NEMA Annual Conference 99th Annual NEMA Conference

Friday, October 27 REGISTRATION AND BOOKSTORE OPEN 8:00 am – 12:00 pm WAKE-UP COFFEE AND MORNING TREATS IN THE REGISTRATION AREA 8:00 – 9:00 am CONCURRENT SESSIONS 9:00 – 10:30 am Common Spaces as Unifying Agents How can public parks unite a divided demographic? How can thoughtful programming build trust from historically polarized communities and guide evolving conversations? As the final phase of the Central Artery Project, The Greenway united downtown Boston and the waterfront. Operating and managing the park since 2009, the Conservancy encourages public use through public art, volunteer opportunities, and free events. Learn about recent placemaking efforts and strategies including youth programming, play, and deep community engagement. Facilitator: Katherine Levesque, Play Coordinator, Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, MA Digital Commonwealth and the Massachusetts Statewide Digitization Program Digital Commonwealth supports the creation, management, and dissemination of cultural heritage materials through a collaborative digitization program for Massachusetts institutions. Currently with more than 300 participants, the program provides public access to thousands of images, documents, and recordings. Learn how you can become a collaborator and take advantage of this valuable program. Facilitators: Jodi Goodman, Head of Special Collections, New Bedford Public Library, MA; Jake Sadow, Statewide Digitization Project Archivist, Boston Public Library Every Black Doll Tells a Story... When They Speak We Listen In this interactive session, you’ll experience the “Doll E. Monologues” and meet 12 dolls that changed history. From Africa to slave ships, Civil War to Civil rights, folk 20 99th Annual NEMA Conference art to contemporary arts, these unique dolls will give you a new perspective on issues past and present. Who made these dolls? What societal changes inspired their creation? Using recycled materials, you’ll create your own doll and learn to tell its story. Become a doll whisperer! Facilitator: Debra Britt, Executive Director, National Black Doll Museum, MA Speakers: Felicia Walker and Tamara Mattison, Co- Founders Doll E Daze Project, National Black Doll Museum, MA Questioning Truth and Upholding Public Trust: How Do Museums Navigate in a Post-Truth Era? Is it possible for a museum to present everyone’s truth? Do facts and truth have the same meaning? How does a museum’s mission shape the truth it tells and the trust it builds within its communities? As a group, we will use a short set of pre-assigned readings (please download the readings HERE and bring them with you to the session) to help frame the discussion in this humanities-style seminar. Together we will examine the roles of truth and trust in museums, and how they engage or isolate the polarized factions in our society. Facilitators: Lynn Baum, Principal, Turtle Peak Consulting, MA; Jan Crocker, Exhibits Content Development, Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, MA Limited to 25 participants. First-come, first-served. Sharing Authority in a Divided World: Visitor Engagement Walls at Boston National Historical Park Can historic sites and museums encourage dialog that nurtures the practices of civil society? The park has been experimenting with both paper-and-pen and electronic comment walls. Visitors encounter and comment on changing source- and place-based prompts that reflect fundamental controversies of our national history. Responses indicate strong engagement with both content and other comments. Come hear about our experience and share your own. Together, we’ll explore what impact such projects can have on our divided society. Facilitators: Eric Hanson Plass, Polly Kienle, Merrill Kohlhofer, Department of Visitor Engagement and Interpretation, Boston National Historical Park, MA

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