Thursday, March 25, 2021: Exploring Social Impact

About the Presenters
(listed in presentation order according to the program)

Centering Social Impact: Revelation and Reckoning
Honored as the 2017 Museum Educator of the Year by the National Art Education Association, Stacey Shelnut-Hendrick is focused on making the arts engaging and accessible to broad and diverse audiences. With an expansive view of art education, rooted in her beliefs around social justice, community-making, and collective impact, Stacey has served as the executive director of the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House and held positions in education at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the New York State Museum, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. As the Crocker Art Museum’s director of education from 2000 – 2004 and 2008 – present, Stacey oversees the institution's education department, which annually serves more than 60,000 people through its art education. Most recently, Stacey created the Crocker’s Block by Block initiative, a unique arts engagement endeavor that has connected more than 40,000 Sacramento community members around the power of art. Stacey holds a Master of Science in Museum Education Leadership from Bank Street College of Education and is a graduate of the Getty’s Leadership Institute and the Nehemiah Emerging Leaders Program. She is currently participating in the American Leadership Forum-Mountain Valley Chapter and recently completed the ArtEquity’s BIPOC Leadership Circle. A native New Yorker, Stacey credits her parents for her strong work ethic and love for the arts.

Theresa Sotto is a museum educator, arts education advocate, and writer who is passionate about arts learning initiatives grounded in social justice and inclusive practices. She has worked at the crossroads of education, equity, and the arts for over 20 years. In her current role as associate director of academic programs at the Hammer Museum, Theresa oversees educational programming for university, family, and K-12 school audiences. She also co-leads the Hammer's internal Diversity and Inclusion Group, which initiates strategies for embedding inclusive practices in the museum’s work. Prior to joining the Hammer, she worked at the Getty Museum, the University of Arizona Poetry Center, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Theresa is an award-winning practitioner whose work has received honors and awards from the American Alliance of Museums, the California Association of Museums, and the Best in Heritage global conference. She frequently leads trainings for museum professionals on implicit bias and privilege awareness, and she has presented across the U.S. on topics related to inclusive gallery teaching, innovative programming models, and diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Measuring Museum Social Impact: Learn How Your Museum Can Participate in a New Nationwide Study
Presenters: Michelle Mileham, Project Manager, Measurement of Museum Social Impact (MOMSI), Utah Division of Arts & Museums; Emily Johnson, Museum Services Specialist, Utah Division of Arts & Museums; Stephen Ashton, Director of Audience Research & Evaluation, Thanksgiving Point
Michelle is the Measurement of Museum Social Impact (MOMSI) Project Manager, and will shepherd museums through application process and beyond. Emily managed the social impact pilot in Utah, and will speak to participating museum’s experiences. Stephen will discuss research methodology, limitations of the project, and the social impact survey instrument.

Collecting COVID Stories and Connecting During Isolation
Presenter: Erin Garcia, Director of Exhibitions, California Historical Society
Erin Garcia is director of exhibitions at the California Historical Society and currently serves as leader of the organization’s Digital Engagement Team. A photography historian by training, she has organized numerous exhibitions about photography and California history, including her current shows From the Gold Rush to the Earthquake and San Francisco by Minor White.

Developing Resiliency–Building Spaces
Presenter: Megan Dickerson, Director of Exhibitions, The New Children's Museum

Social Impact from the Start
Presenter: Germonique Ulmer, Managing Director, Social Impact, The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

Why We Need Collective Leadership in Museums
Presenter: Alyssa Greenberg and Gwendolyn Fernandez, Museum Workers Speak
Alyssa and Gwen are recovering museum workers and organizers with the Museum Workers Speak collective. In 2020, Museum Workers Speak raised over $100,000 for a mutual aid fund to support museum workers who were laid off, furloughed, or otherwise impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

NOT GOING BACK: Second Responders As The New Normal
Presenters: Michaeleen Gallagher, Director of Education & Environmental Programs, The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands (Moderator); Vickie Stone, Curator of Collections, Coronado Historical Association (Moderator); Victoria Gerard, Vice President of Programs and Collections, Bowers Museum; Sandy Valdivia, Education Coordinator, Fleet Science Center; Sally Tallant, President & Executive Director, Queens Museum
Sally Tallant is President and Executive Director of the Queens Museum, New York since 2019. She has curated exhibitions in a wide range of contexts including galleries, museums, public spaces and non-arts contexts. Victoria Gerard oversees all work related to exhibitions, education, public programs, and the Bower Museum's permanent collection of over 90,000 artifacts and art objects and organizes a diverse schedule of special exhibitions by establishing partnerships with museums and organizations around the world. Sandy Valdivia is the Education Coordinator at the Fleet Science Center, and she will share from the Fleet’s experiences of operating their Distance Learning Labs and how they have connected students to more than its mission of connecting people to the power of science.