The Washington Museum Association
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There are hundreds of different museums scattered far and wide across Washington state. Many of them are focused on the history of their particular city, county, or region. Others feature arguably some of the most interesting, thought-provoking, and unique art and sculpture in the world. And a few have captured more of a niche area, showcasing things like robots, quilts, and puppets.
But the thing that binds these varied institutions together is that most of them are members of the Washington Museum Association, a nonprofit organization first conceptualized in 1979. Holding its inaugural meeting the following year in Ellensburg, Washington, the Washington Museum Association was established to represent and serve museums of all types and sizes throughout the state.
The Washington Museum Association (affectionately known as “WaMA”) is operated through the efforts of an all-volunteer board of museum professionals and supporters from across Washington. It has held an annual conference nearly every year since 1981 to celebrate collective successes, share the sector’s struggles, and to move toward the future together…and just recently wrapped up its first in-person conference in two years, thanks to the global COVID pandemic.
And yours truly was there to experience it.
Links from the podcast
- Washington Museum Association
- “The Resident Historian” podcast
- “Cascade of History” podcast
- “Grit City Stories” podcast
- WSU Vancouver Library
- Kittitas County Historical Museum
- Clark County Historical Museum