Register Now | Making the Best of Your Work Life

Thursday, February 24 and Thursday, March 3 e-course to cover topics including self-advocacy and self care.

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and Association of Art Museum Curators Foundation will collaborate to offer “Making the Best of Your Work Life,” a four-part e-course in February and March to support art professionals nationally and internationally. The course began with a moderated conversation and will be followed by three learning and listening sessions. We are accepting registrations for Thursday, March 3 sessions through 11:59 PM EST on Wednesday, March 2.

The moderated conversation (90-minutes) centered on navigating the pitfalls of the workplace environment, seeking pathways forward towards self-advocacy and self-care, including in relation to workplace schedules, pressures, barriers, bias, and demands.

The upcoming three individual sessions (75-minutes each) will offer opportunities to delve deeper into leadership, self-preservation and restoration, and conflict resolution. 

Register: There is a program fee of $5 per event. The package discount for the three upcoming individual sessions is $10 ($5 discount). Please click here for full details, including how to register.

Thursday, February 24
Moderated Conversation: Making the Best of Your Work Life

Guest Speakers: Caryl McFarlane, Independent Higher Education Diversity Programs and Strategy Consultant, The Alliance of HBCU Museums and Galleries; Senior Fellow, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Russel Davis, Chief of Human Resources, Equity & Engagement (CHREE), UCLA Hammer Museum

Moderator: Seema Rao, Deputy Director and Chief Experience Officer, Akron Art Museum

When: Thursday, February 24, 2022, 10 AM – 11:30 AM EST
Where: Zoom Webinar 
Registrants will receive the zoom link 1 hour before the session starts.
Program Fee: $5

Thursday, March 3
Individual Sessions: Leading/Working Independently, Conflict Resolution, and Regenerate Yourself and Your Community

All individual sessions will be held on zoom conferencing and the capacity for each session is limited to 30 participants. Registrants will receive the zoom link one hour before each session.

Leading/Working Independently: 10:00 AM – 11:15 AM EST

Description: Shifting the ‘independent’ curator to more of an ‘interdependent’ role allows us to reflect on how to aspire, manage, manifest, balance and guide your position as a self-starter working and leading among peers within the field of contemporary art curating.

Regine will reflect on her own trajectory since 1998 and highlight valuable experiences and project case studies that allowed her to grow and learn as an independent curator.  Successes and failures are equally important. This topic could support any arts administrator working independently.

Aspects she will focus on include:

-Building relationships
-Getting to know your boundaries and sticking to them
-Creating a system but also go with the flow

Participation and story-telling within the group will be encouraged.

Presenter: Regine Basha, Independent Curator, Writer, and Consultant
Program Fee: $5

Conflict Resolution: Thursday, March 3, 2022, 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM EST

Description: During our session, we are going to discuss using intuitive listening to approach conflict resolution. The sub-context is listening for what is not being said and understanding the values being challenged when we are in conflict. Being aware of what values are being challenged provides the opportunity to identify what triggers are being activated in real-time and choose to respond to conflict rather than react.

Presenter: Lisa Cambridge-Mitchell, Personal Development Coach & Leadership Consultant
Program Fee: $5

Regenerate Yourself and Your Community: Thursday, March 3, 2022, 3 PM – 4:15 PM EST

Description: Are you tired of being tired? Wishing for more balance between your work and personal life, yet also super aware that community needs are profound and stopping to take care of yourself just feels – well, self-indulgent? 

In this session, you’ll have a chance to rethink the paradigm around burn-out by assessing your inner resources, energy, and well-being with an eye toward whether or not you’re working in a way that is extractive or regenerative. This approach is inspired by Movement Generation’s Just Transition framework, which considers the ways that our economy is built on and perpetuates extraction, versus how we can build an economy that is regenerative and supports the well-being of all life. 

After reviewing the Extractive vs. Regenerative Economies framework, you’ll work in small groups to reflect on the cultures of your organization, field, and community, illuminate harmful dynamics, amplify life-affirming dynamics, and share regenerative practices that support your wholeness.

Come prepared to enjoy lively conversation, do a little journaling, and leave with ideas for ways you can support your sense of liveliness, energy and well-being.

Presenters: Dewey Schott, Coach, Dewey Schott Coaching & Sande Smith, Coach and Communicator, ReLuminate Coaching and Consulting
Program Fee: $5