What We’re Learning

There are many ways to measure JMM’s progress. For this month’s  Performance Counts, Rachel Kassman collected highlights of what JMM staff learned in 2019. The great thing about gaining the weight of knowledge is that no January diet is required! To read more posts from Rachel, click here.


In the spirit of January, the New Year, resolutions, and self-improvement, while planning for this month’s edition of Performance Counts, I started thinking about the efforts we make on an individual level to improve and strengthen ourselves as Museum professionals. Professional development is as important as evaluating our exhibits, counting our visitors,  and appreciating our members, but we rarely here about what everyone is doing and learning. So I decided to reach out to my colleagues and ask everyone to share an example of professional development they participated in this year and you can read them yourself below. I love the variety of experiences and opportunities that JMM staff participated in – and am already getting excited thinking about what we can do in the year ahead.

For myself, this past year I was able to attend the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Annual Conference as a panelist.

It was a really great experience – not only did I get to share what JMM is doing in the world of social media (it’s a lot, by the way), I got some really great ideas from my fellow panelists AND attended a particularly great session on workplace happiness with Tamara Christian of the International Spy Museum. I’m hoping to share her presentation with the whole JMM staff at one of our Monday meetings.

From Marvin Pinkert, Executive Director:

They say that travel broadens the mind. After 32 years in the Museum industry, I can honestly say that some of my most worthwhile hours are those spent in other people’s museums. Among the most interesting exhibits I visited this year were the Auschwitz exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park and the nearby Statue of Liberty Museum (which I visited four months before its opening); an experimental gallery featuring augmented reality at the Free Library of Philadelphia and Museum of the American Revolution (also in that city); and back in Chicago, an outstanding exhibit on “streamlining” at Chicago History Museum and a huge mobile museum gallery built as a companion to the musical, Hamilton. I may not have agreed with every choice made by curators or project managers, but in every instance exposure to new ideas for design and project management, stimulated my thinking about what we do at JMM.

From Paige Woodhouse, School Program Manager:

Professional development can take many forms. While I also attended some incredible conferences and webinars this year, another experience is worth mentioning. This year I transitioned roles at JMM to the newly created School Program Coordinator role. Over the last couple of months, I have had the opportunity to sit down with my counterparts from other Baltimore organizations to learn about their roles, programs, successes, and goals for growth. These casual meetings have empowered me to think creatively opportunities for the education team and about how JMM can develop partnerships. I look forward to meeting more of my fellow Baltimore museum education cohort in the upcoming year.

From Ilene Dackman-Alon, Director of Learning and Visitor Experience:

Professional development is so personal for me. This past year as a Board member of MAAM I participated in meetings to help plan and organize the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Annual Conference that took place in October at West Point, NY. I am looking ahead to help plan the MAAM 2020 Annual Conference that will take place in Wilmington, Delaware.

I also had the opportunity to attend a session sponsored by CAJM (the Council of American Jewish Museums) on the topic of antisemitism. As an institution, the JMM also plans professional development opportunities for teachers throughout the State of Maryland. For the past 16 years, the JMM and Baltimore Jewish Council have worked together to plan the Summer Teachers Institute in the area of Holocaust Education. In 2019, we piloted the Winter Teachers Institute with great success with over 30 teachers in attendance for the two days. We are holding the Second Annual Winters Institute next month.

From Sue Foard, Membership Coordinator:

Webinars are my favorite type of professional development. It suits my learning style very well. This past year I participated in webinars from the postal service and about the Bank of America Cashpro system.

From Wendy Davis, Volunteer Coordinator:

One of my goals has been to provide workshops to increase the volunteers’ skill set and knowledge. Those workshops include learning how to use assistive listening devices and having the curators of the temporary exhibits provide us training on those exhibits. But the workshop that had the most meaning for me was the one I presented on the mikva’ot associated with the Lloyd Street Synagogue. I spent hours combing through books covering the history of Baltimore’s early synagogues and documents on the JMM computer finding archeologist reports, first person recollections and quotes from primary documents. I and the volunteers are now able to answer many more questions posed to us by Museum visitors regarding the mikva’ot, though there are still some questions that remain for future investigation!

From Tracie Guy-Decker, Deputy Director:

In February of 2019, I attended the Building Museums Conference in Brooklyn. The conference is dedicated to the processes and challenges of building museums and other cultural institutions. It was an eye-opening experience to hear stories from other institutions at various stages of expansion and evolution. Interestingly for me, some of the biggest takeaways weren’t about the nitty-gritty of building (e.g. humidity controls, building materials, LEED certifications and the like), but about the importance, nature, and consequences of visitor experience. Insights gained at that meeting have led to new partnerships and priorities as we move toward our own expansion. I’m looking forward to building on those insights at this year’s symposium.

From Talia Makowsky, Visitor Services Coordinator:

In December, I had the opportunity to join the Keshet Leadership Summit, as a part of the Keshet Leadership Project in Baltimore. Fifteen organization total came together to talk about LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Jewish community in Baltimore, and how we can commit to supporting and welcoming people from the LGBTQ+ community. Working together to show our dedication to diversity and inclusion was inspiring, and I felt proud to be a part of the Baltimore Jewish community. Our projects will continue for the rest of the year and we hope to meet again as a cohort soon. If you want to learn more about what we did that day, read about it here.

From Lorie Rombro, Archivist:

This past year I have enjoyed listening to webinars. My position has me working with numerous types of materials and objects and I enjoy learning more about care and processing of these collections. Many times, the webinars can be refreshers for me, but they always add additional knowledge to help in the care of the Museum’s collections.  Many of the webinars were facilitated by Connecting to Collections Care, including Practical Book Repair, Exploring Old Loans: A quest for resolution, What is this: solving problems found in collections, Preserving Film collections for the future and Managing resources for collections storage.

From Laura Grant, Program Assistant:

I spent the majority of 2019 in graduate school at George Washington University’s Museum Education Program. I learned about designing, implementing, and evaluating museum tours and programs for a variety of audiences. One of the most useful aspects of graduate school was meeting with professionals in the field. I learned so much about both the lofty and practical elements of museum work.

From Marisa Shultz, Museum Educator:

Last October, I had the opportunity to both present at and attend the Maryland Council for Social Studies Inc. 2019 Fall Conference, where teachers, museum professionals, and students came together to discuss the topic of “Integrating Civics in the Social Studies.” While attending sessions and meeting colleagues, I learned new techniques for sparking student curiosity, innovative ways to engage students with primary sources, and more about some of Maryland’s important historical figures, such as Margaret Brent. 

From Tracey Dorfmann, Director of Development: 

I was able to attend a workshop with The Association for Fund Raising Professionals in 2019 that focused on expanding our donor base.  One of the salient points was the importance of every contact with visitors, members, and existing donors. Each interaction holds the potential for a meaningful connection to the Museum. A good experience here can convert a visitor today can become an inspired donor in the future.

From Joanna Church, Director of Collections and Exhibits:

One conference I attended this year for the first time was the Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists (ARCS) biennial conference in Philadelphia. As I mentioned in my blog post, “it’s always nice to be among your peers, people who understand the pain of poorly documented 50-year-old donations and the joys of matching up a “found in collections” object with its original paperwork.”


And these are just a few of the many, many learning opportunities JMM staff have taken advantage of over the past twelve months! We look forward to all the conferences, workshops, meetings, readings, discussions, and more to come in the year ahead.


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Education JMM Blog World of Museums

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