Spring Workshop Series 2024

What is this event ?

This workshop series will focus on well-being and mental health for museum workers, taking a critical and holistic approach to wellness, resilience, and inclusion in the sector and considering structural and individual barriers to healthy workplaces.

What to expect

Each session will provide skills, strategies, and room for discussion on topics including addressing and mitigating burnout, creating a welcoming and accessible workplace, and creating safer, more resilient spaces for staff and community members through a trauma-informed approach to museum work.

To create a safer space for discussion, this workshop series will not be recorded.

Schedule

Short description (one or two sentences)

Accessibility and Empowerment in Museum Workspaces

Speaker : Cyn Rozeboom, Executive Director, Tangled Art + Disability, Nicole Crawford, Gallery Assistant, Tangled Art + Disability, Devon Muhic 

Join us for a panel discussion addressing the importance of creating an inclusive and accessible environment for museum employees and volunteers with disabilities. Our panel will share experiences and strategies for supporting disabled individuals in various roles within the museum, from employees to volunteers and third-party collaborators.

What you will learn:

  • It will explore the importance of fostering an inclusive workplace culture, proactively providing accommodations, and promoting ongoing accessibility practices.
  • Discover how museums can go beyond compliance and embrace accessibility as a continuous, holistic commitment. 

Please note: This session will not be recorded

Price: Member: $35 | Non-Member: $45

Workshop: Creating a Welcoming and Accessible Workplace

Speaker : Jeff St. Denis, Facilitator

This workshop is hosted by Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC) and aims to foster a deeper understanding of 2SLGBTQI+ diversity and inclusion within the workforce. The session is structured to initiate discussions on various key topics, including the use of appropriate terminology, understanding gender diversity, the importance of pronouns, and the role of allyship in the workplace.

What you will learn:

  •  Participants will explore these areas through an agenda that covers an introduction to 2SLGBTQI+ concepts, considerations for gender diversity and inclusion, strategies for creating inclusive workplaces, and practical steps for getting started on these initiatives.

Please note: This session will not be recorded

Price: Member: $65 | Non-Member: $85 

Workshop: Trauma-Informed Museum Practices:
A Foundational Approach

Speaker : Dr. Ross Laird, PhD RCC, Clinical Consultant

Museums have begun to grapple directly with complex issues like climate change, residential schools, refugees, and systemic racism in deeply purposeful ways. However, when they do so, they also encounter the trauma that is interwoven with these themes: personal trauma, cultural trauma, and intergenerational trauma. Visitors can be traumatized or re-traumatized by exhibits and displays, staff can be vicariously traumatized through interactions with visitors or through interactions with colleagues, and leaders can be traumatized by organizational turbulence, burnout, and emotional fatigue.

What you will learn:

  • participants will learn about the basic dynamics of trauma, how these dynamics play out in a museum setting, and how organizations can develop and sustain practices to minimize the risks of ongoing harm.
  • It will also address questions surrounding how museum professionals can stay emotionally healthy, how museums can develop strategies to ensure employees do not slide into trauma or distress, and how museums can promote wellness and resilience within their organizations and communities.

Please note: This session will not be recorded

Price: Member: $65 | Non-Member: $85

Cancellation Policy

A processing fee will be applied to all cancellations. Only written cancellation requests received a minimum of 7 days before a workshop will be refunded, minus the 30% processing fee. Registrations received within 7 days of a workshop are non-refundable. 

Need assistance?

For any questions about the 2023 Fall Workshop Series,
please email [email protected].

Resources

Short description (one or two sentences) : Past Webinars/Workshop under same project

Workshop1: Preventing, Identifying, and Mitigating Burnout for Museum Professionals

Given that rates of mental health problems are at an all-time high, and access to support is limited and/or complicated for some, having the skills to have mental health conversations, identify mental health needs and help those in need is imperative.

Workshop2: Addressing Burnout: Sustaining Wellness in Museum Work

Museum professionals share a passion for museum work, cultural preservation, and education and a belief in the power and value of the work we do. However, the demands and dynamics of museum and heritage work can take a toll on individual mental health, leading to burnout.