OKME Mid-Winter Meeting

February 19, 2010

Oklahoma Museum of History
2401 N. Laird Ave
Oklahoma City, OK 73105

Creative Connections in the Cultural Community: Museums and Perceived Public Value

Guest Speaker, Ruth Ann Rugg

Museum educators play an important role in community engagement. By seeking creative connections with others in the cultural community, museum educators build on positive perceptions of the museum’s public value. Collaboration is smart business—especially in an economic downturn. Beyond the immediate results, creative partnerships can also strengthen a museum’s position for future development. Hear how effective museum educators identify their assets, share resources, and contribute to a museum’s growth.

AGENDA

11:00 – 11:30 OKME Business/Welcome

11:30 – 12:30 Lunch

12:30 – 3:00 Presentation & Audience Participation

Registration is available online at https://payments.auctionpay.com/ver3/?id=W035893.

Registration fee is $25.00

You must be a member of OKME to register. Become a member today!

More about our guest speaker:

Ruth Ann McBeth Rugg began her career in the museum field in 1980 at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth Texas, as a Communications Assistant, thereby putting her double major in Journalism and English immediately to work. (Ruth Ann graduated from Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, earning a Bachelor of Arts cum laude, December 1979.) In two short years, she was promoted to a senior staff position, serving as the Assistant to the Director for Public Relations. In this capacity, Ruth Ann was responsible for a multi-faceted public relations program designed to maintain the Kimbell’s national and international image. She functioned as an institutional press agent, managed the media, positioned key spokespersons, and drafted public statements. She also researched, wrote, and distributed press information. Ruth Ann also instituted and managed the Kimbell Art Museum’s first membership program.

In 1991, Ruth Ann moved to the Amon Carter Museum, serving as the Public Relations Manager for eight years before taking the job of Program Communications Manager. In April of 2004, Ruth Ann was employed as the Acting Executive Director of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, in Dallas. Serving as the chief administrator of the museum during a transition period, Ruth Ann simultaneously performed duties of Director of Interpretation and Executive Director, which entailed managing a staff of 50 in a $3.9 million operation that was fiscally self-supporting and hosted 375,000 visitors annually, including almost 60,000 school children. Prior to, and following the temporary position of Acting Executive Director for The Sixth Floor Museum, Ruth Ann served in the capacity of Director of Interpretation, with responsibility for creating and implementing the interpretive programs of The Sixth Floor Museum. Ruth Ann reported to the Executive Director and supervised six full-time staff members. She also managed activities relating to collections, exhibitions, publications, and education while representing the Museum in the national and regional professional museum community.

Well, if that isn’t enough museum work for anyone, I don’t know what is! Yet, at this time Ruth Ann stepped into the world of museum exhibit design and fabrication, working as an interpretive consultant for Museumscapes in Richardson. Ruth Ann was responsible for concept research and development, project planning, narrative arts, and interpretation for museum clients. From 2006 to 2008, she worked independently as a consultant for regional museums to facilitate strategic planning, professional development for board of directors, education, interpretation, and other projects. Somewhere in between all of this, Ruth Ann also served as part-time Director for the Texas Regional Office of Partners for Sacred Places.

Currently, Ruth Ann is the Executive Director of the Texas Association of Museums. As the chief administrator of the non-profit museum membership association with 700 members her responsibilities include executive management of the organization’s operations, educational program development, and implementation of training opportunities for museum professionals.

OKME

The Oklahoma Museum Educators (OKME) is a standing professional committee of the Oklahoma Museums Association. OKME represents the concerns and needs of museum educators within OMA by participating in policy and decision-making discussions at the statewide level and by selecting and planning programs for annual state and regional meetings. OKME promotes communication among museum educators statewide through an annual luncheon and mailings. OKME encourages high professional standards for museum educators, advocates the support of museums and their educational purpose, and promotes excellence in museum learning. OKME members share a mutual concern for museum learning, research, evaluation of programs, and/or exhibition development. OKME also has an online community.

OMA members can join OKME by paying $10 OKME membership dues. OKME dues may be mailed to OMA or you can pay online by clicking here. For more information on OKME, contact: Jana Brown, Museum of the Great Plains, 601 NW Ferris Avenue, Lawton, OK 73507, 580.581.3460, or Susan Green, Philbrook Museum of Art, 2727 S Rockford Road, Tulsa, OK 74114, 918.748.5375.