Reposted from AAM

In addition to saving on the Annual Meeting, AAM members enjoy year-round benefits, including:

Access to a members-only resource library

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Join AAM today and unlock the savings, support, and resources that will help you and your museum thrive.

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Reposted from AAM

November/December 2024 Preview

Widening The Circle-Explore the expanding influence of DEAI and its implications for museums in this issue’s timely articles. Learn how DEAI programs are reshaping museums’ internal systems so that their policies and programs more authentically reflect the communities they serve, fostering a positive impact.

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Reposted from AMM

How are you navigating "Crosscurrents"?

In the same way that the turbulence caused by crosscurrents in a river have an impact on navigation, the changes taking place in our broader culture and society have ripple effects in the everyday work of museums.

During AMM 2025, let's engage in discussion and debate around the intersecting and sometimes conflicting viewpoints that are shaping our landscape, informing our practices, and influencing our policies (whether we like it or not). We will draw inspiration from the amazing cultural organizations in the Quad Cities, whose efforts to build bridges across a geographical and political divide have been a success, and unpack what it means for museums to be trusted spaces now and moving forward.

Bring your perspective and experience to the conversation as a presenter!

We welcome proposals for sessions, workshops, posters, and conversation stations that focus on navigating the “crosscurrents” that are shaping the landscape for every aspect of museum operations, programs, and community initiatives. (Proposals with connections to the theme are ideal but not required. All ideas are welcomed!)

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Reposted from ArtNet News

Jackson Green was sentenced to 18 months in prison and group leader Donald Zepeda was hit with 24 months in prison.Two activists with the group Declare Emergency have been sentenced by a federal judge after acts of vandalism at the National Gallery of Art and the National Archives in support of climate change measures.Jackson Green, one of the two activists, pleaded guilty to the charge of destruction of National Gallery of Art property for an incident in November 2023 in which he wrote the words “Honor Them” in washable finger paint next to The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial. He also pleaded guilty to destruction of government property for an incident at the National Archives in February 2024 in which he sprinkled red powder on the case protecting the U.S. Constitution. Green was sentenced to 18 months in prison at FCI Butner or FCI Morgantown, court documents obtained by Artnet show. He was ordered to pay restitution of $706 to the National Gallery of Art.

The group’s leader Donald Zepeda pleaded guilty to a single charge of destruction of government property for the February 2024 incident but was hit with a steeper sentence of 24 months in prison at FCI Loretto, likely because he filmed an earlier protest in April 2023 in which other activists smeared paint on the case holding Edgar Degas’s Little Dancer. The men have been collectively ordered to pay restitution of $58,607 to the National Archives at College Park in Maryland and will also be required to submit to two years of supervised release after their time in prison, court documents show. Joanna Smith, one of the activists who was involved with the Little Dancer incident, was sentenced to 60 days in prison after pleading guilty, as well as two years of supervised release and 150 hours of community service. The other, Timothy Martin, is scheduled for a jury trial slated to start on January 6, 2025. In remarks to the court, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson—who is presiding over all the cases—noted that there are differences in the cases against Smith and Green which led to her have a leaner sentence. She said Smith was older and is a single offender.

Declare Emergency released a statement before the sentencing, claiming that the judge “berated” Green during his final court appearance “despite lack of evidence that any damage was done” in either incident in which he was involved. The judge called the protests “ineffective” and said “eco-vandalism is not heroic or brave.” “I have come to realize that in addition to causing direct harm to individuals, destructive protest actions like the ones I carried out can lead to the opposite of our intentions by creating a negative response—turning people off from climate activism and creating further discord,” Green wrote in a statement read to the court.

Carmen Ramos, the chief curatorial and conservation officer at the National Gallery of Art, prepared a victim impact statement for the court’s consideration before the sentencing in which she urged Jackson to consider the government’s role in protecting cultural heritage and the fact that the same protesters had targeted the institution previously with the Degas attack. Judge Jackson was also assigned to that case. “Again, the impacted gallery had to close. Again, facilities and maintenance workers had to clean up the paint. Again, staff members were devastated and angry,” she said in her statement. “We work so hard to care for, preserve, and display the nation’s collection—held in public trust—only to be the victim of such disrespect and disregard for what all of us value so deeply and protect for future generations.”

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Reposted from Jamaica Observer

Two family members of late renowned Jamaican painter Barrington Watson say thieves broke into their house on Saturday evening and stole 10 paintings worth tens of millions of dollars. The robbery has left Watson’s former wife and son — who asked not to be named — rattled and worried as it was committed while they were at home and had fallen asleep after smelling a strange odor. A few of the stolen paintings — including one that was featured in the Bob Marley movie

One Love — were done by Watson, who died in 2016.

The stolen works, the former wife said, were not insured. “My son and I were here. I was out on the verandah until about 5:00 pm, then I went inside. I locked the grille to the house. The main gate entrance was opened because my son was going to lock it later in the night. I was watching TV in my room, and he was in his room. When he came out at about 7:00 pm, he came into my room and said I didn’t lock the entrance grille. I came out and looked and I saw the chain and padlock on the ground. It was frightening,” she told the Jamaica Observer on Monday morning.

“We started looking around and we saw that paintings were missing. One was right here on this verandah wall. Everything else other than the painting remained the same — untouched,” she said, pointing to the wall and stating that the painting is too large for one person to lift.

“They lifted off the painting on the verandah, which two people have to lift. Then they went into the foyer and took another big one off the wall. Stacked close to that one was several other smaller paintings on the ground,” she added. “From the start of the hurricane season we just took down most of the paintings that were hanging out here and put them inside,” she explained. The mother said that what has worried her most is the fact the robbers struck at a time when she and her son were at home and before the time they would normally go off to bed. “We could be dead,” she said, sharing that the thieves must have seen her as she had fallen asleep watching television. She told the Observer that she recalled a strange odor in the air before she fell asleep.

“They could see me from where they were taking off the painting off the wall. I was sitting in my chair. One interesting thing is that I smelled something funny… I went to see if my bedroom window was opened, but it was closed… They definitely could see me because my night light was on as well as the TV light,” she said. “I never heard any car drive in, and I usually hear everything out there from my bedroom,” the woman added. “We called the police, and the detectives came from Matilda’s Corner, and they were given photographs [of the stolen paintings]. About three or four paintings were from Barrington Watson, one was by Lois Lake-Sherwood, and others were from other painters. I don’t think they really went into any other part of the house. I think they came specifically for those paintings,” she said. “The very big one that they took was in the Bob Marley movie. It was nicely framed. We have had it for donkey years. It is called Orange Park, and it is a painting of where we used to live in Yallahs,” she told the Observer.

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Reposted from ArtNet News

Axe-wielding thieves targeted an exhibition of miniature precious objects at the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris on Wednesday morning, stealing seven highly prized snuffboxes, including two loaned by the British Crown. French media has widely reported that treasures worth a whopping €1 million ($1 million) were taken during the heist, but this figure has not been confirmed by Paris Musées, which is still assessing the damage. In a brazen act of daylight robbery that was committed in front of visitors and staff, the gang broke into the building on Wednesday morning, during its opening hours and used axes and baseball bats to smash a display case.

Within just three minutes, they were already fleeing the scene on
motorcycles. Nobody was injured. The stolen objects were all loans from world class collections, including Collection on loan to the V&A in London, and another two from the U.K.’s Royal Collection. “Investigations linked to the enquiry and the assessment of this immense loss are underway,” said Paris Musées in an update statement published today. these are being coordinated by the City of Paris, the Brigade for the Suppression of Banditry (BRB), and national police. “Naturally, all
protective measures have been taken.”

These included several snuffboxes, which were used in the 18th century to
store snuff, a mixture of ground tobacco and scented oils. The most
valuable, decorated examples became coveted collectors’ items in the 19th
century. One of the stolen items was a particularly exquisite piece from the Royal
Collection, which loaned five items to “Pocket Luxury.” Made in Berlin in
the 1770s for Frederik III of Prussia, the snuffbox’s green jasper case has
mounted gold borders and foliage decorations encrusted with nearly three
thousand diamonds.

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Reposted from ICOM

GET READY TO HOST THE ICOM GENERAL CONFERENCE 2028! The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is excited to announce the call for applications to host the 28th edition of the ICOM General Conference, the global event that shapes the future of museums and drives cultural exchange worldwide.  The ICOM General Conference has a rich history, dating back to its inaugural event in Paris in 1948. Since then, twenty-six conferences have taken place around the globe, culminating in the next ICOM Dubai 2025. This global cultural hub brings together over 4,000 museum professionals from around the world to discuss the future of museums, cultural exchange, and innovation. Past conferences have made significant contributions to the global museum community, including the adoption of a new museum definition in Prague 2022, and the groundbreaking resolution on sustainability in Kyoto 2019.   Hosting this event offers cities a chance to shine on the international stage and make a lasting impact on the global museum community.

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Reposted from EMR-ISAC

On Nov. 18, CISA announced the launch of CISA Learning, a learning management system that will modernize training and education for its employees and key stakeholders. This transformative platform is a critical component of CISA's ongoing efforts to streamline and enhance its enterprise learning environment, ensuring the same training available to CISA personnel is also available free of charge to the nation’s veterans and partners from federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels of government. CISA Learning replaces the Federal Virtual Training Environment (FedVTE). CISA Learning represents a significant milestone in the agency's workforce and stakeholder development, as it prepares to meet the demands of an ever-changing cybersecurity landscape. The new LMS will be the cornerstone of CISA’s strategy to maintain its position as a leader in cybersecurity education and training. 

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Reposted from EMR-ISAC

On Nov. 20, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in collaboration with the Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development Institute (HSSEDI), operated by MITRE, released the 2024 CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses. This annual list identifies the most critical software weaknesses that adversaries frequently exploit to compromise systems, steal sensitive data, or disrupt essential services. Addressing these weaknesses is integral to CISA’s Secure by Design and Secure by Demand initiatives, which advocate for building and procuring secure technology solutions.

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Reposted from EMR-ISAC

In stressful emergency transport and evacuation situations, individuals with sensory disabilities may face greater difficulties. Emergency management resources, considerations, and techniques can overcome increased threat perception, as well as various mobility and communication barriers. TRB hosted a webinar on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM Eastern that provided a holistic overview of the mobility challenges of people with sensory disabilities (e.g., vision, hearing, spatial awareness, etc.) in emergency situations, practical planning practices to enhance emergency preparedness, accessible and inclusive communications, and strategies to secure organizational support. This webinar was sponsored by TRB’s Standing Technical Committees on Disaster Response, Emergency Evacuations, and Business Continuity; Transportation and Public Health; and Equity in Transportation.

The slides are available. Please contact trbwebinar@nas.edu for a link to the recording. There may be a $90 fee.

Webinar agenda and presenters

1. Incorporating vulnerable populations into hospital emergency planning – Rosemary McDonnell, DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency and St. John’s University

2. Outreach strategies for enhancing the emergency preparedness for individuals with sensory loss – Meg Robertson, retired from Massachusetts Commission for the Blind

3. Building effective alerts and warnings for persons with access and functional needs – Jeannette Sutton, University at Albany, State University of New York

4. Question and answer session moderated by Thayanne Ciriaco, University of Alberta

The first 60 minutes of the webinar were for presentations and the final 30 minutes were reserved for audience questions.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this webinar, participants can:

1. Assess their organization’s current level of emergency planning for people with sensory disabilities and share best practices to improve it in an engaging and meaningful way

2. Use effective strategies to engage technical and organizational support to enhance emergency preparedness in terms of transportation, evacuation, and sheltering for people with disabilities or other access and functional needs

3. Implement effective communication strategies, including warning messages in accessible and preferred languages and formats

This webinar was delivered as a scheduled – e-learning live event and is categorized within RCEP as Technical, Health and Safety. Professional Development Hours (PDHs) earned on completion of this program were reported to the Registered Continuing Education Program (RCEP). Certificates of Completion are issued to all participants via the RCEP.net online system. 

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