I wanted to share with you my
thoughts and impressions on the 3 day Museums Association of
Saskatchewan meetings held recently in Saskatoon. It is unfortunate
that many people are unable to take time off work or if retired to
take time away from their lives. Too often when we hear the word
meeting or conference we think boring long lectures, being talked at,
topics that don't apply to us. In reality we need to readjust our
thought patterns. Think of it as a mini holiday from our lives
whether working or retired. It is a time to refocus, to learn, to be
inspired and to share. The joy is not knowing exactly how this will
happen and staying open to the possibilites.
May 22 The Networks Meeting.
Just over a year ago I had no idea what this meant. There are
clusters of small museums all over the province that get together and
share thoughts, experiences and plans. Twice a year each sends a
representative to a larger meeting, unless there is a snow storm.
I did my prearranged duty: passed out
Qu'Appelle Valley Network pamphlets, Cupar museum business card with
our blogspot on it and mentioned the up coming Arceo Caravan coming
though our area.
What left and impression on me:
Langham's pamphlet and the thought that I must visit. My sister and
I take day trips whenever I visit Saskatoon and love to visit small
museums in the area. Gwen from Paradise Hills has been working on a
book called Saskatchewan Women of Influence, years in the making, she
inspired me with her dedication to a project, and I hope one day to
get a better sense of it's development over time. I think it would
be great to have in our museums along with the book Women Pioneers of
Saskatchewan that the Saskatchewan Geneaological Society did.
Yes Virginia sometimes hyper
active children become hyper active adults. No, no more coffee for
me. Maybe I should just put my head on the table, or do you have some
duck tape for my mouth.
May 23 Symposium on
Sustainabilty. That made me curious. What am I going to learn
that applies to me and my community? Then I read the background
information and thought, oh no, “role playing” and
“stakeholders”. Someone is going to suffer and its not going to
be me. I'll adjust the chip on my shoulder to confrontational mode.
Take my preconceptions and run with it. ....... Whoops I enjoyed
myself immensely. The morning session: Marni started with relaxation
exercises, I'm going to hate this, what a wonderful
positive person, very soothing, very loving, very genuine. I'll
just go with it. What have I got to lose other than a bad
attitude. Marni's power point presentation on the Rainbow
Gallery and Noah's Ark set the mood. The idea of creating an
experience and of participatory inspired me. I really enjoyed the
exercise where we took a non descript object and in 60 seconds
explained it to our partner. It made me focus and consider memory
and significance that a simple object possesses and create an
emotional attachment. When we returned to our tables we all took time
to share more insights into the exercise. The other exercise I
enjoyed was when each table got a box of discards and we built a
place. We were inspired by the reading of a book called The Tin
Forest. ( I think the name is right ) It was play time for adults,
opening up to creativity without worrying about whether the end
product would be acceptable. It was the process of creating that was
fun, things evolved, we weren't really sure what our plan was, it
just went along until we discovered it.
Okay so I really enjoyed the morning
but I'm probably going to hate the afternoon with Glen and
“roleplaying”. Nothing sets the mood more than a large white
sheet of paper that we can all call out community and personal
concerns. Not so different regardless of the size of our community.
It helped us to prepare to move away from the hurdles we all
confront. I was apprehensive about taking on a “role” in a
community of 800,000. Too many problems, too big a place. Amazingly
we focused as a group on one main issue the museum could address and
went with it. We focused on what brought us together not what drove
us apart. I thought after what a good exercise, we don't have to do
it all, just start somewhere, make a contribution. We really could
make a difference. We as a museum were not working in isolation from
the community but with the community for economic, environmental, and
cultural benefit.
May 24 the dreaded but necessary
annual meeting. Misconception. Actually I found that the 3 annual
meetings I have attended are focused, to the point and do not meander
aimlessly. The members forum in the morning allows for feedback from
the various museums, critical to the functioning of the association
in determining it's direction. I enjoyed the afternoon's
presentations. Dean's Looking in the Mirror made me think more about
that time when most of us will clear out our parents possessions.
Will we discard things as useless or
take the opportunity to learn about their lives. Glen's presentation
on ecomuseums cleared up some misconceptions I had, and made me think
about the possibilities.
Museums are not a building one goes to,
isolated from the community, museums are an intregal part of the
community. We must beware that we do not become irrelevant. Our role
is more than just preserving the past, but giving us a sense of place
in the present and the future to all our residents. Key word
inclusive not exclusive.
Inbetween it all are those brief but
focused individual conversations, sometimes outside while we share a
common hobby as Dean said. One of these brief conversations was with
Stephanie from Swift Current, the site for next year's conference.
It sounds like an exciting time. Museums are not dusty places of
faded photographs and discarded curiousities, but a living evolving
organism, an intregal part of the community. For an individual ,
conferences can be a great way to re-energize ones batteries. Now
how is that for a pep talk from a hyper active slightly
confrontational retiree.
