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All presentations held the third Monday of the month except January, due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

All presentations held from noon - 1 p.m. Central Time, via Zoom. 

Tuesday, January 18 - David Bright, Pugh, Hagan Prahm.  Core elements to review when updating institutional bylaws.  There will be time for questions.  Sponsored by The Dickinson Vaults.

Monday, February 21 - Ann Vogelbacher, Executive Director, Central Iowa Tourism.  Learn about the opportunities offered by the tourism regions and how they work with IDEA.  Sponsored by The Dickinson Vaults.

Monday, March 21 - Candace Sall, Director, Museum of Anthropology and American Archaeology Division, University of Missouri.  Native American Collections in Museums-NAGPRA Basics.  Learn about best practices, like traditional care and handling guidelines for Native American objects.  What is NAGPRA, and how to begin the process if you have not yet done so at your museum.  It's always a good time to reach out to tribes in your area to consult.  Bring your questions!  Sponsored by The Dickinson Vaults.

Thank you to our January-February-March Sponsor

Monday, April 18 - Destiny Crider, Manager of the Anthropology Lab and Collections and professor in the Museum Studies department, Luther College, Decorah.  Migration and resettlement in Iowa and its impact on local history work.

Monday, May 16 - Joe Coffey,  Coffey Grande Studios, is a Chicago-based writer and marketer who specializes in digital storytelling. He worked as a journalist, educator and content director before starting his own media consulting company, Coffey Grande Studios. Brands and organizations he has worked for and with include The History Center, the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, the Corridor Business Journal, Frontier Co-op, Simply Organic, Aura Cacia, Premier Guitar Magazine, KCRG (Cedar Rapids, IA), WALB (Albany, GA) and KCBD (Lubbock, TX). His degrees are in Telecommunications and Journalism & Mass Communications. He has taught at the University of Iowa and Wartburg College. His writing has focused on artists Grant Wood and Jackson Pollock, Iowa history, the plight of veterans, and pop culture.

 Joe is excited to share insights behind his recent project, Grant Wood Stories, which is a TikTok channel that tells the stories behind the life and art of Iowa artist Grant Wood. The channel has amassed an audience of 66k followers in just a few months. A recent video on Wood’s stained-glass Memorial Window in Cedar Rapids has been viewed 75k times. Each of Joe’s 3-minute videos is a fusion of history, narrative storytelling and art criticism, drawing on Joe’s journalism experience, connections with curators and art scholars, and nearly 25 years of living in Cedar Rapids. When asked why Grant Wood Stories features a puppet version of himself instead of his actual self on camera, he suggests that modern storytelling is about more than just storytelling. “These days, good storytelling is about branding as much as it is about storytelling,” he says. “If, from a glance, your brand looks fun and interesting, you are giving your stories a better chance to be seen and heard.” 

Thank you to our April - May sponsor!

Monday, June 20 (Juneteenth) - Heather Aaronson, Figge Art Museum and Felicite Wolfe, African American Museum of Iowa, will share about how their museums have elevated marginalized voices, whether in exhibits, collections, or programming.

Monday July 18 - Jessica Peel-Austin, Museum Program Manager, Brucemore, will share how the property has been reinterpreted through the lens of Mrs. Sinclair, who was previously not recognized for her role as the builder of Brucemore.

Monday, August 15 - Nicky Christensen, Communications Specialist, Museum of Danish America, will discuss how to develop a marketing plan in order to share your organizational story over the long term and through a variety of media.

Monday, September 19 -   Darrell Taylor and Angela Waseskuk, University of Northern Iowa Gallery of Art will present on its  exhibition of Native and Indigenous Art titled “The Earth Is a House of Stories”.  Co-curated by Angela Waseskuk and Art Gallery Director Darrell Taylor, “The Earth Is a House of Stories” includes selected artwork from George Longfish (Seneca/Tuscarora), Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Salish/Kootenai), Duane Slick (Meskwaki), Percy Tsisete Sandy (Zuni), and Sheila Arch (Cherokee) as well as Maria Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo), Joe Campbell (Musqueam/Salish), Wendy Red Star (Crow), and Leonard YoungBear (Meskwaki).