In this third and last session of Change Is Required: Preparing for the Post-Pandemic Museum, we will explore how, in this time of widespread anxiety, isolation, mis- and dis-information, and 'culture war' flare ups, museums can maintain their reputations as trustworthy organizations and still address such timely and significant issues as climate change, systemic racism, political partisanship, and economic inequity. In other words: How can current practice adapt to historical and scientific evidence yet recognize the many different personal truths and beliefs that visitors bring into our spaces? How can staff, volunteers, and community members use our programs, collections, and exhibitions to make space for multiple points of view-not necessarily changing minds but at least opening them? How can museums be safe places for unsafe discourse? How can museums presume to hold space for communities when their own internal structures are biased and flawed?
The program will include:
John Dichtl, President and CEO, AASLH-opening remarks
Marsha Semmel, author and consultant-facilitator
Tramia Jackson, Director of Learning, George Washington's Mount Vernon
Erin Mast, President and CEO, Lincoln Presidential Foundation
Mariah Berlanga-Shevchuk, Cultural Resources Manager, Five Oaks Museum
Tramia Jackson is the Director of Learning at George Washington's Mount Vernon, where she oversees teacher professional development including the George Washington Teacher Institute as well as student learning and family engagement programming.
Erin Carlson Mast has 20 years of experience leading cultural nonprofits. In 2021, she became the President and CEO of the Lincoln Presidential Foundation, where she led the rebranding, relaunch, and establishment of a new partnership with the National Park Service.
Mariah Berlanga-Shevchuk (she/hers) is the Director of Exhibitions and Cultural Resources at Five Oaks Museum in Washington County, Oregon, where she cares for the museum's collection and archive of approximately 100,000 cultural heritage items. She also manages the guest curator program, which decentralizes the museum's authority in favor of community members to ensure that the stories of the region are told authentically and equitably.
Marsha Semmel is an independent consultant working with nonprofits on leadership development, strategic planning, and partnerships. Her newest book, Change Is Required: Preparing for the Post-Pandemic Museum (Rowman & Littlefield/AASLH), co-edited with Avi Decter and Kenneth Yellis, was published in 2022.
John Dichtl became AASLH President and CEO in 2015. Prior to that he was the executive director of the National Council on Public History and worked for the Organization of American Historians as deputy director and in several other roles. John helped to found the History Relevance Campaign, the International Federation for Public History, and is active in the National Coalition for History.