Florida Chapter Meeting Minutes

Saturday, April 12, 2008 — Tampa, FL

Ava Maxwell of the Charles H. Morse Museum of American Art called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. Thanks to the entire Chapter for their work on the Meet & Greet the previous evening. It was a great source of pride for the Florida Chapter on a national level. Two Sam Greenberg Scholarship winners were introduced: Wendi Davis, curator of exhibits/ museum store manager of the Pensacola Historical Society Museum, and Tess Herschman, visitor service coordinator, at Historic Spanish Point.

PRESENT

Thirty-two members were in attendance: Terry Aulisio, Gwen Benner, Diane Bilodeau, Heather Blades-Premet, Raymond Bowers, Vanessa Cedeño-Lugo, Wendi Davis, Sandra Sue Dent, Ellen Ferraro, Jim Garrigan, Julie Gatlin, Susan Gauthier, Teresa Hayes, Tess Herschman, Ellen Holte, Laurel Jacobs, Ava Maxwell, Jennifer O’Brien, Janice Phelan, Mary Short, Lawrence Singer, Ellie Slade, Lorrie Stassun, Susan Stratton, Jamieson Thomas, Wayne Tripp, Susan Tudor, Jorge Vidal, Joy Wallace, Kellie Woodward, Bill Wort and Tami Wroath. Also in attendance were Doss Solomon of the Cayman Islands National Museum, Lauren Patrick of Visit Florida and Charles Stratton.

OLD BUSINESS

Minutes from the October chapter meeting in Tampa are available on the MSA Web site. As there were no changes or corrections to the minutes as posted, Jamieson Thomas of the Orlando Museum of Art motioned that they be accepted as posted. Seconded by several members and approved by all members in attendance. The MSA Antitrust statement is available in your Program Book & Expo guide, page 24. The current bank balance is $288.08.

NEW BUSINESS

Due to the vacancy created by Michael Cunningham’s leaving the position of Vice President, Sandra Sue Dent of Historic BOK Sanctuary was named incoming President. Kellie Woodward of Vizcaya Museum Café & Gift Shop will move into the Vice President position and Lawrence Singer of The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art was elected to Secretary.

The calendar project needs a point person now that Michael Cunningham is no longer a member. Ava volunteered as project leader and Jamieson volunteered her design / graphics assistance. Kellie has the discs that were collected while Michael was in charge of project.

Gwen Benner was introduced and was attending our chapter meeting to help unveil the Knowledge Standards, a project she and several other MSA board members have been working on for close to two years. The board presentation would be given in detail at the Membership Meeting on Sunday, April 13, 2008.

Sandra Sue briefly described the Knowledge Standards and shared her enthusiasm for the great potential it would have in showing museum professionals outside of the museum store world how many hats each of us wears daily. It will also help to foster and encourage new members.

Lauren Patrick from Visit Florida was introduced. They are working with Shop America and looking to create shopping excursions / packages with a cultural connection.

The location of the next chapter meeting was discussed. Due to the central and west Florida location of the past couple meetings, other locations were solicited as hosts for our next chapter meeting. Wendi Davis from Pensacola stated that hers was the only museum in that part of the state. Kellie Woodward shared that Vizcaya was still operating out of a tent, and where as this might be an interesting case study, she also suggested Gainesville as a possibility. Lawrence Singer asked for input from the South Florida museums.

For smaller museums attending, only one of the two MSA chapter meetings per year was feasible. The bigger museums were not sending delegates to either the national MSA Conference or the chapter meetings. Jim Garrigan of the Saint Augustine Light House and Museum presented Saint Augustine as a possibility. Two other museums in attendance were identified from the area: Janice Phelan, Lightner Museum, and Julia Gatlin, The Ximenez-Fatio House Museum. Three weekends in October were discussed as possible dates; the first and third having the most potential. The dates of Oct. 3 – 5 will be presented to the chapter for approval, after confirmation from the three Saint Augustine museums.

Jamieson expressed concerns about the unfriendly user aspect of recent print directories. She would like to see the delegates listed alphabetically by chapter. It was suggested that the MSA Web site would have the most current directory information and that you could sort by chapter. Gwen stated that online directories would become more prevalent with efforts to become more green, but agreed that publications such as the Program Book & Expo Guide could group the attendees by chapter affiliation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The t-shirts being distributed are the result of a fortuitous turn of events. The original Florida-themed design was chosen from The Henry B. Plant Museum archive. Troy Productions, the vendor chosen to produce the shirts, couldn't re-produce the image. Feeling an obligation to his commitment the owner donated the re-worked design as well as the shirts for the entire chapter. The shirts are to be worn by all chapter members and be a surprise for our guests at the Wine & Cheese reception. Please report to the Plant Museum by 5 p.m. ahead of the other delegates to be briefed by the Plant Museum's Executive Director. It was suggested that since the t-shirts were donated to the Chapter, each of us should contribute the money we brought to pay for the t-shirts to the Sam Greenberg fund raiser.

A reminder was given to turn t-shirt money into a Sam Greenberg contribution and for attendees to sign in on the sheet being passed around.

ADJOURNED

The meeting was adjourned at 2:35 p.m.