New England Museum Association

Are you getting ready to join us at #NEMA2024 in Newport, RI next week? Pre-registered conference attendees can start planning ahead by downloading the Whova app from your App Store. Look for a message in the inbox of the email address you used to register for conference for additional directions about how to get started. Once you log in, you can edit and add to your profile, select sessions you'd like to attend, filter your agenda by themed "tracks," and familiarize yourself with where to find session evaluations and how to scan business cards once you arrive. Find old friends and colleagues who are attending and plan a time to grab coffee or dinner together during the conference. Learn more about Whova and find tutorials about how to use it here: https://ow.ly/3QqO50TWu37

You know how crocuses poking through the snow are an early sign of spring? Or how the first changing leaves of the season (or the ever-controversial pumpkin spice in everything) let you know that autumn is on its way? In the NEMA office, we have our own signs that conference is almost here: the lanyards have arrived, and the program book is back from the printer. We are getting excited to see you in Newport, RI for #NEMA2024! Want to start planning ahead? You can find session updates and the preliminary version of the program book here: https://ow.ly/bJ1u50TUrVF

Newport, RI was, of course, a playground for the extremely rich during the Gilded Age. If you are coming to #NEMA2024 next month, be sure to take a peek at some of the opulent architecture and interiors they left behind. Here are just a few opportunities for conference goers: - If you have a. ticket to Wednesday night's Opening Reception, you will have a chance to visit Newport Restoration Foundation's Rough Point. Originally constructed in the late 19th-century for the Vanderbilt family, Rough Point was the summer home of philanthropist (and NRF founder) Doris Duke for most of the 20th-century. Explore how the site uses Doris’s legacy to address issues that impact us all today—including environmental sustainability, sharing and preserving intangible cultural heritage, and the impact of economic development through historic preservation. - You can still sign up for "Gilded Age, Gargoyles, and Architecture; Oh, My!", a tour of Salve Regina University with John F. Quinn, Professor of History, taking place Tuesday, November 5 at 3:30 pm. Take a leisurely walk around Salve Regina’s unique campus. We’ll look at several Gilded Age properties—including those designed by Richard Morris Hunt and H.H. Richardson—and see how the university has adapted them to academic purposes. Total distance is roughly 1.5 miles on level surfaces. Register for this tour or several other newly added sessions at this link: https://ow.ly/VZa350TSHsj

#NEMA2024 begins right after Election Day. In fact, many of you will be en route to the conference on Election Day itself. Civics and advocacy are inherently important to NEMA, and we want to ensure that the conference does not disrupt or interfere with your opportunity to participate in this year's crucial election. While you are making your plans to attend the conference, we encourage you to consider and develop a voting plan if you haven't done so already.

Are you coming to #NEMA2024? It's not too late to pick up a copy of our #NEMAReads book, and be part of a larger book conversation in Newport! New for #NEMA2024: Tomaquag Museum's Indigenous Author Book Club and NEMA team up to read “Warrior Girl Unearthed” by Angeline Boulley. Come to NEMA ready to talk with colleagues about the book which explores a myriad of topics, including: summer internships, repatriation, museum collections, Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), social issues, and justice. Sometimes, the truth shouldn't stay buried. Join Tomaquag Museum staff for an in-person book club on Friday, November 8th during the conference. Use #NEMAReads to share your thoughts and photos prior to November. Can’t attend the conference in person? Join an evening virtual chat on December 10, 2024 at 7 pm after the conference and connect with colleagues to discuss! RSVP for the December chat here: https://ow.ly/XkFC50SY1P7 Don't have a copy of the book? No worries! Check your local library, independent bookstore, or visit the Tomaquag Museum store in-person to purchase a copy!

Next Tuesday, October 29, from noon - 1 pm, join the Enslavement and Freedom CoP for a discussion with Seth Rockman on his new book "Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery." The book explores "Using plantation goods—the shirts, hats, hoes, shovels, shoes, axes, and whips made in the North for use in the South—historian Seth Rockman locates the biggest stories in American history in the everyday objects that stitched together the lives and livelihoods of Americans—white and Black, male and female, enslaved and free..." RSVP on the NEMA website: https://ow.ly/Puy450TR3cp

Check out this video that features our Executive Director, Kayla G. Coleman. Kayla was part of a panel of arts leaders invited by Philanthropy Massachusetts to share their visions for the cultural landscape of Massachusetts with area funders on October 17 in Worcester, MA.

Don't miss the deadline! Today, October 18 is the last day to pre-register for #NEMA2024 at nemanet.org/conference. After that, registration is walk-in only. Sign up today to join us!

Great reason #5 to attend #NEMA2024 : enjoy Newport with views of the harbor from our location at Goat Island! By car, train, bus, or boat—you can get to the Sailing Capital of the World in a myriad of ways! Newport is situated at the mouth of Narragansett Bay with one of the East Coast's most scenic coastlines and historic city centers. Don't miss your chance to register online. TODAY, Friday, October 18, is the final deadline to pre-register! Sign up now at nemanet.org/conference before you forget. After today, registration will be onsite only.

Looking for another great reason to attend #NEMA2024? Come to the Exhibit Hall on Wednesday and Thursday to meet the companies working with and for our museum field, learn about the latest innovative products and services on the market. Meet vendors dedicated to building partnerships, offering educational resources, and sharing their services. Explore innovative products and reliable materials with experts. View a Demo Station to get hands-on tips. Visit the non-profit table to network and leave a message for NEMA 911, a resource that helps untangle problems. Enjoy all of this and more when you register for #NEMA2024. Don't miss the deadline to register online. (It's tomorrow, October 18!) Visit nemanet.org/conference today. After that, registration is walk-in only.