Green up! museum workshop at OMA Conference 2010

Since today is Earth Day 2010, it seemed somehow appropriate to shamelessly plug the "Green Up!" museum workshop I will present next Monday, April 26th at the Ohio Museums Association conference.

Robert Stockham, LEED AP and Principal at the Great Lakes Design Collaborative, Sarah Stilgenbauer, Foundations and Government Relations Manager at Opera Cleveland, and I are planning an informative, but fun workshop full of first-hand examples and practical ideas for organizations dealing with the realities of going green. Workshop highlights will include an introduction to designing and implementing a green plan, a case study in going green--Opera Cleveland's Lucia di Lammermoor, and some practical first steps for museums ready to increase efforts toward reducing their environmental footprint.

Please join us at the OMA conference, or check MuseoBlogger again next week for a link to the powerpoint slides online.

In the meantime, check out Opera Cleveland's YouTube video explaining the how and why behind their decision to green up next month's production of Lucia.

Earth Day is coming...

Just a friendly reminder to all of my museum colleagues out there that Wednesday is Earth Day, so you still have one more day to plan a last-minute tribute to our Mother Earth in your organization if you haven't already. Plant seeds in recycled cups or egg cartons with kids, fly kites in your front greenspace, make "find" art collages and sculptures out of bits of recyclable materials, or commit your institution to running a greener, more earth-friendly operation.

If you are not a museum staffer, but a visitor, check out the Earth Day events happening at museums and parks in your area. What a wonderful day to take a field trip and make an impression on your children of just how much we all at stake in saving our planet.