355 MANY – Anne Ackerson
Nomination Title:
Anne Ackerson
Nomination Category:
Innovation in Leadership Award
Project Manager/Contact Person:
Anne Ackerson
Title/Affiliation:
Director
Organization:
Museum Association of New York
Address:
265 River Street Troy, NY 12180
Phone:
(518) 273-3400
Email:
anne@awackerson.com
Project or Achievement:
We’re pleased to nominate Anne Ackerson for an Innovation in Leadership Award.
As director (only part-time!) of the Museum Association of New York (MANY) for 15
years, Anne has skillfully and passionately represented New York’s museums to the
public and at the same time, represented the public’s interest to museums. She has
encouraged all museums to raise the bar on their work in terms of standards and in
terms of broader thinking about the meaningful contributions we make to society.
Using limited resources paired with a creative mindset, she has led the Museum
Association’s growth to an organization that is widely considered a leader among
museum service organizations.
She has coordinated, co-written or edited numerous white papers and other vital
resources including:
• The Challenge of “Value” – Engaging Communities in Why Museums Exist
• What Comes First
• Your Guide to Building a Strong, Sustainable Museum or Historical Organization
(With Real Life Advice from Folks Who’ve Done It)
• Making the Meter Move: Developing an Institutional Philosophy about Corporate
Giving
• The Importance of Mission in Guiding Museum Practice
• Best Fit/Best Work: Finding and Retaining Excellent Employees and Volunteers
Under her leadership, MANY has created regular reports on the state of New York’s
museums, including coordinating the annual salary survey, used nationally by the
field to establish benchmarks in this important arena and analyzing statistical data
collected by the New York State Education Department.
She has engaged with an enormous range of museums in the state, from answering a
basic question for a small historical society to working with staff from some of the
nation’s largest museum—and every interaction is filled with the same grace, good
humor and wisdom.
One of Anne’s most-enduring contributions to the field will be her effort to fully
place museums and historical agencies on state government agendas and to pursue
legislation and rules that strengthen and enhance our work. Anne worked tirelessly
to strengthen the Regents Rules for Chartered Museums and Historical Societies.
Abandoned property had been a concern of the state’s museums for decades and
through efforts led by Anne, new abandoned property legislation was passed and
signed by the governor. An annual advocacy agenda and lobbying efforts ensure that
New York’s legislators understand the issues that affect the museum community;
and she continues to remind us that advocacy is a responsibility we all share.
Anne seeks out collaborators and has an amazing track record of working with
others. She departs the Museum Association as two important collaborations take
root: the first, the consolidation with Museumwise; and the second, an Institute of
Museum and Library Services project with the New York Library Association,
bringing libraries and museums together to consider how best to create learning
opportunities for the state’s youngest citizens.
That concern for the future is reflected in much of Anne’s work. She has focused
attention on issues pertaining to new generations of museum leaders including
topics such as succession planning and diversity. Currently, with longtime colleague
Joan Baldwin, she is writing a book on history museum leadership forthcoming from
AltaMira Press.
In short, Anne wants museums—all museums and their staff members, board
members and volunteers—to be better at what we do. Throughout her entire tenure
at the Museum Association, she worked to ensure that we had the tools, the
resources, the inspiration and the passion to do so.
Short Project or Achievement:
Anne Ackerson's innovative leadership at the Museum Association of New York has
meant that museums have a greater voice in state government; that our standards
are clearer, and individually and collectively, museums, staff, volunteers and boards
aspire to greater community impacts.
Nominator Information
Define Relationship between themselves and Nominee:
Colleagues
Name:
Linda Norris, Marianne Bez, Gwen Spicer and Christopher Clarke
Title/Affiliation:
Independent Professionals
Address:
4675 County Route 14, Treadwell, NY 13846
Phone:
607-829-3501
Email:
linda@lindabnorris.com
Organization Information
Nominated institution’s Mission Statement:
The Museum Association of New York provides an information, advocacy and
professional standards network that serves and strengthens New York State’s
diverse museum community and enables its museums to fulfill their missions.
Brief description of Organization:
Chartered by the New York State Education Department in 1962, the Museum
Association of New York (MANY) is a nationally recognized state museum
association committed to strengthening the organizational development of the
state’s diverse museum and heritage organization communities. As a member-based
information and advocacy resource, MANY engages in a variety of programs and
services addressing legislative and policy issues, analyzing and collecting trend data,
and building information networks. Recent programmatic efforts are focusing on
future leadership issues in the field resulting in the publication of a white paper,
discussion guides, and outreach to graduate programs, graduate students and young
professionals.
Annual Budget:
Unknown to me.
Number of Paid Staff (full time/part time):
.5 FTE
Website:
www.manyonline.org
Number of Volunteers/Unpaid Staff:
N/A