CONFERENCE

Museums Alaska hosts a statewide museum conference every other fall, in cities around the state.

Museum professionals are invited to join us as we complete an Angel Project for a local museum, participate in workshops, attend and present sessions, and explore the museums, cultural centers, and other attractions in the host city.

Further history

Museums Alaska and the Alaska Historical Society have long cohosted an annual conference in cities across Alaska. This tradition began because Museums Alaska and the Alaska Historical Society were closely connected: Museums Alaska was founded from an Alaska Historical Society committee in 1983. Many of the museums in Alaska were founded by historical societies, so hosting a co-conference with sessions on museum practice with the Alaska Historical Society conference made sense.

As the museum field professionalized and Museums Alaska grew, it was decided that the dual conference didn't allow attendees interested in both the history of Alaska and learning about museum practice enough time to fully participate in both topics. In 2019, its as decided that the conference in Kodiak would be the last dual conference. The next year, COVID hit and both conferences were cancelled. In 2021, Museums Alaska hosted its first completely virtual, solo conference. In 2022, Museums Alaska hosted its first solo, in-person conference in Valdez, Alaska. It was wonderful to see everyone in person again.

However, due to the financial costs of hosting a conference and the amount of time required to plan and host to the event from what is currently a one-person staff, Museums Alaska made the decision to switch to hosting a conference every other year.

Not only will this new schedule allow Museums Alaska to plan more purposeful conferences and work on other initiatives in the off years, it will allow Alaska museum professionals to attend other conferences in the off years without feeling like they're missing out on seeing their Alaska colleagues. It is Museums Alaska's hope that the new conference schedule will lead to stronger, more impactful conferences, and allow more colleagues to attend.