Twitter and potentially have them share your content? Tweets with images are 150% more likely to be retweeted than text only. So, get out there and take some pictures!

Millennials 

This is where social media changes a bit. This generation is influenced by on-line reviews and enjoys platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, not just Facebook. 

Snapchat users are 50% likely to open a snap from a brand that they have never heard of. Millennials want the causes and brands they love to have purpose and meaning. They want openness and honestly when it comes to purpose statements and values. They want something that they can get behind and form an emotional connection with. 

If you don’t currently post videos or have a YouTube channel, you might want to put it on your ‘to do’ list, because this is the best way to reach this demographic. 

Gen Z 

This generation is the most likely to use digital fundraising. Targeting them during your next on-line campaign might be a good idea. Statistically, 27% have raised money for a cause and 32% have donated to one. Seems to me it would be a wise decision to welcome this generation into your volunteer program, and especially on to your fundraising or event committees. 

This group also likes off-line media. They don’t mind getting their communication in the mail. Next time you’re doing a mail campaign, be sure to include Gen Z! That being said, you still need to hold Gen Z’s attention. The literature you send out has to tell a good story and use an assortment of visuals, or you’ll risk losing their interest. 

Quick Stats 

Video is worth the time and energy to produce.
It doesn't have to be fancy!

Did you know that in one week, 45% of people watch over an hour worth of video on Facebook and YouTube? If you need help convincing yourself or your team about trying out video for your institution, this stat should help. 

Never underestimate the power of sending text messages. Bulk texting tools can be explored for maximum results. According to the stats provided in this webinar, 98% of text messages are read within 3 minutes of receiving them. 

Make sure your emails are loading properly. Do a test or two before hitting send to your audience. Statistics say that an email will be deleted within 3 seconds if it does not load or display properly. 

In Short… 

Keep in mind who your target audience is when tailoring your messages. What platforms do they use the most, what is the best way to grab and hold their attention? Don’t be afraid to try communicating in ways you traditionally haven’t, you might just surprise yourself with a whole new audience or improve your relationship and engagement, with the supporters you currently do have. 

I hope this webinar review will be useful to you the next time you’re doing a mobile campaign. If you'd like to watch the webinar, click here. Thanks for reading!

~Katie

Introducing Lydia

Hello! My name is Lydia Ferguson, and I am an intern with ANSM for the rest of the summer. I am originally from New Brunswick, but have been lucky to call Halifax my home for the last two years (and a very short 9 months pre-pandemic). I came to ANSM through the Saint Mary’s University field placement course. Though I graduated with my honours degree in history in May, I returned to SMU to take advantage of this amazing opportunity. Working with ANSM will be the perfect way to round out my Halifax experience, as I am heading to the University of Edinburgh this fall to pursue an MSc in the History of Art, Theory, and Display.

I have worked in various sectors of the museum and research worlds. In 2021, I worked as an Assistant Archivist at the New Brunswick Museum Archives and Research Library, which confirmed my love and fascination with the museum sphere. Then, for my final year at SMU, I had the pleasure of being a research assistant, focusing heavily on the transcription of 18th and 19th century land grants. I am excited to put the skills I have developed over the years to work with the amazing team at ANSM.

Outside of school and work, I can be found in one of Halifax’s many wonderful coffee shops and cafés, as I am on a mission to visit as many as possible (20 and counting). I am typically accompanied by my fellow coffee-loving friends, or a good book. 

June 2023 Update

 ANSM Staffing

Last month we shared that the the job competition for our new Executive Director had closed. This month we're excited to say that there will be an announcement about that role very soon, and we're on the cusp of interviewing for two other positions at ANSM - Museum Services Coordinator and Communications & Administrative Coordinator. This is a time of major change for ANSM, but the thought of increased capacity and how we can better serve our members is exciting to say the least. 

Because of all the meetings and activities on the go, your best way to contact us right now is by email. We are not in the office every day, so there will likely be a delay in responding to any messages left on the ANSM line.

AGM Recap

In case you missed it, our AGM happened on June 16th. You can read our annual report on our website.

Strategic Plan

Maggie presented our new strategic plan at the AGM. It represents some familiar activities and exciting new opportunities for ANSM, and responds to what we heard last year during the Unlocking Collections gatherings. The plan was written in-house following a two day planning retreat where we worked with Mind's Eye Creative to figure out the next few years of ANSM life. We love how they captured our discussions and think you'll enjoy the visual nature of this plan.

Unlocking Collections

Karin presented our new ReconciliAction Plan at the AGM, which came out of last year's Unlocking Collections gatherings as well. We originally thought this would be a digitization strategy but this is so much more. It includes actions for ANSM and museums, and includes a list of actions taken as well as those to come. This is the first time we have released a document like this - a living and active plan that is updated regularly, and that is open for anyone to see. As we said last year, this is just the beginning. There is much to be done but we are encouraged by the progress and relationships being developed.

One of the calls to action is to ensure museums have access to cultural awareness training. We've partnered on this with a few different people and groups since last fall and are very pleased to announce that we've just set another training date! On September 18th we will be at the Digby Pines Resort, where Theresa Meuse and Roger Lewis will lead a day of learning for museum workers. The agenda will be very similar to the training days we've held elsewhere - Halifax, Membertou and Millbrook.  Stay tuned for an announcement on registration. There will be a registration cost but it will be kept as low as possible and only aim to cover the cost of the facility rental, food, and facilitator fees.

TRACK

This month we had an orientation meeting with museums participating in the 2nd round of piloting. And we are now starting to receive their feedback on the newly redesigned assessment document. Once we hear from everyone we will make some more changes and then roll into round 3 of piloting. For round 3 we are looking for a few more museums to review the assessment document. This round will have a tight turnaround of two weeks. If you are interested in participating, or if you would like more information, email Karin.

Conference 2023

Looking ahead to the Fall, our annual conference is going to be in-person again! We can't wait to head to Baddeck in October to talk all about Museum Care - care of self, team, and community. We would love to hear about your museum's experiences in these areas. If you're interested in presenting, check out the call for proposals.

Registration is now open, and more info can be found on our website.

If you haven't been to an ANSM conference before, one of the things we do is celebrate excellence in our member museums by giving out a couple awards. If you want to nominate a person or museum for their amazing work, check out the criteria and nomination forms on our website.

CollectiveAccess & NovaMuse

As summer students and seasonal staff and volunteers join the team, remember the importance of training people on proper cataloguing, data entry, and other collections management practices. In checking database statistics yesterday, numerous instances of people entering bad data into the databases were discovered. This creates major headaches for the museums and makes all museums look bad since we share NovaMuse. It is so important to talk to new workers about the importance of following standards, of the museum's professional reputation, and its public trust responsibilities. Encourage people to use the Help menu, info button for each field, and to reach out to their supervisors and ANSM for help when they have questions. And don't forget to check on peoples' work. If they are struggling with something and not asking questions, it's so much easier to catch these issues early than at the end of the summer when major messes have been created. Another reason why it's so important for everyone to be using their own database account. You want to be able to track each user's work. If you need any new accounts set up, reach out to Karin and she'll get those set up asap.

The ReconciliAction Plan includes the goal of addressing data entry backlogs. This month our collective work brought the numbers up to 371,000 object records and 343,000 associated media files. Steady progress is being made, which is great to see and demonstrates to communities that we heard and are responding to their concerns expressed last summer. But as above, we need to make sure that this is happening at a high standard. 

Our image lesson of the month has all sorts of great lessons for us. This small pitcher is has Hebrew writing on it and has a specific purpose in Jewish culture. Looking at the record though, it is tagged as being a Jewish object, nor has the museum explained the object's importance through that cultural lens. Shifting to the photography, paper tags should be removed prior to photography, and the object should be sitting in its natural upright position rather than lying down. This would greatly improve our understanding of it. Putting the scale in the lower left corner (close but not touching the object) and keeping that within the frame around the object, and adjusting lighting to remove shadows will make the photo look incredibly professional. Additional detail photos should capture the writing, makers marks, and different sides/views. Remember again to take your time, and reach out for help if you have questions.

Summer Site Visits

Since we are still actively in the hiring process, Karin and Sandi will be tag-teaming on getting site visits started. Most people know that in response to a member survey a few years ago we started doing a mix of virtual and in-person site visits. Yesterday we emailed everyone on the list for a virtual visit this year to book their date/time. We'll be talking about Unlocking Collections and the ReconciliAction Plan, audiovisual materials in the museum, and some upcoming training opportunities. And of course we want to hear all about what's been happening in the museums! For anyone on the list for in-person visits, we'll be in touch soon. 

Educational Partnerships

There is a lot going on right now in the world of partnerships. Karin met with two 'new' schools this month to talk about their heritage internship programs and how ANSM can work with them. We now have an MOU with one school and both will receive internship proposals from ANSM as part of our ongoing recruitment efforts to get museum studies students into Nova Scotia's museums.

Karin's SMU course has wrapped up the seminars and now the students are rolling into some special projects for the remainder of the summer. All of these projects directly respond to Unlocking Collections calls to action. 

Katie is keeping busy with her Fleming College internship, and so far has written some webinar reviews, helped with some database work, developed some advocacy plans, done some Made in NS research, and found and updated some resources relating to EDI and collections management. 

Next week we will be welcoming another student on board for a placement from SMU. Stay tuned for her introduction and to hear about her work.

May 2023 Update

ANSM is Hiring! 

The application period for our new Executive Director has now closed, and the Hiring Committee is moving onto the next phase of reviewing applications and scheduling interviews. In other hiring news, we have just announced two new, 4-day/week positions at ANSM. Our old Member Services Coordinator position is being broken out into two new roles - Museum Services Coordinator and Communications & Administration Coordinator. Please help us spread the word! The application deadline for both is June 19, 10am. 

TRACK

The second round of piloting has begun! Maggie and Karin met with participants this month and are excited to hear feedback and continue moving forward with this new program. 

Tuesdays on TRACK are proving to be quite popular. If your museum is registered for TRACK, you can request recordings of previous sessions on our website. You can also register for upcoming sessions online. For any museums that are receiving CMAP funding, you need to participate in 4 of the 8 sessions this year. We are monitoring registration and participation so will reach out to any museums that don't seem to be on track to meet this requirement.

Employer-Employee Training

In case you missed it, last week we partnered with a career counselor at SMU to deliver a webinar on working with students. And this week we are delivering part two - a webinar for students on how to make the most out of their work placement. If you have students working with you this summer and haven't yet registered for this webinar, here's the link. 

Museums 101

Our Museums 101 course launched online this month with 28 participants. Meeting Wednesday afternoons for two hours, the course is taking place over 5 weeks. This is the only Museum Studies Program course being offered this year, and we are thoroughly enjoying the conversations and feedback as we look to review and renew the entire program. 

Mi'kmaq Community Engagement Days

Our second day of learning took place early in the month in Millbrook. We had a full house and learned so much from Heather, Katie and Roger. One of ANSM's key takeaways is that museum workers recognize a deficit of knowledge about Mi'kmaq culture and history. We have been setting up meetings with community leaders and organizations to see how we can help to address this issue, and remain committed to this learning journey. We hope to share more news and opportunities soon.

Educational Partnerships

Karin went back to school this month, teaching Museum Fundamentals and Unlocking Collections at SMU. The students are learning museum theory and applying this to practical assignments to help ANSM and member museums respond to Unlocking Calls to Action. 

CollectiveAccess & NovaMuse

As museums are gearing up for the summer, we're seeing steady activity in the databases. With 369,000 objects and 340,000 media files, there is much work to be done and everyone is doing a great job "eating the elephant one bite at a time". With interns around, we are slowly picking away at the data improvement plan, and SMU students will be helping out with Made in Nova Scotia and seeking more connections in collections. Slowly but surely, we are learning more about collections. 

On the NovaMuse front, we are copying over files to relaunch NovaMuse with some improved search, sync and other functions. In case you missed it, we now have land acknowledgements and the option to view the website in French. We still have a backlog of new NovaMuseEd resources to catalogue and release, but we're so excited about all the progress we've made over the past months. 

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more news about training and tech upgrades and new staff...all sorts of fun stuff on the horizon!

Introducing Katie

Hello! My name is Katie and I am a Museum Management and Curatorship student from Fleming College, located in Peterborough, Ontario. 

I am spending my third and final semester, which is also my internship, here in Nova Scotia. I feel very fortunate to have a split internship between ANSM and Randall House Museum in Wolfville.

My 14 weeks are going to fly by, I just know it! Not only am I excited to learn, but I'm looking forward to exploring a new province!

I applied to the Museum Management and Curatorship program because I love museums! I love objects, photos, stories, history and heritage. Museums are wonderful places that I feel are often over-looked. One of the topics I'd like to learn more about during my internship is how I can help advocatefor museums across Canada.

My background is in fundraising, event and volunteer management, public relations, donor relations and more, which I feel will help me in my new career path.

A huge thank you to ANSM and Randall House Museum for allowing me the opportunity to learn with them. I'm excited to see where my education and internship will take me!

Webinar Review: Engaging Your Audience With Participatory Exhibits

Hi everyone! Today I am bringing you a review of a recorded webinar from the Indiana History Society. This webinar is meant to help you as museum professionals figure out how you can engage your audience in creating exhibits, and how you can allow your visitors to participate in exhibits in a variety of ways, whether that is through a dialogue or giving them a chance to tell their own personal stories. Finally, this webinar provides you with advice on how to engage with equity-deserving communities who have long been ignored by museums, and help you co-create and collaborate with them to tell their stories. It was presented by Jeanette Rooney, the Assistant Director of local history services at the Indiana History Society, in 2020.

The webinar began with a discussion of the general process of creating exhibits, as presented by
Nina Simon in her book The Participatory Museum. This book (available online through Simon’s website) is an excellent resource in general for developing any participatory exhibit, but in this case, it is also used to help explain step-by-step how curators can keep visitors and local communities in mind when creating participatory exhibits, as well as involve them in the planning and creation process. This can range from community partners and members helping find the need to an exhibit, all the way to involving them in prototyping the exhibit before the final product is unveiled. While it is beyond the scope of this review to dig into the Participatory Museum, it is highly recommended that you read and consider it while developing any exhibit.

The next step in understanding participatory exhibits is understanding the different ways in which the community can be involved. There are three distinct ways noted here:
Partnerships: Not the same as a sponsorships, typically between two similar organizations and built
around similar goals.
Key Community Members: Involving key voices from a community (of any kind) will allow that group to help guide the exhibit
Visitors/Audience: Never forget that your audience should be given the chance to provide input and
help guide any changes made!

Once you have a better understanding of how community members can be involved, your organization can then consider the steps to starting any community exhibit. As with any exhibit, these steps include defining your audience and Big Idea, selecting a project manager or single point of contact, and ensuring all elements work as a cohesive narrative, with community exhibits it is doubly important to develop community relationships at the beginning of the process. Because these networks are central to ensuring community participation in exhibits, make sure you take the time to really develop these relationships. It is particularly important to recognize that you will have to give up some control in the process and be flexible. This flexibility will more than likely allow for a better product in the end. However, it is also important not to lose too much control, especially when there are multiple communities involved in planning an exhibit, so make sure you keep your intended audience as your primary focus for any changes.

Another valuable tool to developing participatory and community-led exhibits is called a logic model, which allows curators and project managers to ensure that their inputs and resources match their desired outcomes. It begins by examining your intended long-term impacts and short-term outcomes from the exhibit, then examining the direct outputs from this (stories told, etc…), and the activities you will use to get there. Finally, you will list the inputs and resources you have and will use to set up these activities. By beginning with your intended outcomes and moving backwards, it will allow you to keep these outcomes in mind at every point in the process, hopefully making your exhibit more cohesive and allowing the participating community to be involved more effectively.

After understanding the steps involved in planning a participatory exhibit, the webinar then moves on to understanding the variety of interactive elements available in planning a participatory exhibit. Most  important to note is that interactive does not just mean hands on activities, though these are a possibility. Rather, they can also include activities that encourage visitors to examine and share their own analysis of a subject, or to share personal stories and experiences connected to the exhibit. These can be particularly effective when telling community stories and should be considered very thoroughly during planning. In the end, it is key that you use the relationships you are developing with communities and your intended audience to figure out what activities work best in each unique case. It is also important that interactive elements are done properly, as they can easily drag down the best of exhibits if done poorly. Ensuring that they are as accessible as possible, are not overly complicated and are not mandatory for understanding the exhibit are key to creating great interactives, so make sure to always keep that in mind.

Finally, the webinar shifted to a discussion with a variety of museum professionals in the United States who have done community and participatory exhibits before, and their own experiences and advice for anyone looking to create one in the future. While there is not enough space to discuss these in depth here, and I do highly recommend watching the webinar to see what they specifically mention, I will take this opportunity to mention some of the most important takeaways and notes from this discussion. Please note that this is just a sampling, and the webinar recording will have many more ideas available to you.

1. Be Prepared
While most museums are ready with a Plan B in case things do not go as planned, one thing noted in the discussion is that participatory exhibit often require Plans C-Z as well. Because participation of some sort (whether it is community or audience based) is key. Since you cannot know in advance how many or what percentage of your desired audience/community will actually participate, you should plan as best you can for any number to participate, from 100% participation all the way down to absolutely no participation. This will allow your exhibit to still be effective regardless of what happens. 

2. Involve Multiple Perspectives
While you clearly cannot involve every member of a community, no matter how much you try, it is important to ensure that you are involving as wide a variety of perspectives from any community as is feasible. No one single voice can effectively represent a community, especially for larger communities like those based around race, gender or sexuality (for example) and thus you need to make sure you consider what different people might think based on their circumstances. This is why building relationships must be done early on, as you want to develop as many as possible. 

3. Participation is Not Just a Checkbox
While making sure that communities are involved in planning exhibits is important, we must also make sure we are not just doing it to “check a box” or prove our diversity. Make sure that by including the  community members in your discussion, they are actually being listened to and consulted, and that they  are treated as full partners in these endeavors. Otherwise, it can be seen as somewhat offensive and  frustrating to many in these groups, as they will still feel unheard and ignored.

All in all, I would highly recommend this webinar to anyone interested in planning participatory exhibits in the future, or those looking at getting more involved with outside communities when it  comes to planning. By considering many of the points discussed in this webinar, I believe many  organizations and museum professionals can improve the way they consider community engagement and participatory exhibits in general.

Watch the webinar here.

April 2023 Update

In Memoriam

Nova Scotia's museum community lost two very bright lights this month. Kathleen MacLeod of North Highlands Community Museum, and Peter Cullen of Ross Farm Museum. Kathleen and Pete were both intensely dedicated to their museums but also engaged in broader advocacy and ANSM board/working group activities. We invite you to read our tribute posts to Kathleen and Pete, and comment to share your condolences with their families and friends. 

ANSM Hiring

In case you missed it, the ANSM board made an announcement recently as it opened the job competition for our new Executive Director. Having had conversations with both the board and hiring committee, this is an exciting time for ANSM and we are all feeling optimistic about the future. Please spread the word and share the posting! Turning to the Member Services Coordinator position, we are awaiting clarifications from CCTH on March's funding announcement before making a decision about this role. In the meantime, we are so happy to have Jacob Agnew and Sandi Stewart working with us. Jacob just completed his Centennial College internship with us last week, so will be staying on part-time and working with Karin on a variety of tasks. Sandi is primarily helping Maggie with our membership renewal and annual report/AGM preparations. Keep an eye on your email inbox for your membership renewal notice.

TRACK

We had our first Tuesday on TRACK webinar this month, looking at revenue generation for museums with David Oyler. If you missed it, you can request the recording by reaching out to Karin. To register for upcoming webinars, visit our website. If your museum receives CMAP funding, participating in four webinars is a condition of your funding. 

We got the assessment document back from the graphic designer, and it looks great! Such a big improvement on the old evaluation document. The TRACK working group is currently reviewing it and sending in their notes for some final tweaking before we launch the second pilot.

Museums 101

In two weeks our Museums 101 course is starting, and we only have a few spots left. This will be an online course that runs for five weeks, Wednesday afternoons from 2-4pm. If you are new to museums, or if you have new volunteers or board members, this is a great course to introduce you to the field. If you've been working in museums for a while now but haven't had a lot of opportunities for professional development, this is a great course to learn about how the field is changing. Remember that this is the only museum studies program course we are offering this year, so don't miss out on the opportunity. Visit our website to learn more and to register.

Mi'kmaq Community Engagement Days

We had our first session in Membertou this week, and it was such a great bonding and learning time. Huge thanks to Jeff Ward for sharing his time and knowledge with us, and thanks to everyone who joined us. On May 12th we will be meeting in Millbrook for another day of learning with Heather Stevens, Roger Lewis, and Katie Cottreau-Robbins. If you'd like to join us there, click here. 

CollectiveAccess & NovaMuse

For years now we have shared monthly numbers for CollectiveAccess and NovaMuse, demonstrating progress in our collective collections management efforts. As we continue to learn how to unlock collections and step away from old colonial practices, we're going to stop sharing these monthly numbers. They were meant to be encouragement and a bit of friendly competition between regions, but we want to focus instead on moving forward. This doesn't always mean you're adding new records. You could be updating old ones...correcting spelling, adding new information found through research, or filling in blank fields that got skipped over in the initial cataloguing. 

Unlocking Collections

The most exciting update in this area is a follow-up from last month, when we shared that a funding application was unsuccessful but we had an upcoming meeting that we hoped would turn that bad news around. We are so happy to say that it has! Our new friends at Acadian Affairs are stepping up to work with us to find some money for a storytelling project. This is fantastic news and we are so happy to have their support in sharing hidden stories of the Acadian experience.

Related to storytelling, we want to remind you one more time to answer the audiovisual materials survey if you haven't yet. So far only 24 museums have responded, and we are using this survey to determine locations of hub training, and to priotitize in-person site visits. It is incredibly important to get feedback from all 60 advisory service museums. The survey is closing Monday, so once you finish reading this post, please answer the survey. 

Educational Partnerships

As we mentioned above, Jacob is finished his internship but not finished with ANSM. We are looking ahead and will have a student joining us from Fleming College for the summer, and have just broadcast a fall placement proposal to a number of schools. Next month Karin is stepping back into her teaching shoes at SMU with a new class of students who want to learn about museums and collections. These partnerships are worth their weight in gold as we cultivate interests in the next generation of museum workers and support emerging professionals. It's a privilege to be a part of it. 

Tribute to Kathleen MacLeod

Sometimes there is a remarkable individual who plays such a pivotal role in a museum, that the organization is forever changed by their loss. Kathleen MacLeod is one such individual. Her commitment and dedication to the North Highlands Community Museum were second-to-none. Throughout her years of involvement she documented the collections - the extensive archives and thousands of objects, but knew that this work was never done and always strove for improvements. She got excited about special projects and supports for the museum that would facilitate research, digitization, and access to collections. Any time she was asked if the museum would like to participate in such a project, she would respond with a resounding yes. She was always quick to express her appreciation and thanks, and never sought praise or the limelight for all that she did. I think this is why Kathleen holds such a soft spot in my heart. She reminded me of my mother - tirelessly volunteering but never interested in the attention that could come with holding such an integral spot in an organization. 

But Kathleen's service extended beyond the museum. She was a fervent advocate for museums, wrote her fair share of letters advocating for funding increases, and served as Cape Breton rep on the Advisory Service Working Group. She was a wonderful addition to this group, and as with everything, was 100% commited to the job. Unless she was visiting her grandchildren out west, she would join meetings virtually. We definitely heard a few stories about those visits, which she treasured greatly. She loved her museum colleagues and was always so quick to smile and laugh with us, but her family came first.

Even after she started to have some health struggles, Kathleen found it hard to step away. She would reach out after reading the latest blog post, expressing her support or regretting that she couldn't attend a workshop or meeting. Our last visit included a rich conversation about storytelling and perspectives being shared in the museum, and how museums can better serve communities. She was excited to get museum resources into schools, to give space for stories not currently being told, and to build new relationships with communities. She was always so open and eager to learn, and always so excited about next steps. 

As I looked through our photos of site visits and workshops and conferences, trying to find a good one to share in this post, Sandi and I recalled how reluctant Kathleen was to have her photo taken. She would instead encourage us to take photos of summer students or managers. She always proudly talked about them, about the things they learned, the suggestions they gave, and the way they made the museum better. She especially loved seeing students learn how to make items in the blacksmith shop, which were then sold in the gift shop. She would lovingly pick up each item and declare, "look at what [insert name here] made - isn't this amazing". The students would beam with pride. What an amazing person for them to have as their support all summer long. 

Back to the question of the photo, it seems incredibly appropriate to share the group photo from when NovaMuse won a CMA award. This is how Kathleen worked. She may have been a lynchpin...she may be the one holding the award in the picture...but she always celebrated being part of a team. 

Rest easy Kathleen. You've left a lasting legacy and will be greatly missed.

~Karin

You can read Kathleen's obituary here.

Tribute to Peter Cullen

Peter speaking on behalf of ANSM at the 
Interpretation Canada Conference, October 2022

Tuesday morning I was working on a project which required me to refer back to some emails from ANSM board members. Little did I know that later that night, I would a receive the very sad news about the passing of Peter Cullen. Words from one his emails quickly came back to me and have been the voice in my head this week... "All the best. Pete." This fits Pete perfectly. 

Peter joined the Nova Scotia Museum family only four years ago and in that time made important connections with many of us. Executive Director of Ross Farm Museum, ANSM Board Secretary, advocate for museums including the Southwest Nova Scotia Curator's Group and the M8 group. Pete was quick to show up when needed, do what needed to be done, support and raise up others, and provide many much needed laughs. At ANSM we will forever be thankful for Peter's work on the board, including providing guidance on developing the TRACK program, learning with us at of the Unlocking Community Museum Collections sessions, and helping lead ANSM's advocacy efforts with the provincial government. 

In the last day many of you have shared with me your memories of Pete - over and over I heard you describe Peter as nice, professional, creative, passionate, wise, down to earth, a community builder, and most often, as a friend. He was also described as the man not of many hats, but of many pockets, referring to his fishing vest he proudly wore (including during virtual meetings). ANSM has opened comments on this blog as a space for the ANSM community. We hope you will share your memories, stories, and condolences. ANSM will ensure this message board is sent to Peter's family.

In memory of Pete, the ANSM Board has voted to rename our conference bursary the "Dr. Peter Cullen Memorial Bursary." This bursary, which ran for the first time last fall, supports ANSM members attending our annual conference or symposium. More details will be released in the coming weeks as we prepare for the conference this October. We know the conference's theme "Museum Care: Self Care, Team Care, Community Care" will provide us many opportunities to remember Pete's legacy.

As we remember Peter, I hope we also remember those works, "all the best." Peter may inspire us all to give our best to our work. More importantly though, may we give all our best to ourselves. May we give all our best to our family. May we give all our best to our friends. May we give all our best to our colleagues. May we give all the best to our community. 

From ANSM our deepest condolences to Peter's family, friends, and colleagues. He will be missed and remembered.

Maggie

Peter helping present Queen Elizabeth II's
Platinum Jubilee Medals
with Maggie on behalf of ANSM to
Carol Nauss and Ethel Feener.
December 2022.