Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 19, 1993 TAG: 9309220309
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
From Aug. 26 through Aug. 28, the city of Roanoke and the Harrison Museum of African American Culture will host the 15th annual conference of the African American Museums Association. Loritts is the conference coordinator.
Seated at the museum among fragments of displays still waiting to be arranged, Loritts and Harrison director Melody Stovall indeed seem as excited as two expectant parents awaiting the birth of a project conceived five years ago.
"We first got involved in this around 1988 when Earl Reynolds, who was still Roanoke's assistant city manager then, was a guest speaker at the association's conference in Boston. He suggested that we should host the conference in Roanoke, and we bid on it for 1993," Stovall explains.
Once the bid was accepted, it was apparent that putting the project together would take more time and energy than Stovall could spare, so Loritts was called in last year. The women agree it is a coup for the museum to host this national conference which, according to the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, is expected to generate approximately $62,000 in revenue for the city over its three-day run.
"I also think it is enlightening for African Americans and others to know that such an ongoing organization exists. It fits into the Harrison's mission statement of preserving the achievements of blacks in Southwest Virginia, but also all over. So it's important for the community to know there is work being done in this area," Loritts adds.
The African American Museums Association, founded in 1978, has about 450 members, to whom it provides technical assistance, professional training workshops, surveys, evaluations and consultant and referral services, as well as several publications and a member directory. Stovall says it fills a special niche because mainstream museums usually don't deal with new and emerging artists, whereas ethnic or smaller museums' needs are different because they often work with unestablished names.
"The African-American museum movement is relatively new," Stovall says. "Probably the oldest is at Hampton University, and that one is about 130 years old. Most of the other museums are less than 30 years old. The Harrison will be 8 in October."
The conference will be a gathering of approximately 150-200 museum professionals from across the country who either work in black-oriented museums or who are blacks working in mainstream museums. But the women say they think the information presented also would help university and college researchers, historians, writers, educators and lay people who are interested in the arts or historic preservation. Registration is open to the public.
"It's a lot of networking and a source of ongoing education," Loritts says.
The conference at the Roanoke Airport Marriott Hotel from Aug. 26-28 will focus on the theme, "How Are We Doing? African Americans and Historic Preservation." A variety of subjects, presented by speakers whom Loritts and Stovall say are tops in their field, will be covered. Stovall and representatives from Virginia's other three black museums - Hampton University Museum, the Alexandria Black Resource Center and the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia Inc. (in Richmond) - will present a preconference workshop on "How to start an African-American Museum." Other sessions will include oral history as a form of historic preservation; how to market special celebrations; strategies for the future; and starting a museum gift shop.
The latter session will be of particular interest to Stovall, who says she recently hired Ronald Hooper to establish a gift shop at the Harrison. She says he literally will start from the ground up, from designing the space to getting merchandise and arranging for publicity and signage. The museum plans to open the shop the first weekend in December. Stovall says she also recently hired Aletha Cherry as curator to replace Melissa Prunty, who left in July to pursue her doctorate at Kent State University in Canton, Ohio.
"Even in small museums like ours, there are career opportunities," Stovall says. "There's the curator, director, secretarial and clerical positions. In the larger organizations, there are registrars, exhibit-design people, researchers, especially for history exhibits. Security is big for larger museums that have huge, valuable collections that need 24-hour guards and maintenance."
Loritts adds that there are openings for special-events planners, volunteer coordinators, gift-shop managers and staff, tour guides and weekends-only staff. In September the Harrison will begin opening Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m.
Conference participation is $85 per day for association nonmembers and includes lunch, sessions and activities. Registration begins at 9 a.m. daily at the Marriott. For additional information or schedules, call 345-4818 or 343-0520.
Between workshops and business, conferees will attend an opening-night reception at the Harrison, featuring jazz, a Ghanaian drummer and exhibits by artists Robert Graham, Vernie Bolden Jr. and Monica Jones. There also will be trips to downtown Roanoke, Center in the Square and Studios on the Square; trips to and presentations at the Booker T. Washington Monument; a presentation by the Henry Street Players; and a pool party at the Marriott. While attendance at these events will be limited to conference attendees, Stovall encourages everyone to visit the vendors' Marketplace, which will operate in the Marriott's Shenandoah Room during all three days of the conference.
"We'll be presenting some very diverse offerings, including porcelain dolls, handcrafted quilts; African-American stationery and post cards, jewelry and costumes from approximately 16 established vendors from Pittsburgh; New York; Washington, D.C.; North Carolina; Ohio and Richmond," Loritts says.
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