2025 Nebraska Museums Association Conference & Annual Meeting
April 6-8, 2025
Hosted by the Knight Museum in Alliance, Nebraska
Keynote Speaker: Sheila Jenkinson
For our 2025 Nebraska Museums Association Conference, we welcome Keynote Speaker Sheila Jenkinson presenting, “Looking Back While Moving Forward – How Small Towns Utilize Their History in Making Things New.”
Have you heard the stories? Have you seen it first-hand? A revitalization movement is sweeping through Nebraska and helping many small towns gain notoriety while rebuilding their communities. These stories of persistence and community pride in light of history will be highlighted through episode clips, photos, videos, and personal insights. You’ll hear from several Nebraska Museum Association members who have been featured in Growing Small Town Nebraska Podcast episodes over the past few years. Find out how small towns throughout Nebraska are looking back to propel forward and how museums play a key part in keeping Nebraskans firmly planted in their roots. Sheila is passionate about Nebraska and has a long-nurtured love of museums. Expect a hands-on call to action and time for questions and answers. Be prepared to share your own stories with the podcast host during the conference, they may be featured during this interactive talk.
Sheila is a Travel Influencer and host of the “Growing Small Town Nebraska Podcast.” With over twenty years of on-air radio experience, including roles as morning show co-host and news director, her work as a podcast host finds her traveling throughout the state and sometimes beyond, often visiting museums along the way. She and her husband Clark live in rural Stanton County where they raised their two children, now young adults, to love and appreciate what museums could bring to their lives, from the largest to the tiniest. Her family understands the importance of looking at the past in order to move forward, and she believes this is a legacy that will be passed on to future generations.
Workshop: Trailblazing Fundraising: Mapping Your Path to Success with Jamie Simek
Fundraising can feel like an uphill climb for museums with limited resources and budgets, but you can confidently navigate the journey with the right map. In this interactive workshop, you’ll explore the fundraising cycle, learn how to balance different revenue streams, and create a practical fundraising plan tailored to your organization’s needs. Along the way, we’ll break down budget essentials, uncover donor engagement strategies, and carve out time for you to start building your own plan. Whether forging a new path or refining your current route, you’ll leave with the tools (and motivation!) to blaze a successful fundraising trail. Lace up your boots and join us on this adventure!
Jamie Simek brings more than 20 years of experience in the arts and culture and higher education sectors. Currently, she leads the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art’s
marketing and development departments as Vice President for Advancement. In this role, she is responsible for fundraising, membership, donor engagement initiatives, and all external communications and marketing. Jamie has a proven track record of implementing strategies for cultivating and stewarding individual donors and creating sustainable giving programs for organizations of all sizes, making her particularly adept at addressing the challenges faced by small museums. As the author of Beyond the Bake Sale: Fundraising for Local History Organizations and an experienced presenter, she provides practical, actionable advice to help museums strengthen donor relationships, grow individual giving, and build capacity—even with limited resources. Jamie is passionate about empowering small institutions to achieve big results through focused and personalized fundraising strategies.
Workshop: Digitization on a Dime: Planning and Implementing a Digitization Program at Small Museums with Karen Keehr
The future is digital! Planning and implementing a digitization program can be daunting. This workshop will break down the process into easy steps. Archives, museums, and libraries digitize their collections for many reasons. Digital surrogates protect fragile and vulnerable originals from handling. Online access to digital images increases audiences, and new researchers discover the treasures held in your archives. Digitization is, however, a commitment. By creating a digitization program, you are committing to keeping up with technologies and digital preservation. Learn to create a plan you can take to your board, select equipment based on your inventory, develop digitization standards, manage your digital objects and options for public access. It will also provide tips and tricks for achieving the best scans possible.
Karen Keehr joined the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia in June 2022 with over 25 years of experience in the Archives field. She has specialized training in digital imaging and photograph preservation. One of her goals at AHSGR is to increase access to our unique German Russian collections through digital access and improved archival processing.
Silent Auction is Back!
Donating items to the 2025 NMA Conference Silent Auction helps promote your museum and fund the NMA Disaster Relief Grant.
What can you donate to the Silent Auction:
~A basket of goodies from your gift shop
~Your favorite Nebraska History book or cookbook
~A free pass to your museum
~Items that showcase the mission of your Museum
~SWAG!
Bring your items to the conference registration table where you will fill out a bid sheet and find out where to display your treasure for attendees to bid on during the conference. Must be present to win.
Want to participate in the bidding? Get your number at the registration table. All that’s left to do is make sure you bring cash, credit, or your checkbook. The auction opens at 9:00 am on Monday and Tuesday and closes at 3:30 pm after the last session of the day.
Questions contact [email protected].
2025 Conference Raffle
Proceeds for the Raffle will benefit the NMA Disaster Relief Grant. Tickets will be available for purchase at the conference.
Winners will be announced at the end of the Conference. Must be present to win.
Questions contact [email protected].
Conference Schedule at a Glance
Sunday, April 6, 2025
5:00pm-7:00pm Special Kickoff Event
- Registration open
- Meet your NMA Board and Area Reps
- Teambuilding Games
- Knight Museum will Grill Out with Hamburgers, Brats, and Drinks
Monday, April 7, 2025
7:30am-8:30am Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30am-11:00am
- Fundraising with Jamie Simek, Vice President for Advancement at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indiana
- Digitization and Access with Karen Keehr, Archivist at the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia in Lincoln, Nebraska.
11:00am-12:30pm Lunch on Your Own
- Knight Museum will provide boxes lunches with various wraps, Jello cups, and a dessert.
- Explore Alliances many restaurants and eateries on your own.
12:30pm-4:30pm Tours
- Carhenge
- The Sallows Military Museum
- The Carneige Art Center
- The new Nebraska State Veteran’s Cemetery
- Dobby’s Frontier Town
- Knight Museum and Sandhills Center
5:30pm-8:00pm Evening Event at Knight Museum
- Celebrate the Knight Museum’s 60th anniversary with ’60s Themed Party!
- Moo, Oink & Cluck sliders, appetizers, charcuterie, fondue and dessert will be provided
- Explore the Knight Museum Exhibits
- Special Behind-the-Scenes Tours
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
8:00am-8:30am Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30am-9:30am Concurrent Sessions
9:30am-9:45am Break
9:45am-10:45am Concurrent Sessions
10:45am-11:00am Break and Last Chance for Raffle
11:00am-12:00pm Keynote Speaker: Sheila Jenkinson
12:00pm-1:30pm Lunch Provided by Knight Museum and NMA Business Meeting
- Knight Museum providing a Brisket Nacho Bar with 14 fixins!
1:30pm-2:30pm Concurrent Sessions
2:30pm-2:45pm Break
2:45pm-3:45pm Concurrent Roundtables
3:45pm-4:00pm Silent Auction Ends – LAST CALL!
4:00pm-5:00pm Break
5:00pm-8:00pm Closing Event at Knight Museum
- Knight Museum will provide Cavatini, salad, and dessert
- Thank you!
- Announce Silent Auction Winners
Future NMA Conference Locations:
2026 – Gage County Museum in Beatrice, Nebraska
2027 –