CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Its About People: Museums + Families + Communities
Upstate History Alliance
Museum Association of New York
Annual Conference
April 9-11, 2006
Gideon Putman Hotel, Saratoga Springs, New York

³Whatever the reason for focus on audience, museums are seeking ways to
reach a broader public, forge community ties, and compete effectively with
alternative providers of leisure and educational activitiesŠ.In the process,
museum managers and staff are discovering assets and resources which museum
possess and were in the past often overlooked.²

-Neil Kotler and Philip Kotler, Can Museums Be All Things to All People?
Mission, Goals, and Marketing¹s Role, 2000

For generations, museums were considered primarily as repositories for
objects ­ audiences were small and relatively homogeneous.  Over the last
generation however, a major shift has taken place.  New mission and vision
statements put people at the forefront of museum work, and institutions are
increasingly expected to attract new and continuing audiences, as well as
play integral roles in their communities.  At this year's conference, we
will explore this shift, and the impact it is making on both institutions
and the people they serve.

We are currently seeking proposals for conference sessions that discuss or
explore aspects related to our theme of "It's About People."  We are
interested in creating a provocative and diverse program for this
conference, and welcome proposals from museums of every discipline, as well
as from all areas within institutions -- collections, exhibitions,
education/outreach, development, administration, governance.

Sessions could address any of the following questions:

What role can museums play in shaping sustainable communities?
How can museums collaborate with other agencies to best serve changing
lifestyles and community demographics?
What programmatic or organizational models offer promise for both audience
development and institutional sustainability?
How are families, GenXers, and Millienials successfully engaged in
interpretation?

While we welcome standard presentation/panel format session proposals, we
hope you will explore using other formats such as roundtable discussions,
debates, or critiques. Sessions can be practical or theoretical in nature.
We encourage you to present different or opposing approaches/solutions to an
issue in the same session. In developing a session with multiple presenters,
we strongly urge you to partner with representatives from various museum
disciplines. 

Submitting a Proposal

The deadline for session proposals is December 15, 2005. Proposals should be
submitted electronically to [log in to unmask]  Please visit
www.upstatehistory.org to download the session proposal form. The UHA/MANY
program committee will review proposals and decisions will be made by
mid-January 2006.  We also welcome general comments or suggestions for
topics you would like to see covered at the conference.

Questions

If you have any questions or are looking for assistance with developing a
proposal, contact UHA program coordinator Jenny Rosenzweig at 800.895.1648,
[log in to unmask] or MANY director Anne Ackerson at 518.273.3400,
[log in to unmask]


About the UHA/MANY Annual Conference

The UHA/MANY Annual Conference is the largest gathering of museum
professionals in the state. Each year it brings together a diverse array of
individuals from all types and sizes of museums, historical societies, and
similar cultural organizations. We are excited to be holding this year's
conference at the historic Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs, a
member of the Historic Hotels of America.  Saratoga, one of New York's most
fascinating cities is home to museums of every discipline including the
National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame, the Tang Teaching Museum at
Skidmore College,  the Historical Society of Saratoga Springs, the National
Museum of Dance, the Saratoga Children's Museum and the Saratoga Automobile
Museum.