BC Museums Association Podcast

Conversation with Jordan Coble and Tania Muir - 2019 International Conference On Indigenous Languages

In this episode, Adrian Paradis (BCMA's Communications Coordinator) has a conversation with Jordan Coble (of BCMA's Indigenous Advisory Committee) and Tania Muir (BCMA's Council President) about the 2019 International Conference On Indigenous Languages.

From June 24-26, 2019, the First Peoples’ Cultural Council and the First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation hosted the international conference on Indigenous language revitalization in Victoria, British Columbia, in celebration of the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages. Hundreds of speakers gathered from over 20 countries for what was called the largest-ever Indigenous languages conference.

The conference was held by and for Indigenous Peoples. Workshops included successful models in Indigenous language revitalization with a focus on knowledge sharing. Discussions celebrated the successes and best practices that have been made in language revitalization and highlighted the important work currently happening in B.C. and around the world.

Among the attendees of the conference was BCMA’s Tania and Jordan. Presented here for our members who didn’t get to attend the conference, or those looking for a recap, is the conversation in full.

Music in this episode by Sound of Picture.

Megan Richardson on Sector-Wide Gaps of Digital Literacy Skills

In this episode, the BCMA is revisiting one more highlight of 2018; Adrian Paradis, our Communications Assistant, introduces a keynote speaker from our 2018 conference-Megan Richardson.

Richardson has spent her career creating and supporting connections among people and museum collections.

After establishing the education program at the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Megan moved to the National Gallery of Canada where she was a manager, and then head, of education. She introduced the Gallery’s first collection app, a national online teen art contest, and the distance learning program. She also revitalized the flagship family program; and oversaw onsite and online interpretation for major international temporary exhibitions.

Megan is currently the Director of the Virtual Museum of Canada, a national digital cultural investment program, managed by the Canadian Museum of History. She is responsible for the annual calls for investment, dozens of projects in development, and the program websites. Megan is leading the VMC renewal, an intensive 3-step process to better meet the needs of Canadian museums and heritage organizations.

We hope you enjoy our first episode of the year. We look forward to presenting more podcasts for you soon. 

Music in this episode by Sound of Picture.

Dr. Yosef Wosk, OBC, on Universal Technologies and Innovations

In this episode, the BCMA revisits one of the highlights of our year; Erica Mattson, our executive director, introduces a keynote speaker from our 2018 conference, Dr. Yosef Wosk.

Dr. Wosk was the Director of Interdisciplinary Programs in Continuing Studies and still serves as Shadbolt Fellow and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Humanities at Simon Fraser University where he developed seminal programs such as The Philosophers’ Cafe and The Canadian Academy of Independent Scholars. In addition to being an ordained rabbi and receiving two honorary doctorates, he holds Ph.D.s in Religion & Literature as well as in Psychology, and Masters degrees in Education and in Theology. Yosef has founded and supported hundreds of libraries worldwide, endowed Vancouver’s Poet Laureate, and has lectured at a number of universities and institutes of higher learning throughout the world. Identified as one of the top ten thinkers and most thoughtful citizens in the province, he is an appointed member of The Order of British Columbia, a recipient of both The Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals and included in Canadian Who’s Who.

We hope you enjoy the final episode for the year, and that you all have an amazing holiday. We look forward to presenting more podcasts for you in the new year.

Music in this episode by Sound of Picture.

Museum Education

In this episode, the BCMA goes back to school, at least for museum education!  Host Ben Fast talks with Jen Garner from the Kelowna Museums about their longstanding Salmon, Saskatoons and Storytelling program, one that has been around since the 1970s but that has seen notable changes in the past few years as it incorporates Indigenous knowledge and new forms of learning.  BCMA Podcast regular, Chelsea Forseth, talks with Nanaimo Museum's Aimee Greenaway about incorporating sage spaces and critical thinking into the museum's Far From Home residential school program.  Erin Henshaw and Michael Schwartz talk about what museum education really is: a changing platform for empathy and understanding, and Ben also talks with Lorenda Calvert about how educators group together for their own learning and mutual support with the Lower Mainland Museum Educators.

Join us in Kelowna, October 21-23 for sessions, workshops, keynotes, and lightning talks!  Registration is open now through September 14, and bursary applications close September 1 and 7.  Visit http://bit.ly/BCMAconfregister for more information.

Music in this episode by Sound of Picture.

Collaboration in Roundup

In this episode, we explore collaboration in museums as seen in our latest issue of BCMA's Roundup Magazine.  Roundup is the quarterly magazine published by the BCMA and available on our website.  For Issue 272, editor Jane Lemke compiled stories of collaboration, tips on how to do it right, and how community collaboration is bringing our province together.  New BCMA Podcast contributor Chelsea Forseth explores how UBC Museum of Anthropology is Getting It Right with collaboration at the centre.  This issue is also Jane's final episode with designer Shannon Bettles.  Both are on to different projects and we wish them well!  BCMA Podcast host Ben Fast talks with the incoming editor, Dezirae DaCosta, about her interest in editing the magazine and what's coming soon for Roundup.

Join us in Kelowna, October 21-23 for sessions, workshops, keynotes, and lightning talks!  Registration is open now through September 14.  Visit http://bit.ly/BCMAconfregister for more information.

Music in this episode by Sound of Picture.

Bonus Episode: Museums and the Web Lightning Talks

In this special bonus episode, listen to four lightning talks (short, 6-minute sessions) presented on the Saturday morning at the Museums and the Web Conference, held in Vancouver in April.  You'll hear from Diana Pan (MoMA), Rob Rothfarb (Exploratorium), Naomi Seixas (Local Projects / London Mithraeum) and Kelly Skelton (Aukland War Memorial Museum).

The BCMA was excited to host the Saturday morning Lightning Talks session at MW18.  The session featured 11 presenters from around the world giving 6-minute talks about an exciting project or initiative at their institution.  While on the final morning of conference, we were happy to see so many eager session attendees still make it out to hear the presentations.  Thanks everyone!

The BCMA is bringing lightning talks to our annual conference for the first time this year.  Join us in Kelowna, October 21-23 for sessions, workshops, keynotes, and yes, lightning talks too!  Early-bird registration is open now through July 14.  Visit http://bit.ly/BCMAconfregister for more information.

Music in this episode by Sound of Picture.

CMA and Museums and the Web Recap

In this episode of the BCMA Podcast, host Ben Fast talks with BCMA Executive Director Erica Mattson and recaps the Canadian Museum Association and Museums and the Web conferences that took place in Vancouver in April. Erica gives an overview of the CMA conference she attended one week, and then Ben shares some experiences from MW18 that took place the week after. Ben also plays clips from interviews with Chris O'Connor (Royal BC Museum), Derek Tan (Beaty Biodiversity Museum), Hannah Turner (Simon Fraser University) and Robert Cawston (National Museum of Scotland).

This episode was recorded at Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, BC, with interview clips recorded at the Sheraton Wall Centre in Vancouver.

Music in this episode by Sound of Picture.

Deaccessioning with Luc Desmarais

In this episode, join host Ben Fast as he talks with Luc Desmarais about deaccessioning. Luc presented the first BCMA Regional Workshop of 2018 in Abbotsford on March 19 about caring for collections in small- and medium-sized museums in BC, focusing on how deaccessioning – the act of cleaning out a collection – is important to museums in their daily role as stewards of artifacts and histories.

This episode was recorded at the Sikh Heritage Museum and Gur Sikh Temple in Abbotsford, BC.  Luc will also be presenting the same Caring for Collections: The Long Road to Deaccessioning Workshop in Quesnel on April 30.

Music in this episode by Sound of Picture.