Call for donations for the Wanda Chin Professional Development Silent/Live Auction

Western Museums Association Annual Meeting-2012

Palm Springs, California

SILENT/LIVE AUCTION IS COMING!

How do you like to help your colleagues?  What is a fun way to support learning for professionals? How do you or your museums like to participate at our annual meetings and know you are making a worthy donation? What is way to help support your travel and get to the annual meetings?

One way is the Wanda Chin Professional Development Support Fund.

Since 1997 our annual meeting has featured a silent auction in the exhibit hall as well as a lively live auction for those special items. The proceeds from the auction will fund the scholarship program of the Western Museums Association, helping to fund travel and participation in the annual meeting for professionals who might otherwise not be able to attend. This program is a vital component in our mission to reach all sectors of our constituency.

Below are ideas for contributions that work well to bring in worthy items to bid.  Please read through the paragraphs and get inspired and do not be afraid to ask your colleagues, gift shops, favorite merchants or friends to donate to this fun event.

***Auction items representing the location of the following year’s conference serve to generate enthusiasm for the site and incentive to extend stays to include visits to the area’s resorts, restaurants, and tourist destinations. ****

***The location of the conference can also help frame a theme or focus for auction items, for example: a wine-growing region provides opportunities to approach vintners for wine tastings, cases of wine, tours of several wineries; a ski area opens up the possibility of passes to a ski lodge, overnight accommodations, lift tickets.; Indian members’ tribes have donated hotel and golf packages.***

***For the optimal auction offerings, search out experiences and opportunities that cannot be purchased, are not commonly available, and are truly “priceless!”  These are the items that an auctioneer can generate enthusiasm for and bring in high returns from bidders.****

***Members’ personal connections to shop owners, resort managers, vintners, etc. are invaluable in successful solicitation of donations. But, even with an existing relationship the solicitation may require following-up a formal letter of request to the potential donor that explains the mission of the WMA and how the revenue from the sale of the item will be used. It is good to explain when making the request, that donations are tax deductible Many establishments require several weeks advance notice, with a formal request, to process consideration of the request.****

***Members of all regions are encouraged to consider offering vacation homes.****

***Donations of frequent flier miles are a great compliment a vacation package, add value and incentive to bid.****

***Museums are encouraged to consider offering behind-the-scenes tours, a tour of collections with the registrar or collections manager, a tour with the curator of a special exhibition, a a meal in the museum’s café. Museum exhibition catalogs and memberships are often donated to the auction. Museums with gift shops have also been generous and shown good results at the auction – often extending jewelry or other decorative items.****

***A consultant might offer to extend their services to a museum for an extra day or specified period, if hired for a minimal paid period.****

***Theme baskets are great donations to the silent auction. They can showcase a particular museum with items from its gift shop, or with a focus such as: regional wines, foods, crafts, arts, flora or fauna, special toiletries, children.***

***Art can be attractive to bidders, as well as collectibles of various kinds from members’ private collections.****

Now that you have read through this wonderful listing, please consider donating to this special cause.  It benefits all members of WMA and encourages participation in our annual meeting.

If you are interested in donating, please contact Ted A. Greenberg at greenberg2@ca.rr.com for donation forms or other members of the WMA board who can assist you with any questions or forward your donations.

 

Wanda Chin Silent/Live Auction Participation

There is still time to consider if your museum or you yourself would like to donate to the worthwhile and fun event. As you know the proceeds for buying items at the auctions provides scholarship funds to the WMA so that you can attend our informative and fun meetings. We have already received some outstanding contributions including many gift packages and passes from many of museum friends.
Please contact me, Ted Greenberg at greenberg2@ca.rr.com to get further information on how you can participate for our event in Hawaii.

Your participation will help provide scholarship funds to attend the annual meeting

2011 Annual Meeting

Honolulu, Hawaii

Presented in collaboration with

Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums

and co-hosted by

Hawaii Museums Association

Pacific Islands Museums Association

September 23-26,2011

SILENT/LIVE AUCTION IS COMING!

How do you like to help your colleagues? What is a fun way to support learning for professionals? How do you or your museums like to participate at our annual meetings and know you are making a worthy donation? What is way to help support your travel and get to the annual meetings?

One way is the Wanda Chin Professional Development Support Fund.

Since 1997 our annual meeting has featured a silent auction in the exhibit hall as well as a lively live auction for those special items. The proceeds from the auction will fund the scholarship program of the Western Museums Association, helping to fund travel and participation in the annual meeting for professionals who might otherwise not be able to attend. This program is a vital component in our mission to reach all sectors of our constituency.

Below are ideas for contributions that work well to bring in worthy items to bid. Please read through the paragraphs and get inspired and do not be afraid to ask your colleagues, gift shops, favorite merchants or friends to donate to this fun event.

***Auction items representing the location of the following year’s conference serve to generate enthusiasm for the site and incentive to extend stays to include visits to the area’s resorts, restaurants, and tourist destinations. ****

***The location of the conference can also help frame a theme or focus for auction items, for example: a wine-growing region provides opportunities to approach vintners for wine tastings, cases of wine, tours of several wineries; a ski area opens up the possibility of passes to a ski lodge, overnight accommodations, lift tickets.; Indian members’ tribes have donated hotel and golf packages.***

***For the optimal auction offerings, search out experiences and opportunities that cannot be purchased, are not commonly available, and are truly “priceless!” These are the items that an auctioneer can generate enthusiasm for and bring in high returns from bidders.****

***Members’ personal connections to shop owners, resort managers, vintners, etc. are invaluable in successful solicitation of donations. But, even with an existing relationship the solicitation may require following-up a formal letter of request to the potential donor that explains the mission of the WMA and how the revenue from the sale of the item will be used. It is good to explain when making the request, that donations are tax deductible Many establishments require several weeks advance notice, with a formal request, to process consideration of the request.****

***Members of all regions are encouraged to consider offering vacation homes.****

***Donations of frequent flier miles are a great compliment a vacation package, add value and incentive to bid.****

***Museums are encouraged to consider offering behind-the-scenes tours, a tour of collections with the registrar or collections manager, a tour with the curator of a special exhibition, a a meal in the museum’s café. Museum exhibition catalogs and memberships are often donated to the auction. Museums with gift shops have also been generous and shown good results at the auction – often extending jewelry or other decorative items.****

***A consultant might offer to extend their services to a museum for an extra day or specified period, if hired for a minimal paid period.****

***Theme baskets are great donations to the silent auction. They can showcase a particular museum with items from its gift shop, or with a focus such as: regional wines, foods, crafts, arts, flora or fauna, special toiletries, children.***

***Art can be attractive to bidders, as well as collectibles of various kinds from members’ private collections.****

Now that you have read through this wonderful listing, please consider donating to this special cause. It benefits all members of WMA and encourages participation in our annual meeting.

If you are interested in donating, please contact Ted A. Greenberg at greenberg2@ca.rr.com for donation forms or other members of the WMA board who can assist you with any questions or forward your donations.

Hawaii Museum Damage from Tsunami

From the RC-AAM list serve forwarded to Ted Greenberg

Treasured Museum Artifacts Damaged By Tsunami – Honolulu News Story – KITV Honolulu.

 

Hulihe’e Palace Once Hawaiian Royalty Vacation Home, Now Museum

Lara Yamada KITV4 News Anchor

KONA, Hawaii — “This is an old photo of princess Kaiulani,” said Palace Administrator Fanny Au Hoy as she showed KITV4′s Lara Yamada into the palace basement.

In it you see lithographs of Hawaiian monarchy soaked and smeared with mud, and muck, muting the silver surface of a daguerreotype picture of Princess Ruth.
“You may be able to salvage this?” Yamada asked.

“We don’t know,” said Au Hoy. “We’re going to ask the folks as the University of Hawaii to take a look at it.”

It is a scramble at Hulihe’e Palace in Kona on the Big Island to remove the irreplaceable.

“Our basic concern is to empty out this room as soon as we can before mold starts to grow,” said Au Hoy.

The palace lawn is littered with artifacts that are now washed of the salt water the tsunami washed in.  Au Hoy says she’s thankful for the day’s sun and wind, to dry the stone artifacts, the wooden bowls, and even more so, the centuries old mats.
“Much of our artifacts like our tapa that dates back to possibly the 17 and 18 hundreds were all under water,” she said.

In the basement the racks of artifacts are empty.

The walls and doors are marked with the rising water that nearly filled the basement.  With mold and mildew their enemy, they know the work down there will be much harder.  ”This is like my fourth disaster I’ve been through!” said Au Hoy.

She said she’s unsure when the palace will reopen, or what may be lost for good, but she said volunteers are working fast to help save a part of history.  ”You just move on one step at a time and you do the best that you can with limited things that you have to do it with and you just move forward and don’t look back,” she said.

It took 1.5 million dollars to repair the damage done by an earthquake in October 2006.  The palace reopened in September 2009.  Hulihe’e is also in a flood zone, so Au Hoy says they have no flood insurance, but she said the palace itself was relatively untouched, and she knows they find a way to recover again.

Christchurch Earthquake Museum Update: From MuseumsAotearoa-New Zealand

Received this this morning

By Ted Greenberg

22 February 2011

The latest from Christchurch is very grim, however, we have not heard of anyone being hurt in museums or galleries there. We have received a number of messages of support, and these are in the ‘Messages for Canterbury’ Discussion Board on our Facebook page here. Please add your own messages, and hopefully our colleagues in Christchurch will be able to access the page when their power and communications are restored.

We understand that most of the damage this time is confined to the city and Lyttelton areas. Here is what we have heard about Christchurch institutions so far.

Air Force Museum
Staff are all OK. Other details not yet known, but we hope the damage at Wigram is less than in the central city area.

Akaroa Museum
Is unaffected this time, all are OK.

Arts Centre of Christchurch
No direct word, but news and internet photos show significant damage.

Canterbury Museum: Closed Until Further Notice

Canterbury Museum
Staff are all OK. Apparently the sprinklers were activated and lots of loose things moved around in the staff areas. The situation in the public and storage areas is unknown but presumed to be ‘a mess’ and some bits have fallen off the building. With the whole central city cordoned off, they do not expect to get back in until after the weekend. The museum server is completely out of action so no staff will be able to access their work e-mails, even from outside the museum.

Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA)
No information as yet.

Christchurch Art Gallery
Staff all safe, apparently no structural damage – ‘we’re in good shape considering all that has happened’. CAG is once again starring on TV news as the Civil Defence HQ. No information about the exhibits or collections as yet.

Lyttelton Museum
Has been closed since the September earthquake, and apparently suffered additional damage on Boxing Day. We have no information as yet, but fear it is now even worse.

Okains Bay Museum
Is unaffected this time, all are OK.

Our City O-Tautahi
This was in the Municipal Chambers building which suffered damage last September and was still closed to the public. It is now apparently completely ruined.

The Physics Room
All staff are safe, don’t expect to get back to their building to assess it for some while.

Timeball Station (NZHPT)
Is severely damaged, but thankfully both staff members there at the time of the quake got out safely. No news yet about the collection items which have been stored offsite since the September earthquake.

We have also heard that Lincoln Entomology Museum, Landcare Herbarium, Ashburton area museums, as well as South Canterbury Museum are ok.

We know that this information is only about the public face of these museums, and many staff will have huge challenges ahead with their own homes and families. Our thoughts and best wishes go to all our colleagues.

Kia kaha,

Phillipa and Sophie

Tags: Air Force Museum, Akaroa Museum, Arts Centre of Christchurch, Ashburton Museum, Canterbury Earthquake, Canterbury Museum, Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA), Christchurch Art Gallery, Landcare Herbarium, Lincoln Entomology Museum, Lyttelton Museum, Lyttelton Timeball Station, Okains Bay Museum, Our City O-Tautahi, South Canterbury Museum, The Physics Room

Attend a session in Portland

By Ted Greenberg

Hey, I have a happy smile on my face. I will see you in Portland in the next couple of weeks at the 75th anniversary celebration of the Western Museums

Association annual meeting. I am part of the presentation panel discussion: It’sAlive or Has Been in the Past: Care of Live Collections and Concerns of Use of Endangered Species in Museum Objects.

I will be joined by Tracy Johnson, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, High Desert Museum, Bend Oregon; Jan Mothershed, Animal Registrar, Oregon Zoo;KIm Powell, Manager, Gander and White Shipping Inc., San Francisco, CA and Wildlife Inspector Ray Hernandez, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, Torrence, CA.

They are going to speak with you about how we are cared for whern we are aliveor dead, included in your decorative artworks, the laws you have to be aware of when we are transported and shown in you museum or zoo. They are also going to touch on some of the technology that is used to track us or keep tabs on us in their collections. If we get to travel, what is needed before we leave and upon arrivals and any of the forms that they have to fill out. Please come to hear about all this on October 19th at 3:45in the Halsey Room of the Doubletree Hotel

Look forward to seeing you.

Wanda Chin Professional Development Support Fund Silent Auction continues:

It is still not too late to consider showing off what your museum has in their shop? Or wonderful catalogues..or maybe a nice piece of art or jewelry? A favorite B&B? We are looking for those great items for our auction at our annual meeting in Portland….let me know if you have something or know someone willing to donate…….greenberg2@ca.rr.com…Items are being donated from museum shops and WMA friends even as I write this entry…..but think, this benefits you to be able to participate in a worthy cause and travel to one of the most informative and fun meetings available. WMA wants to be able assist its members to attend our meetings and think with our September 2011 meeting to be held in Hawaii, what better way to help with costs than to have a fund to get help get you there. So please consider an item for the auction so we can build up the fund.