Saturday, September 3, 2011

Emerging Conservators and Outreach

The ECPN is collecting case studies about conservation outreach and we hope those emerging conservators who read this blog would contribute their stories or case studies.

Please include information in the comments section of this post, case studies could include:
  • Public conservation treatments
  • Speaking about conservation to collectors, museum visitors, students, etc.
  • Involving the community in a conservation project
  • Using social media to reach out about conservation including blogging, facebook, twitter, flickr, and how these sites are helpful to stay connected to conservators and non-conservators alike
  • Advocating for conservation by contacting Congressional representatives
  • Reaching out to related museum or arts associations to build networking groups and connect with professionals in related fields
The topics could also include basic 'How to' information like:
  • How to write a blog post
  • How to run a Facebook group as an admin
  • How to write a press release for a conservation project
  • How to organize a happy hour (Northern Californian Conservators - I am looking at you)
  • How to explain conservation to a four-year-old, a teenager, a professional in a similar field, a museum visitor
I am looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts and stories/case studies about conservation outreach!

~Rose Cull

4 comments:

Audra said...

Hi Rose,
Some of the work I've done thru my business, The Vespiary, may fall into some of these categories. There was some press around a time capsule I helped crack open, and I keep both a blog and Facebook page to stay in touch with both conservators and customers. Being isolated up here in Montana, I rely on social media heavily to stay connected to the conservation world. Would be happy to talk more about it.

Melissa Stone said...

Hi all,
I'm one of those Northern Californian emerging conservators that helped to plan the last get together we had. It really started with an email to be honest. Then we came up with a time and place and wrote up a little invitation to send out. We sent it, by email, to the people we knew, asked the Bay Area Art Conservation Guild to ask invite any persons who might be interested, and posted an event on the ECPN facebook page.
When we looked at a location, we chose a place that was accessible by public transport and car, and also had a decently priced menu so that any person could afford at least one thing on the menu. We also tried to pick a time that was after 'work hours' but not too late. One thing I noticed is that if it is a restaurant, make sure everyone brings cash because most restaurants don't like splitting checks and will include gratuity on parties 6 or more. It made it much easier to pay at the end.
The invite had all the information needed and had one contact person as an RSVP. When we finally met, we went around and introduced ourselves but that was the only formal thing. We did change seats half way through which gave everyone the opportunity to chat.
There will be another meeting in the future involving professional conservators though this is still in the works and is presenting new problems. If you want me to talk more about the past or future meeting, I would be happy to. Just tell me who to email!

Hope this is helpful.

Whitney Petrey said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Whitney Petrey said...

Hi ECPN, I recently completed a project for the William E. Laupus Health Sciences Library. I was the project curator for a large collection of dental artifacts. My supervisors and co-workers were all amazing librarians who knew little about conservation or curation. I had the opporutnity to explain some basic terms such as curation, conservation, stabilization and restoration. I think they are pretty excited about future conservation with the project and they will be working with the Maritime Studies Conservation Program to cooridnate future projects. They will also be digitizing the collection for all to see.

On a separate note, I've started a blog, "Archaeology, Conservation and Curation". It has been a lot of fun and so far I've just been recording my own experience with conservation classes, presentations and graduate assistantships. I've also been contacted by a few different groups and asked for details on how to get in contact with other groups (conservation related and history of medicine related).

It has been great to see the growing connections amongst academic fields and between academia and the public, and to know that I helped with that in some small way.