This pumpkin is headed to her first conference.

Ok folks, I’m doing it. I’m stepping out of the postpartum cocoon. The New England Museum Association annual meeting starts tomorrow, and, excitingly, its focus is on museums and healthcare. 

It’s a brave, provocative, data-listening choice on NEMA’s part to prioritize audiences in healthcare for this year’s theme. The trend of interactions between healthcare organizations and their local museums is dynamic stuff.  It’s bringing about new innovations, as well as stirring up the kinds of conflicts and pains that come with change. In my observation, said pains are felt particularly intensely within the museum field, which, despite the fact that it is filled with brilliant and open people, is also quite possibly the most change-averse field in the world – and I say that from a place of love. I’m inspired. (And I guess I’d have to be to sign up to moderate a panel at seven weeks postpartum, in some sort of flow-ey, nice-to-mamas outfit TBD, lord have mercy!)

And I’m honored to work on what promises to be a very rich panel – Mindful Observation: Art museums in the education of healthcare professionals – in collaboration with my colleagues Michelle Grohe, Neal Fleischer DMD, S. Hollis Mickey, and Jay Baruch, MD (four seriously high caliber educators). We’ll look at the common core practice of close observation of works of art and explore the significance of this work to critical thinking in healthcare performance. We’ll present two models for partnership (one between the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine, in which ArtsPractica played a small part, and the other between the RISD Museum and Brown Medical School), and have lots of time for discussion.

Hollis, Michelle and I recently wrote an article for New England Museums Now previewing this panel in more depth. If you’d like a copy of it, please don’t hesitate to be in touch.