Blog and Newsletter

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree Invites You
to Her Federal Grants Workshop for Maine Cultural Organizations


Tuesday, May 5, 9:30-11:30 a.m. 
(Doors open at 9)

Governor Hill Mansion
136 State Street Augusta

• Meet representatives from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services
• Hear about federal grant opportunities for library, arts, and humanities projects
• Learn how to make your application as competitive as possible
• Free admission
• Coffee and pastries served

Please register by Friday, May 1, by emailing Andrew.Colvin@mail.house.gov.

Penobscot Marine Museum is seeking an Assistant Store Manager for the 2015 season, mid-May

to late October. This position will handle daily museum operations including admissions,

museum shop and membership sales, security, light housekeeping, and opening and closing the

museum. The Assistant Store Manager will be the lead staff person on weekends working with

museum interpreters to ensure the smooth operation of the museum, including answering

questions, directing inquiries to the correct department and managing the security system.

Position Description and Responsibilities include:

 assist visitors

 sell admission tickets

 promote membership

 operate cash register

 provide general information about the museum to visitors

 straighten and refill merchandise

 light cleaning

Qualifications

Ideal candidates possess:

 excellent public speaking skills

 mature and outgoing personality; must love talking with people!

 self-starter

 ability to solve problems independently

 interest in education, history, or museums

 outstanding customer service skills

 ability to work in a fast-paced team environment and manage several tasks

simultaneously

 reliability and professional appearance

Previous experience in retail or customer service preferred. The position is part time seasonal

and does not include benefits. The work schedule will vary in accordance with the program

schedule and will include weekends and holidays.

PMM is dedicated to preserving, interpreting and celebrating the maritime culture of the

Penobscot Bay Region and beyond through collections, education and community engagement.

The Museum houses superb collections of marine art, historic boats, scrimshaw, ship models and

19th export items as well as over 100,000 historic photographs. Our seaport village campus

comprises a National Register of Historic Places district along with modern purpose-built exhibit

and storage facilities. Museum programs take place year round, with the busiest time being mid-

May to Mid-October when the campus is open to the public.

To apply for this position, please submit a cover letter, resume, and a list of three professional

references to, Assistant Store Manager Search, Penobscot Marine Museum, PO Box 498,

Searsport, ME  04974 or via email to skettell@pmm-maine.org.

Museum Programs Interns, Paid

Job Description: The Penobscot Marine Museum seeks two gregarious and motivated interns with a love of history to work for eight weeks from mid-June to mid-August, 18 to 22 hours per week which will include some nights and weekends. The interns will facilitate public programs and workshops for adults and children for the exhibit “Exploring the Magic of Photography”. Interns will learn about the history of photography, how to make cyanotypes and pinhole cameras, and basic preservation and archiving practices. Interns will also serve as guides/interpreters for the walk-in camera obscura. Some projects may be customized based on the student’s interest.

Qualifications: Applicants pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees in education, history, library science, American studies, archiving/museum studies and other related subjects are encouraged to apply. Basic knowledge of photography and photographic processes is helpful but not necessary.

Submit resume, cover letter and three references to Cipperly Good, Penobscot Marine Museum, P.O. Box 498, Searsport, ME 04974

Sign Up for the next Connecting to Collections Care webinar on museum  environments, its free! “When Less is All You Got! Budget-conscious solutions to protect collections  on display and in storage” April 21, 2015, 2:00 – 3:30, EDT, with Ernest Conrad and Lisa Mibach. In an ideal world, all buildings that house and display collections would have  purpose-designed environmental control systems that work, enclosed display  cases, chemically-neutral storage and display cases and containers, and enough  trained staff to care for collections. Unfortunately, this is not always the  case.     The first part of the webinar will illustrate the diagnostic effects of the  lack of environmental controls, and will discuss budget-conscious solutions to  protect collections on display and in storage. The second part will deal with  proper storage and display conditions so that objects can weather minor  disruptions. If you don’t have ideal storage and display conditions, you  need to have regularly updated priority lists of objects (in order of  vulnerability) to check during/after an environmental failure or change.         http://www.connectingtocollections.org/when-less-is-all-you-got/          Check the Calendar for more upcoming events.          Connecting to Collections Care is sponsored by the Foundation of the American  Institute for Conservation with funding from the Institute of Museum and  Library Services.

The Maine State Museum in Augusta, Maine is advertising a full-time Museum Education Specialist II position.  The Maine State Museum is currently open five days a week; the position would be required to work some weekend and evening hours. The position is responsible for developing and implementing innovative, engaging, and relevant gallery experiences for a wide range of visitors.  This position assists in training staff and volunteers; assists with the day-to-day operations of the museum public spaces and admission desk; and the development of special event.  A well-qualified candidate is proficient in interdisciplinary, object-based teaching as well as interpretive writing, curriculum development, and the design of hands-on activities; knowledgeable of current inquiry-based pedagogy and teaching strategies; and has an interest in digital technologies and media for use in online and in-house interpretative projects.  Individuals with a natural science and/or STEM backgrounds are especially encouraged to apply.  For additional information about the position, as well as additional representative tasks, knowledge, and skills required, visit the General Government Service Center website at http://www.maine.gov/fps/opportunities/ and click on the position “Museum Education Specialist II Full-Time (40 hours weekly).” Qualified candidates should send a resume, direct hire application, and letter of interest to Tammy Sturtevant, HR Generalist, General Gov. Service Center, 74 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333-0074, (207) 624-7415 or email applications to dafsdirecthire@maine.gov by April 24, 2015. Direct Hire applications are available at the General Government Service Center in Augusta, all Maine Career Center Offices, and on the General Government Service Center website.

Thursday, April 9, 2015
4:30 p.m.
Kresge Auditorium
Visual Arts Center [just north of the Bowdoin Museum of Art]

Please join us for a lecture by Ford W. Bell President of the American Alliance of Museums Ford Bell will discuss the state and role of museums in contemporary American society. He will also reflect upon his experiences and observations as the leader of AAM.

The American Alliance of Museums has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community.

Free and open to the public. RSVPs are requested but not required.  To RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-twenty-first-century-museum-challenges-and-opportunities-tickets-14886250175

This talk will also be streamed on Bowdoin's Live Webcasts:  http://www.bowdoin.edu/live/

For questions, please e-mail<mailto:artmuseumevents@bowdoin.edu> or call 207-725-3276.

University of British Columbia (UBC) Centre for Cultural Planning and Development, I am pleased to tell you about a new online professional development workshop we are offering this Spring: Digital Culture and Museums, starting April 2. This workshop can be taken individually, or applied to the UBC Certificate in Cultural Planning – an international professional learning program delivered 100% online. 

Online Workshop: Digital Culture and Museums

Three scheduled online sessions. Thu Apr 2, 9 & 16 from 11am-1pm PDT

Instructor: Anra Kennedy, Content and Partnerships Director, Culture24.

This online workshop examines ways in which museums are responding to some key digital trends and challenges, including: How can museums make their digital collections fit for purpose? How do museums respond to user expectations around content sharing, re-use and re-purposing? How do we know what’s working? What can we learn from institutions that are ahead of the curve? We look at a range of projects that have found success through tactics such as targeted use of social media, in-gallery digital enhancing the visitor experience, striking a crowd-sourcing cord, beautiful design and thoughtful use of high quality content.

Instructor: Anra Kennedy is responsible for the development and delivery of Culture24’s partnerships, content strategy and portfolio of websites. She is currently leading Connecting Collections, an Arts Council England-funded national partnership aimed at making digital collections useful and discoverable for children.

  

For more information about the program and other online professional development opportunities offered, please visit https://cstudies.ubc.ca/study-topic/cultural-planning-development and join our subscription list for program updates. Other online courses and workshops on offer this spring include: Online Workshop: Intangible Cultural Heritage (Jun 10-24, 100% Online) Cultural Entrepreneurship (Jun 16-30, 100% Online); and, Cultural Planning – An International Perspective (Jun 4-18, 100% Online).

"Photography and Reality"
The 2015 Photo Fund Lecture
The speaker for the PMA’s annual Photography Fund Lecture is Duane Michals, one of the great photographic innovators of the last century. Michals is widely known for his work with series, multiple exposures, and text. Over the past five decades, Michal’s work has exhibited in the United States and abroad, most recently with his first retrospective, Storyteller: The Photographs of Duane Michals, at the Carnegie Museum of Art. All proceeds from this lecture benefit the PMA’s Photography Fund, which is the museum’s fund for acquisition and conservation of the photography collection and related programming. Tickets are $20 general public, $10 PMA members, and $5 for students with I.D. To register, click here. 

*CALL FOR VENDORS: **HISTORIC CRAFTERS & EXHIBITORS FAIR*

*5th Rally for Norlands: Civil War Reenactment Weekend*

*June 13-14, 2015*

The Washburn-Norlands Living History Center in Livermore, Maine, is hosting its 5th Rally for Norlands: Civil War Reenactment Weekend on June 13 and 14, 2015. A significant portion of the event is a *Historic Crafters and Exhibitors Fair*, modeled after the "Sanitary Commission" fairs which emerged in the Civil War era as fundraising bazaars. Sanitary Commissions were organized to bring health supplies and aid to Civil War soldiers.

This is an opportunity to let the public know about your organization's or crafts' connection with America's 19th-century history at one of Maine's largest Civil War Reenactments.

The Rally's Historic Crafters and Exhibitors Fair is open to artisans, re-enactors, and scholars wishing to demonstrate and/or sell a traditional craft using 19th-century materials or methods such as pottery, woodworking or fiber arts. Civil War Sutlers who sell period wares and authors of relevant books are also welcome.

*Individuals, organizations, historical societies and museums* are also welcome to exhibit and/or demonstrate antiques, collections, or educational materials to our visitors, if the collection is relevant to the experiences of people who lived in the 1800s.

*Applications will be accepted through April 24, 2015.*  A prepaid vendor fee of $35 is required if selling items; otherwise it is free.  All applications are subject to approval.  If your application is not approved, the fee will be returned.

Visit *www.norlands.org* <http://www.norlands.org/> */rally-for-norlands.html* to download the application form and guidelines.  Or*, call 207-897-4366 or email **norlands@norlands.org <norlands@norlands.org>** for more information. *