Dear Museum Colleagues and Friends,  

It was so wonderful to see and catch up with so many of you last month at our conference in Rocky Mount.  It was three years in the making and we are thrilled to have so many attend and participate.  Thank you!  If you didn’t get to the conference last month, you missed new events and forums, new NCMC initiatives, and fun networking opportunities. 

The greatest change was to our Leadership Forum sponsored by Glave and Holmes.  Our Professional Development team decided to look in-depth at the Diversity, Equality, Accessibility, and Inclusion resources and museums programs across the state.  Panelist included representatives from the LGBTQ Center of the Cape Fear, The Museum of the Southeast American Indian, and Arts Access.  Following the discussion, participants explored a showcase of North Carolina museum programs focusing on DEAI initiatives.  We were fortunate to have an amazing slate of presenters and topics and hope to continue discussions started as we continue our DEAI journey.

NCMC did roll out quite a few new initiatives and changes during our conference.  One of our noticeable changes is our new logo representing how we try to raise each other up.  This new logo was done by a UNC-Charlotte design student who worked closely with our Branding Committee.  Our DEAI committee has scheduled regular online discussion with leaders in the DEAI training community.  Additionally, our DEAI committee has developed a wide ranging DEAI resource page on our website.  For our students and museum educational programs, we now have a new Academic Level Membership.  This membership will allow a more economical and easier registration and membership experience for academic programs.  NCMC has just launched a new Advocacy Committee.  This committee is comprised of seasoned museum advocates on the local, state, and national levels to build an advocacy tool kit for use across the state in museums of all sizes.  If you are interested in joining or more information about any of these initiatives, please don’t hesitate to contact me at: president@ncmuseum.org.

One of the most memorable networking events ever held at one of our conferences was certainly our Drag Queen bingo event held at Hopfly Brewery!  We were entertained by the fabulous Ms. Vivica Coxx while playing bingo and even being serenaded by brave audience volunteers.  Wrapping up the event was the grand prize of four tickets to the NC Museum of Art special exhibit.  It was an amazing night of laughter and fun with colleagues.     

Although our conference was packed full of fun and educational opportunities as we push ourselves to reach as many people as possible, we are always looking to improve.  There are certainly some identified opportunity to improve work and outreach by NCMC to and for our members.  Over the next year we will continue to strive to do better and work to help support you and your institution the best way possible.  Thank you all for your continued support and feedback in helping us become even better.  

With Kind Regards,

Christian Edwards (she/her)

NCMC President