Since the end of the 2020 Virginia Association of Museum's conference which took place in early March, it has truly been a whirlwind couple of weeks. As I am sure is the case with many of you, right after the conference ended it feels like the COVID-19 crisis (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html) exploded and has been constantly evolving ever since.
My park has worked to keep staff informed and implement policies to keep staff, our partners, contractors and the public safe but it still has been a very difficult time. If you haven't already I encourage you to visit the American Alliance of Museums COVID-19 Resource site (https://www.aam-us.org/programs/about-museums/covid-19-resources-information-for-the-museum-field/) to get access to information and resources for museums dealing with COVID-19 related challenges. I should note that AAM has even taken the step of cancelling the upcoming Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo set for May 2020 in San Francisco in an abundance of caution (https://annualmeeting.aam-us.org/covid-19-coronavirus-faq/).
My local museum association, the Virginia Association of Museums has also provided great resources for local professionals grappling with COVID-19 (https://www.vamuseums.org/news/virginia-museums-and-the-coronavirus)
Changing the subject, I also wanted to share that my survey, "Exploring DEAI Practices in Museum Leadership," is still active and I encourage Northern Virginia museums to take a look: https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/jgCs0x
Finally, as my work continues on my fellowship project exploring board diversity it is heartening to see that efforts and resources into this topic still continue to be developed and shared even during this difficult time. This excellent Education from Home YouTube Playlist developed by AAM has great resources and information issues related to DEAI for both audience engagement and museum management.
Please stay safe out there during this difficult time. #socialdistancing #washyourhands