The University of New Mexico

06/17/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/17/2025 13:33

UNM Art Museum to host 2025 AAMG Conference

AAMG Banner hung at the UNM Center for the Arts

The University of New Mexico Art Museum (UNMAM) will host the 2025 Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG) Conference, welcoming museum professionals and students from across the country to Albuquerque for several days dedicated to best practices in academic museum leadership and inclusivity.

The conference will be held from June 24-27 at UNM's Main Campus. The first three days will feature informative workshops and panel discussions led by local and national experts. The final day will feature professional development excursions to museums, exhibits and galleries in Santa Fe.

An opening reception will be held in the lobby of UNM's Center for the Arts, followed by a keynote speaker and a dance performance in Popejoy Hall.

Former Secretary of the Interior and New Mexico Gubernatorial Candidate Deb Haaland will deliver the keynote address. She will welcome attendees and discuss the importance of museums to society and how they elevate knowledge and creativity.

This year's planning committee, led by AAMG Board Member and UNMAM Director Arif Khan and UNMAM's Associate Director of Operations, Devin E. Geraci, is setting new standards and raising the bar for future conferences.

AAMG 2019 opening reception

With over 400 attendees, it is the largest-attended conference in AAMG history. Furthermore, the organizers are incorporating new elements into the educational offerings and establishing new benchmarks, from partnerships to student involvement.

Geraci has hired two new students to help plan and execute the conference. This is the first time students have helped in this capacity.

Several UNMAM staff and students were selected by conference planners to present and to lead workshops. The team has created partnerships with world-renowned New Mexican museums and companies to showcase what makes Albuquerque and New Mexico unique.

"Hosting the AAMG conference at UNM for the first time in New Mexico and the Southwest is an exciting opportunity to showcase UNM's and New Mexico's world-class museums and collections, the distinctive character of Albuquerque and the impact that academic museums have locally and throughout the country." -- Arif Khan

This year's theme is Belonging: Storytelling Across Campus and Community, which reflects a strong commitment to exploring how museums and galleries in academic settings can promote inclusion and shared understanding through storytelling. Each workshop and experience centers around the theme.

Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company Performance

Following Haaland's opening address, the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company (DTSBDC) will debut a world premiere dance, Sudden Snow. UNMAM commissioned the dance piece to be inspired by an exhibition on Helen Frankenthaler that ran this spring at UNMAM and which will be open to conference attendees. Classical music pieces that Frankenthaler listened to while in her studio will be performed by live musicians to accompany the dance.

Tai Soon Burgess, an alum of UNM's theatre & dance department, is a nationally recognized choreographer who served as the Smithsonian Institution's first choreographer-in-residence from 2016-2023. He is known for bringing dance into museums and for drawing inspiration from artists and their works to create his dance pieces.

The UNMAM staff and students who will present are:

  • Karalynn Christian, recent UNM graduate and UNMAM intern, will present on The Art of Alt Text: How to Improve Museum Accessibility through Image Descriptions, guiding attendees to learn how to write and implement image descriptions and explaining why they are critical to a museum's success.
  • Angel Jiang, UNMAM's Curator of Collections and Study Room Initiatives, will lead a panel discussion on Teaching in the Study Room, with Susanne Anderson-Riedel, an associate professor of art history at UNM and Emily Monty, an assistant professor of art history at the University of Kansas.
  • Joseph McKee, UNMAM's Student Engagement & Technology Coordinator, will lead a workshop, How To: Student Empowerment and Collection Accessibility, with UNMAM student assistants Hannah Cerne, Bre Kappel and UNM student Christina Cook. Participants will learn about the UNMAM Student Advisory Council (SAC).
  • Mary Statzer, UNMAM's Curator of Prints and Photographs, will facilitate an Academic Museums and the Frankenthaler Prints Initiative roundtable discussion.

UNM Maxwell Museum of Anthropology was also selected to present at this year's conference. The staff presentations from Maxwell are:

  • Carla Sinopoli, Julián Carrillo, Cassie Velarde Neher, Anna Part, Ash Boydston-Schmidt, Lea McChesney, Kari Schleher and Ashley Burch from UNM Maxwell Museum of Anthropology will present on Reconciling Injustices, Restoring Voices and Realizing Community: Implementing the 3 R's at UNM's Maxwell Museum of Anthropology.
  • Ash Boydston-Schmidt, Maxwell's NAGPRA coordinator, will lead a discussion on NAGPRA 101: The Law in Context.

"We are excited to celebrate UNM students, staff and alumni in presentations, exhibitions and our keynote evening with our colleagues from around the country," said Khan.

UNM graduate student art design for 2025 AAMG

During the planning process, UNMAM has partnered with notable local organizations, such as Ideum and the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA).

Ideum is located in Corrales and is a creative firm that partners with museums, zoos, aquariums, cultural centers and educational institutions to create and design interactive exhibits and immersive visitor experiences.

During the professional development excursions, conference participants will have the opportunity to visit the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. IAIA's Museum of Contemporary Native Arts is the only museum in the country dedicated to exhibiting, collecting, and interpreting the most progressive works by contemporary Native artists.

To learn more about this year's historic event, visit the AAMG registration webpage.

Visit UNMAM's website to discover more about the conference, exhibits and artists.

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