2020 11 18 MAB minutes
Board Members
Present:
Susan Barbee
Emily Bogan
Gwen Brown
Dana Crater
Ginger Davis
Dennis Dixon
Kevin Maurer
Stewart Moon
Eileen O’Malley
Darin Penneys
Florence Warren
Donna Pope and Woody White
Absent:
Staff Present: Sheryl Mays, Kate Baillon, Barbi Baker, Joeli Banks, Darcie Cook, Simon Lashford, and Heather Yenco
The Cape Fear Museum Advisory Board held its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 via TEAMS. The meeting was called to order by Stewart Moon at 4:05 pm.
Consideration of Absences: Stewart Moon
Pope, Warren, and White have been excused.
Approval of Minutes: Stewart Moon
A motion to accept the September 16, 2020 minutes was made by Moon, seconded by Barbee, and approved without opposition.
Chairman’s Report: Stewart Moon
The Cape Fear Museum has joined Museums for All, a national program that grants free admission to those that qualify for SNAP benefits. The Cameron Art Museum and Airlie Garden have
also joined the initiative creating a “hub” in Wilmington, NC.
The Museum is experiencing some staffing changes:
Terry Prior, the Collections Assistant, will be retiring on 01/01/2021. He has been a member of the Museum Team for 6 years and volunteered for 2 years before that.
Angela Sparrow, who has worked Visitor Services for the last 8 years, retired last week.
Associates Report: Emily Bogan
The Winners Choice raffle is going well. 158 of the 200 tickets available have been sold. Bogan encouraged all board members to help sharing the link
on social media. Deadline to purchase is Nov 30 and drawing will take place on Dec. 2.
Collections Report: Kevin Maurer
The Collections Committees reviewed accessions to be submitted to the NHC Board of Commissioners for approval. Many of which were COVID-19 related. Others items were voting machines
and postcards.
The Collections Committee is also deaccessioning a non-known item that was found in collection storage.
Because it was by committee, no motion or second was needed to accept the accessions or deaccessions. It was approved without opposition.
Facility Planning Committee: Stewart Moon
The committee met for the first time last month to assess shortfalls. None known at the moment.
The committee is working to build connections with the incoming commissioners and get in the door to be on their radar.
Marketing and Visitor Engagement Report: Susan Barbee
CFM & Battleship NC worked on a joint news release to promote the Fighting for the Right to Fight exhibit, Battleship, WWII Heritage City designation and Smithsonian scholar talk. It
was sent out on 10/26. Several news stations picked up the story and it was good publicity for both of us.
The Member Monday event was on 10/26 and 52 people attended. We also had several people take tours of the collections area. It exceeded our expectations and was a great way to interact
with several members that we had not seen in a while.
A board member on the marketing committee put us in touch with Alison Baringer from the Azalea Festival. We met to discuss the 75th anniversary of the festival in spring 2022 and forwarded
Alison info on the Azalea Fest items currently in the Museum’s collection. Conversations are ongoing in regard to a way to partner for the anniversary celebration.
Social media themes for December will include features from the collection such as board games, toy figurines, ornaments and holiday cards. Several of the items tie into the Tech Toy
program that takes place on Sunday, 12/6.
The marketing committee also got a sneak peek of the H2O Today exhibit that opens in late February. Several members have contacts that may be good partners for future programs.
Museum Report: Sheryl Mays
Winter Programming – Amy Thornton
The Education team is working to find new ways to keep things in people’s hands. They are doing this by creating kits for community groups that are age specific. Nourish NC (150-200
kits), Grandparents Support Network (100 kits), and Smart Start.
Virtual Family Night in October (50 astronomy kits) was a huge success – we are hoping to do this again in December over Winter Break (100 kits). Kits will be available for a small fee.
Teen programming is picking back up. The next event in our Science Chat program is tomorrow evening. The teens will
present to the Smithsonian in January. We are one of 10 institutions included in this national initiative.
The Historian and Science Content Developer are doing a program on toys in the 20th century in December.
The Education team is creating a teaser video program that involves hiding a turkey around the museum for the week leading up to Thanksgiving.
Winter break programming will be partially “follow along at home” and others will be more advanced.
Many of the kits were made possible due to a donation from Corning.
There would always be an opportunity to do more with more. Both funding and board assistance in building the kits.
The Education team has also recorded many field trips to the available to teachers and the public.
H2O Today Exhibit Overview – Darcie Cook and Simon Lashford
Exhibit will be on view from Feb 2021 to Aug 2022.
This will be printed and built in-house with templates that are from the Smithsonian. It will be in the North Gallery.
Cook gave an overview of the content of the exhibit. It is broken out into 5 sections from the Smithsonian with the addition of internally created local section.
Lashford provided a walkthrough the layout of the exhibit including interactives, panels, and visual elements.
A motion was made by Moon, and seconded by Barbee, to adjourn the meeting. With unanimous consent, the meeting ended at 4:47 pm.
The next board meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 20th at 4:00 pm Virtually via Cape Fear Museum.
Secretary, CFM Advisory Board Date