Monday Afternoon, October 23

Using Museum Objects & Archives to Host Community Conversations

1:00-4:00
Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 E Kearsley St

Join Ashley Ross from Michigan Humanities and Megan McAdow and Andrea Ondish from the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture to learn how to engage diverse audiences and invigorate your collections by using museum objects and archives to ground reflective, community conversations. Based off the Reflective Conversation program at Michigan Humanities and implemented at the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, this method brings together groups of people to engage in civil discourse that is grounded in museum objects and archives. Participants will be introduced to the reflective conversation model, think about what audiences and communities they would like to reach, and plan and practice a reflective conversation. 

Cost: Free
Limited to 20 people FULL with waiting list

Mentor Meetup with Michigan's Emerging Museum Professionals

1:00-4:00
Riverbank Arts, 400 N Saginaw Street

Are you museum professional who can offer guidance to students and people who are embarking on their museum career? Are you a student interested in learning about programs and careers in the museum world. Join members of Michigan Emerging Museum Professionals at this relaxed mentorship meet up. We want you to enjoy some snacks, network, and share knowledge, experiences and questions.

Cost: FREE
Preregistration not required. Stop in anytime between 1 and 4. 

Afternoon Tour of Genesee Historical Collection Center and the Henry Howland Crapo Room at UM-Flint

1:00-4:00

Frances Willson Thompson Library, 303 E Kearsley St

The Genesee Historical Collections Center and Henry Howland Crapo room are located in the Frances Willson Thompson Library on the University of Michigan-Flint campus. Our mission is to collect, preserve, describe, and provide access to the social and political history of Flint including the papers of civil rights leaders Olive Beasley and Edgar B. Holt, the earliest UAW records from the Sit-Down Strike through modern-day, and local social organizations. Come join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of our archives and step inside the Henry Howland Crapo room, a Victorian sitting room recreated using original artifacts from the former Governor Crapo's farm.

Cost: $15

Limited to 15 people 

Behind the Scenes at the Flint Children's Museum

1:00-4:00 
Flint Children's Museum on the campus of Kettering University, 1602 University Ave.

Get the inside scoop about running a children's museum with a deep dive into the work of the Flint Children's Museum. Museum staff will share strategies for creating an intimate and inviting atmosphere, engaging children in traditional museum settings and building durable exhibits on a small budget. In other words, they'll share expertise that all museums can use!  

Cost: $15
Limited to 20 people. 

"Celebrating 150 years at the Intersection": Tour of St. Paul's Episcopal Church

1:00-4:00
St. Paul's Church, 711 South Saginaw Street 

Join us for a guided walk through Historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in the heart of downtown Flint. Standing at the Intersection of S. Saginaw Street and E. Third Street for 150 years, the church building is among Flint’s oldest standing structures, an architectural gem in the city. The stone structure was designed by renowned architect Gordon W. Lloyd and built by local craftsmen. The church features windows by Tiffany and Montague Castle-London, floor tiles by Albert Champion’s Flint Faience Tile company, and fixtures dating to as early as 1861. The building is also home to the 1940 Florence Whiting Dalton Memorial pipe organ, with over 5000 pipes found throughout the nave and sanctuary. Memorials in the walls, windows, and furnishings tell the story of some of Flint’s earliest families, lumbermen, carriage manufacturers, and automobile pioneers. Many of these names appear today on the city’s street signs, schools, parks, and community institutions.

Cost: $15
Limited to 20 people

Glass Tour with Sarah Kohn, FIA Curator of Collections and Exhibitions

1:00-2:45

Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 E Kearsley St

Join Sarah Kohn, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the Flint Institute of Arts for an exploration into contemporary glass. This event will take visitors through the process of housing and displaying a large collection of glass artwork as well as discussing the addition of a hot shop and flameworking studio to the museum’s art school.

Cost: $15

Limited to 15 people

Intro to Disaster Response and Hands-On Water Salvage Workshop

1:00-4:00

Applewood, 1400 E Kearsley St

Whether it's a burst pipe, a slow leak, a flood, or the result of firefighting efforts, water is a major threat to Michigan's museums and their collections. In this workshop led by Mallory Bower, from the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and Davina Kuh Jakobi, from Applewood, participants will learn the basic concepts related to disaster response. The workshop will include a brief overview of categories of disasters, planning for a disaster, and what to have on hand to best equip you for disaster response. The second half of the workshop will provide hands-on activities related to salvaging collections during a water event. All participants will receive a personal disaster response kit.

Cost: $50

Limited to 20 people

Skies Over Michigan Planetarium Showing

1:00

Longway Planetarium, 1310 E. Kearsley Street

Visit Longway Planetarium where their astronomy experts will take you on a tour of the night sky over Michigan in this live planetarium lecture. Learn about the rotation of the Earth, how to find the North Star, and which constellations and planets are visible in your backyard tonight. Stargazers can come back to this show again and again to find out about recent astronomical events and for seasonal updates on what's visible in the night sky over Michigan.

Cost: $15

Limited to 120 people

Back to Top

Wednesday Morning, October 25

Hot Glass Demonstrations at Flint Institute of Arts

9:00-12:00

Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 E Kearsley St

Flint Institute of Arts glass artists will work in the Art School’s Hot Shop throughout the morning, demonstrating various techniques and processes used in the creation of glass objects.

Cost: FREE

Preregistration not required. Stop in anytime between 9 and 12. 

Stockton Historic House Museum Tour

9:00-12:00
Stockton House, 720 Ann Arbor St

Visit this beautiful and carefully restored 1872 Italianate mansion, built by Civil War Colonel Thomas Baylis Whitmarsh Stockton and his wife, Maria Smith Stockton. The Stockton House Museum's history explores Flint families as well as its legacy as the original St. Joseph Hospital. The mansion overlooks a natural spring that the Stockton's nicknamed, 'Spring Grove'. Utilize the walkways to enjoy a peaceful stroll through the wetland, home to a variety of wildlife and waterfowl. 

Cost: FREE
Preregistration not required. Stop in anytime between 9 and 12. 

Creative Collaborations:  Building Sustainable Partnerships with Local Schools

9:00-12:00

Sloan Museum of Discovery, 1221 E Kearsley St

Learn how a neighborhood elementary school principal’s request for help to support STEM classroom instruction has grown into a multi-school partnership initiative that serves over 1,000 students per year. Spend the morning with the Sloan Museum of Discovery Education and Outreach team while they share how they initiate school connections, develop content, evaluate, and fund this program of work.  Participants will be transported via passenger van to one of its partnership schools where they will meet the teachers and participate in a STEM-based lesson with the Sloan Museum's partner classrooms.  

Cost: $15

Limited to 16 people FULL with waiting list

Guided Tour of the Historic Capitol Theatre

9:00-10:30
Capitol Theater, 40 E. 2nd St.

Architect John Eberson built The Capitol Theatre in 1928, and it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan since 1985. A full restoration project completed in 2018, faithfully restored historically significant elements of The Capitol Theatre’s original design. Programming at the theater includes a diverse mix of popular and classical music, comedy acts, film screenings, contemporary and modern dance, spoken word, and theater works that play to the strengths of its intimate auditorium and flexible performance spaces. Participants will get a behind the scenes tour.

Cost: $15
Limited to 20 people.

Metadata Grooming for Museum Collections

9:00-12:00
Sloan Museum of Discovery, 1221 E Kearsley St

In this three-hour workshop, led by Matt Patulski, he will be providing an overview of metadata grooming concepts with hands-on demonstrations using common office apps including Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. In a series of short exercises, participants will learn tools, concepts, and methods to review, organize and clean up common metadata challenges when organizations need to make system-wide or targeted revisions to their collection data. Topics include fixing basic data errors found in almost every collection, creating new metadata from existing data, batch edit strategies, and exporting data that is import-ready for your collection software. Participants will need to bring a laptop.

Cost: $50
Limited to 20 people. 

Service Project for Flint Handmade: Operation Warm-up

10:30*-12:00

Flint Institutes of Arts - Meeting Room, 1120 E Kearsley St

Since 2012, the Flint Handmade Yarn Brigade has donated almost 4,000 hats, scarves and ear warmers to those in need through the Operation: Warm Up Flint project. They place the items on fences and railings near bus stations and shelters as a community service and public art project with tags reading: “FREE TO A GOOD HOME! If you’re cold, please take me to warm up!” They also donate items directly to basic needs organizations, group homes, health service providers, rehabilitation centers and children’s educational programs.

To support this great program, particpants will help prepare and attach tags to items collected by Flint Handmade as well as the items donated by conference attendees. This is a low mobility activity and no special skills are required. Flint Handmade's Executive Director will also be there, and will share information about the Yarn Brigade program. 

*Want to get together with others to finish up projects before the session? Meet at the museum at 9 to work on bring-your-own knit or crochet projects.

MMA is collecting handmade items to donate to Flint Handmade. There will be a box at the conference registration table to collect items. They can accept any and all sizes, colors, yarn weights, etc. for hats, scarves, and mittens, as long as they are handmade.

Cost: $15 (all fees collected will be donated to Flint Handmade)

Limited to 10 people

Tour of Applewood's Historic House and Grounds

9:00-12:00
Applewood, 1400 E Kearsley St

Built in 1916, Applewood was established as the family home and gentleman’s farm of Charles Stewart (C.S.) Mott, co-founder of General Motors. The 34-acre historic estate has been restored and maintained by the Ruth Mott Foundation, a philanthropic organization created by C.S.'s fourth wife, Ruth Rawlings Mott. Participants will enjoy a tour of the historic home and gardens and engage in discussion with Applewood staff about how this historic site has been gifted a second life as an unique learning environment and resource for the community. This behind-the-scene tour will allow participants to learn about the history of the family, our educational framework and values, and the historic preservation work that Applewood staff has undertaken to maintain and restore the buildings.

Cost: $15
Limited to 30 people

Back to Top

Wednesday Afternoon, October 25

Drop-in to the Flint Children's Museum and "Be a Kid Again!"

1:00-4:00
Flint Children's Museum on the campus of Kettering University, 1602 University Ave.

Come and explore the hands-on exhibits and activities designed to bring out your inner child at the Flint Children's Museum. Enjoy blowing 6 foot bubbles, playing with magnetic slime, seeing your drawings come to life on the big screen, playing with the  monsters in the recycling factory, and many other hands on learning exhibits and activities. 

Cost: FREE
Preregistration not required. Stop in anytime between 1 and 4. 

Factory Two, Flint's Community Makerspace

1:00-4:00
Factory Two, 129 Grand Traverse St

Factory Two is a community makerspace, located in the heart of downtown Flint, Michigan, that is built on the idea that learning, sharing, and creating are empowering and transformative forces which can open doors and revolutionize both perceptions and realities. Stop by to explore the facility which includes cutting edge technology like 3D printers and drones, wood and metal shops, and a coal fired forge.

Cost: FREE
Preregistration not required. Stop in anytime between 1 and 4. 

Guided Tour of Mott-Warsh Collection's Latest Exhibition

1:00-2:30
Mott-Warsh Gallery, 815 S Saginaw St

The Mott-Warsh Collection is a private collection of fine art created by artists of the African diaspora and others who reflect on it. Maryanne Mott and her late husband, Herman Warsh, initiated the Mott-Warsh collection in 2001 as a means of providing fine art to a broader audience in the City of Flint and beyond. With a focus on art produced since 1940, the Mott-Warsh Collection contains work by over 200 artists covering a range of media from drawing to painting, prints to photography and mixed media to sculpture. Featuring 20th century masters, such as Romare Bearden and Elizabeth Catlett, to 21st century innovators Wangechi Mutu and Kehinde Wiley, the collection contains abstract and representational work depicting the unique cultural and social experience of Africans living and working in American society. Through its lending program, the intent of the collection is to educate viewers in art appreciation, art making processes, art history, 20th century American history and the history of the African diaspora.

Cost: $15
Limited to 20 people

Kearsley Street Walking Tour: Evolution of a Neighborhood

1:00-4:00
Meet at Whaley House, 624 East Kearsley Street

What makes a neighborhood? Is it the people, the houses, or the culture? What happens as that neighborhood changes over time? How can it remain cohesive and adapt to new residents, institutions, and roles in the city? Join the Genesee County Historical Society to explore these questions on a walking tour of Kearsley Street and the Central Park Neighborhood. Participants will learn about the early residents of Kearsley Street and the development of the Cultural Center institutions that sit there now. A walk down Second Street will also raise ideas about the changing demographics of the neighborhood and how its residents are working hard to find innovative solutions to problems, while building a strong sense of community pride.

Cost: $15
Limited to 35 people

Ride the Red Line Bike Tour

1:00-4:00

Berston Fieldhouse, 3300 Saginaw St

Ride through some of the city's historic neighborhoods as you journey through the history of residential segregation in Flint. Led by Thomas Henthorn, Professor of History, The University of Michigan-Flint.

Cost: $15 BYOB (Bring Your Own Bike)

Limited to 10 people

Sloan Museum of Discovery Collections Storage Tour

1:00-4:00

Sloan Museum of Discovery, 1221 E Kearsley St

Take a behind-the-scenes tour of Sloan Museum's on-site collections storerooms, where Museum staff members will discuss storage prior to our recent renovation, improvements and modifications made to the spaces, challenges staff faced, space planning, and plans for the future. Participants can expect to see a variety of object types, including furniture, costume and textiles, framed art, firearms, musical instruments, decorative arts, as well as archival collections and photographs.

Cost: $15

Limited to 20 people

Taming your Project Management Monsters

1:00-4:00

Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 E Kearsley St

Has a project gotten away from you? Are you overwhelmed with the amount and variety of projects that you are juggling? Join Lynne Friman, Capital Project Manager for the University of Michigan, and Lisa Craig Brisson, Instructor for AASLH's Project Management for History Professionals courses, for a hands-on workshop focusing on Project Management. We will share some of our approaches, experiences, and favorite tools for managing projects and help you work out solutions to your project management monsters with tips, resources, teamwork, plus a few hacks. 

Cost: $25

Limited to 20 people

Back to Top