The Museum Trustee Association is coming to Ohio!

The Ohio Museums Association is proud to partner with the Museum Trustee Association for their 2019 convening, October 17-20 in Cleveland.

The Museum Trustee Association, formed in 1971, is the only organization dedicated to providing ongoing board education programs, services and resources for the special needs of museum trustees. Did you know? There are nearly 75,000 museum trustees in the United States!

OMA is excited to welcome the Museums Trustee Association to Cleveland this October. During the annual MTA convening, attendees will hear from experts, learn from peers, and dive into pressing topics that museums are currently addressing. 

Registration is now open – and all OMA members can register at the MTA member rate! Click here for complete details, and to register. 

Learn more about this year's MTA convening in Cleveland below!

MTA Fall Convening in Cleveland

by: Anne Lampe 

Twice a year, MTA brings several days of programs specially developed for museum trustees and leaders to varying cities across the country. In just a little over a month we will bring a great slate of programs to University Circle and Downtown Cleveland – you are invited!

Friday Forum

The main event is the October 18 Friday Forum, a full day program of panels, presentations, Q&A, and networking focused on current topics essential to museum trustees. Bringing your leadership team to the Friday Forum will give your change makers renewed energy and inspiration for increasing their board’s effectiveness. Expert speakers will break down challenging topics: diversity, building transformation and construction, collections, and community enhancement.

The panels are built to provide varying perspectives from speakers with insights in different areas. An example is our museum board diversity panel featuring

• Christina Carr, a board member at Greater Reston Arts Center who recently completed her Harvard thesis on museum board age diversity,

• Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, an Ohio native who is the retired U.S. Ambassador to Malta and a trustee at moCa Cleveland,

• Joy Bailey Bryant, a museum culture consultant with Lord Cultural Resources, sharing her perspective working with identity museums and municipal engagement around culture, and

• Cyra Levenson, Deputy Director and Head of Public and Academic Engagement at the Cleveland Museum of Art, an integral creator of CMA’s Diversity Plan.

Another fabulous panel is Community Enhancement Through Museums, which features leaders from Cleveland’s cultural community sharing their success stories of becoming integrated with the fabric of the local community: Dennis Barrie (Principal, Barrie Projects), Fred Bidwell (Co-Founder, Transformer Station), Chris Ronayne (President, University Circle), and Jeffrey Strean (Director of Design and Architecture, Cleveland Museum of Art).

The Forum is a fantastic assembly of effective and inspirational museum leaders; plenty of time for Q&A will let attendees share their concerns and struggles in a welcoming and supportive environment.

After a day of panels, attendees will enjoy a reflective and exclusive hour in moCa Cleveland’s galleries on a tour of the 2012 building designed by world-famous architect Farshid Moussavi. The group will be led by the dynamic duo of moCa Executive Director Jill Snyder and Paul Westlake, Senior Principal of DLR Group|Westlake Reed Leskosky.

Network With Us!

After the Friday Forum, we will have a special dinner at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Following cocktails and exhibit tours, David Abbott, Executive Director of The George Gund Foundation, will speak on the Foundation’s long-term commitments to Cleveland and its surrounding region.

Before the main event on Friday, we will have two gatherings on Thursday to kick off our time in Cleveland. First, join us for cocktails and hors d’ouevres at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for a Welcome Reception. Amidst the networking with fellow museum leaders, you can check out the iconic building designed by I. M. Pei and the engaging exhibits. We recommend an early arrival if you want to see all of the 55,000 square foot museum!

After the reception, we’ll stroll over to Nuevo Modern Mexican for dinner with speaker Dennis Barrie, former Director of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) and former Executive Director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dennis will speak about his experiences creating and leading thematic museums in Ohio as well as his tenure at CAC, including the trial relating to the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition, The Perfect Moment, and his work on the soon-to-open Olympic Museum in Colorado.

Save Your Seat Today!

This assembly of influential museum leaders in Cleveland is not to be missed! MTA’s programs in Cleveland will bring together expert panelists and prominent leaders in the local and national museum community; we can’t wait to see you there!

A la carte registration can be completed on the MTA website: www.museumtrustee.org/cleveland