Content warning:
The following section references Canada’s residential school systems.
Jump to Need to Know
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At the OMA we share the grief and outrage that so many have expressed this week as the Wauzhushk Onigum Nation says more than 170 anomalies have been found during a search for unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school in Kenora, Ontario.
That we wish to support our Indigenous colleagues for whom the personal and professional implications of colonialism take a daily toll should not go unsaid. We strive to ensure that the Ontario museum community is an inclusive space where those of us who are settlers in settler institutions do the work of decolonization and support Indigenous self-determination and cultural renewal.
As we all continue our reconciliation efforts as a museum community, the OMA looks forward to fostering the ongoing learning and collaboration that will result in meaningful change. |
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National Residential School Crisis Line offers emotional support and crisis referral services for residential school Survivors and their families. Call the toll-free Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419. This service is available 24/7.Telephone and chat-based support and crisis intervention is available to all Indigenous Peoples in Canada, through the Hope and Wellness Help Line. This service is available in English and French, and, upon request, in Cree, Ojibway, and Inuktitut. Call the toll-free Help Line at 1-855-242-3310 or connect online HERE.Other Resources: |
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website now live!
2022-23 Consultations on renewal of the Museum Policy
The Department of Canadian Heritage
The Department of Canadian Heritage announced that the museum policy website is now live and provides information on the renewal process. The website will soon contain links to a discussion guide, to an online survey which will be open to all, as well as updates on public consultations and engagement with Indigenous partners. The website will also allow the heritage sector and the general public to provide input on how they would like to see the museum policy evolve for the future.
Visit the website to learn more HERE.
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Preliminary Results: Stakeholder Survey
The Department also shared the preliminary results from the Museum Policy Stakeholder Survey which was conducted in November 2022. The survey was directed at heritage institutions and stakeholders, asking them to provide their views on current and emerging priorities in the museum and heritage sector. The purpose of the survey was to validate the needs and gaps of Canada’s heritage institutions.
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Funding Opportunities - Upcoming Deadlines
Young Canada Works
Delivery organizations: Canadian Museums Association, National Trust for Canada, Cultural Human Resources Council, Canadian Council of Archives, Fédération des milieux documentaires, and Conseil de la coopération de l'Ontario February 1, 2023: Resilient Communities Fund - Ontario Trillium Foundation - Investing in projects of non-profit organizations that have been impacted by COVID-19 to support their medium to longer-term recovery efforts and help rebuild their capacity and resiliency.
- The National Funders: The Canadian Red Cross, Community Foundations of Canada, and United Way Centraide Canada
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| OMA Professional Development |
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Upcoming Workshop:
Bring Your Own By-Laws with CLEO
Community Legal Education Ontario and
Ontario Museum Association
Online
Friday February 3, 2023
9:00am - 2:00pm ET (1 hour lunch break)
Free, but registration is limited
In this half-day working session, participants will work through their by-laws and letters patent and a special workbook to identify what they might want or need to change in order to comply with Ontario’s Not-for-profit Corporations Act (ONCA). Participants are advised to review their governing documents ahead of time to be somewhat familiar with the layout and content. Participants must bring a digital or physical copy of their by-laws and (preferably) letters patent.
This session is for: senior leaders, board members, and anyone involved in the corporate governance of organizations already incorporated under Ontario’s Corporations Act or a special Act.
This session is not for:
- organizations that are not themselves incorporated but part of a larger organization or government,
- organizations incorporated under Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act,
- organizations incorporated under Co-operative Corporations Act,
- organizations incorporated through the Ontario Historical Society, or
- other statutes outside of Ontario
Speaker: Benjamin Miller, a staff lawyer on the Nonprofit Law Ontario project of Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) where he focuses on the legal needs of nonprofits and charities.
Read more and register HERE.
Get started thinking about ONCA! The OMA and CLEO hosted a webinar to discuss what is new in the ONCA, and steps nonprofits need to take to transition to the ONCA. Watch the webinar recording of HERE. |
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Upcoming CCI Webinar:
Photography on a Dime - Thrifty Tools and Free Software for Heritage Professionals
Canadian Conservation Institute, Ontario Museum Association and Galeries Ontario Galleries
Online Webinar 1: February 9, 2023 (1:00 - 3:00 PM ET)
Webinar 2: February 16, 2023 (1:00 - 3:00 PM ET)OMA and GOG members register at 'Members' rateThis Canadian Conservation Institute webinar series is co-presented by the Ontario Museum Association (OMA) and Galeries Ontario Galleries (GOG). Interested participants are those who are currently or will be involved in photodocumentation projects within a heritage institution. Participants are expected to have a fundamental knowledge of camera settings and functions (such as ISO and aperture) and a basic understanding of lighting equipment as this information will not be reviewed in the webinar. Participants should also possess practical computer skills. Register HERE. |
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Announcing the Winner
OMA Annual Conference 2022 Evaluation Survey Draw
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Congratulations Mara Benjamin!
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Mara Benjamin, Visitor Experience Centre Coordinator at Tourism Hamilton, is the winner of a complimentary registration to the OMA Annual Conference 2023 after completing our evaluation survey.
"Thank you to the Ontario Museum Association for hosting a wonderful 2022 conference. Having entered the field during the pandemic, this was my first in-person OMA conference after a few years of virtual events. It was lovely to be able to reconnect with colleagues and make new connections. The engaging speakers offered great information which I’m pleased to be able to put into practice at the City of Hamilton. Can’t wait to see what the 2023 OMA Conference has in store!"
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Thank you to all who took the time to complete our evaluation survey!
We look forward to seeing you next year!
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Short Intensive Course:
Financial Management Essentials
University of New Brunswick
January 23 - February 4, 2023
Instructor: Heather Young, CPB (Principal, Young Associates)
Registration fee - deadline to register is Jan. 19, 2023
This course gives an overview, with case studies and examples, of the accounting and financial principles underlying sound management decision-making in non-profit arts organizations. An opportunity for new General mangers, generalists who want to build their technical chops board members with hands-on responsibilities, department heads in larger organizations who have financial planning and reporting duties and folks contemplating a move into general management.
The course is delivered online for two weeks in a hybrid synchronous and asynchronous format, combining self-paced independent work with interactive seminar and discussion opportunities. The instructor interacts with students and facilitates group discussions within the online learning platform. There are deadlines for readings and exercises.
Read more and register HERE.
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Upcoming Webinar:
Identifying Sponsorship Opportunities
for your Historic Site (Part 3)
National Trust for Canada
Free - Online Friday January 20, 20231:00 pm ET There is a big difference between corporate sponsor solicitation and donor solicitation. And, when you are new to fundraising, it can be daunting to wade into the competitive sponsorship environment. Webinar leaders, Kirstin Evenden and Emily Boulet provide tips on what sponsors are looking for, how to best approach them and how to gain a competitive edge. This webinar is part of the National Trust for Canada's fundraising webinar bundle. Read more and register HERE.
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Upcoming Webinar:
ArtsEngage Spotlight Session with Ruth Burns
Ontario Presents
FREE, interactive, virtual conversation Friday January 20, 20232:00 - 3:30 pm ET Join a Spotlight Session with Ruth Burns, Executive Director of Ontario Culture Days (ONCD). In this session, Ruth will give an overview of the ONCD approach to leading a province-wide festival, and its strategy for audience development and community engagement. Ruth will delve into ONCD’s cultural tourism strategy, and how it has informed the organization’s approach to partnership building with tourism and arts organizations alike. The Ontario Culture Days Festival has seen a substantial growth in its audience since 2017 to 2022, growing from 4% of the Ontario population to over 10%. In 2022, the free festival featured over 1,000 registered events in 86 municipalities with top event tags including Visual Arts, Music, Performance, History and Heritage. Read more and register HERE.
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Upcoming Webinar:
RE-ORG at the West Parry Sound District Museum (rescheduled)
Kingston Association of Museums, Art Galleries,
and Historic Sites
Online, free
Wednesday January 25, 2023
10:00am - 12:00pm ET
In 2015, the West Parry Sound District Museum was lucky enough to be chosen to take part in Re-Org Canada, an initiative designed to assist museums dealing with poorly documented collections and inadequate storage conditions. Join Curator/Manager, Nadine Hammond, and Collections Supervisor, Amy Sultana, as they discuss what the project entailed, how they tore apart the collections storage, and some of the ventures that arose from the initiative including a Found in Collection project and an exhibition entitled “Look What We Found!”
Read more and register HERE. |
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Upcoming Webinar:
Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources
Maskwacis Cultural College
Online, Free
Friday January 27, 2023
11:00 - 11:55 am MT
While libraries and archives hold many materials about or by trans or gender diverse people, the lack of attention paid to these communities often leads to inaccurate, inadequate, and even harmful classification and description. Seeing this need, a group of trans and gender diverse information professionals convened over the course of a year to create the Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources. This presentation and discussion will cover the major guidelines in this document and explore some ways that they can be implemented in your local institutional context.
Speakers:
- Jackson Huang is a gender variant library technologist whose work focuses on the intersections of structural politics and technological infrastructure in libraries and archives
- Devon Murphy (they/them) is a white, nonbinary, and chronically ill metadata worker based in Austin, Texas, United States (Tonkawa, Comanche, and Coahuiltecan land.)
Read more and register HERE. |
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Upcoming Webinar:
Youth-Inclusive Hiring Practices
WorkInCulture & CivicAction
Free to attend and open to the public
Thursday, February 16, 2023
1:00 - 2:00 pm ET
CivicAction and WorkInCulture host a free, interactive webinar that will help you better attract young, diverse talent, including a real-time assessment of your organization's entry-level job postings! Attendees will leave the webinar equipped with:
- Youth-inclusive strategies and tactics that can be applied across all HR stages
- New and improved job postings that will better attract next-gen talent using the HireNext Job Posting Assessment
- An expanded network of like-minded individuals facing similar HR challenges
This is an interactive webinar where participants are encouraged to contribute and engage! Who should attend:
- Those with accountability for some aspect of human resources in their organization (e.g., HR Managers, HR Specialists, Recruiters, etc.)
- Those hiring for entry-level roles
Read more and register HERE. |
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Beyond GLAM Land Acknowledgments: Activating Decolonization and Indigenization in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums Micro-Credential
OCAD University
Online
March 1, 2023 to April 26, 2023 (8 sessions, delivered in a synchronous format)
Instructors: Heather George and Dr. Laura Phillips
This micro-credential critically examines the work of the galleries, libraires, archives, and museums (GLAM) with a view to make space for new ways of being through practical and theoretical discussions of how to apply decolonizing and Indigenizing actions to these spaces.
In the traditional museum/archive, curators, staff members, and researchers are trained to respectfully care for, research, learn from, interpret and display artwork, objects, and specimens. This micro-credential will explore how to rethink our work from the foundational level of what we do – including what we do in our day to day lives, through close examinations of the words of contemporary Indigenous scholars and curators. Topics include positioning yourself, critiquing written and unwritten narratives, critiquing authenticity and authority, and decolonizing exhibition content.
Read more and register HERE.
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ICOM Canada's International Achievement Award
Deadline: March 15, 2023
ICOM Canada's International Achievement Award honours a Canadian museum professional who has demonstrated and promoted excellence in Canadian museology on an international scale. This award recognizes the outstanding contribution of knowledge and expertise towards the advancement and support of museology worldwide.
To be eligible for this award, the nominee must be an ICOM member in good standing and must have worked in a Canadian institution. An ICOM member who is familiar with the nominee’s achievements must make the nomination. Nominees must have done the following:
- Played a significant role in putting Canadian museums on the world stage.
- Developed and supported international cooperation, collaboration, and partnerships.
- Contributed to the expansion of links between Canadian and international museums.
- Fostered and promoted Canadian museology internationally.
Read more HERE. |
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2022 is the Ontario Museum Association’s 50th Anniversary! We are celebrating 50 years of advancing a strong museum sector for Ontario with staff and volunteers from the province’s 700 museums, galleries, and heritage sites. To commemorate this occasion, we are hosting a year-long series of online activities, culminating at the OMA Annual Conference 2022 in November.
We welcome everyone to join the celebration of our 50th anniversary
and to visit a museum near you!
Learn more about our 50th Anniversary HERE. |
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| Left to Right: Sarah Quinton, recipient of the OMA Distinguished Career Award of Excellence; Emma Quin, current Executive Director at the Art Gallery of Burlington (formerly of Textile Museum of Canada); John Armstrong at the OMA Awards of Excellence Reception at OMA Annual Conference 2022 in Hamilton, ON |
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Make a donation to the OMA!
Whether you choose to give the price of a cup of coffee or donate $50 for 50 years, any and all donations are appreciated.
We thank you for your donation in support of the OMA's ongoing operations! |
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Support Ontario’s Museums: Donate Now!
As museums across Ontario face the challenges of reopening safely and renewing relationships with your communities, the OMA is here for you. Your support, participation, and membership make our work possible.If you are already an OMA member, thank you! Please renew your membership when you receive an email reminder. If you are not yet a member, please consider an individual, institutional, or commercial membership for yourself, your colleagues, or your institution. You can find information about member categories and benefits on our website.You can make a donation to the OMA on our website or through Canada Helps. Every contribution adds to the collective strength of our sector. Thank you for your support!
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| As an organization of provincial scope, the Ontario Museum Association recognizes that its members and community live and work on the lands and territories of Indigenous peoples. Toronto, where the OMA offices are located, is the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, Haudenosaunee and the Huron Wendat. We wish to express our gratitude for the resources we are using and pay respect to the rich and ongoing Indigenous history of what is now Ontario and Canada. |
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