2026 GHHN Annual Conference & Awards for Excellence
What We’re Afraid Of: Challenges, Changes, and the Courage to Face Them
What We’re Afraid Of: Challenges, Changes, and the Courage to Face Them
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Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Hudson River Museum Yonkers, NY 9:00 AM - 4:45 PM GHHN Members: $75 NonMembers: $85 Student (with valid ID): $45 What We're Afraid Of: Challenges, Changes, and the Courage to Face Them Museums and cultural organizations are navigating a moment of real uncertainty and rapid change. Financial pressures, staffing shortages, deferred maintenance, shifting audiences, political headwinds, and evolving expectations of our work and the pressures to stay relevant are shaping daily decision-making across the field. What We’re Afraid Of: Challenges, Changes, and the Courage to Face Them invites museum professionals to engage these realities directly — not to dwell on fear, but to name what feels uncertain and share how we are responding. This theme creates space for honest reflection, practical problem-solving, and meaningful exchange about how our institutions and roles continue to evolve. |
Join us the beautiful Hudson River Museum, Westchester's largest cultural institution, for a full day of learning, conversation, and connection. The Annual Conference will once again feature the extremely popular "Follow the Speaker" format, designed to foster more direct engagement with presenters. During the conference, you'll have a chance to explore inspiring galleries, showcasing American art from Hudson River School masterpieces to contemporary installations, and the historic Gilded Age home Glenview. The day also includes networking, office hours with grant funders, a light breakfast, luncheon, full-day exhibit hall, Awards for Excellence ceremony, poster session, and more.
How the "Follow the Speaker" Format Works:
Our innovative "Follow the Speaker" format ensures that attendees don't have to miss any speaker! 8-minute TEDx style talks to all Conference attendees means you get to hear all the speakers and then can choose which ones you'd like to "Follow" for deeper discussion and Q&A.
The Conference is divided into blocks of speakers - each presenter will present to ALL Conference attendees. Within each block, speakers will have 8 minutes to present a TEDx style talk. At the conclusion of the block, all the speakers from that block go to a separate space where interested participants can come to sit and chat with presenters to ask their questions directly and engage in conversation for up to 30 minutes.
Join us at the 2026 GHHN Annual Conference and find out why attendees have said our Conference "has always been a favorite: nice crossover between different types of cultural heritage organizations, nice size, informative sessions, lots of camaraderie, and true warmth from the GHHN staff!"
We hope to see you there! Registration will open in June - watch for an announcement!
How the "Follow the Speaker" Format Works:
Our innovative "Follow the Speaker" format ensures that attendees don't have to miss any speaker! 8-minute TEDx style talks to all Conference attendees means you get to hear all the speakers and then can choose which ones you'd like to "Follow" for deeper discussion and Q&A.
The Conference is divided into blocks of speakers - each presenter will present to ALL Conference attendees. Within each block, speakers will have 8 minutes to present a TEDx style talk. At the conclusion of the block, all the speakers from that block go to a separate space where interested participants can come to sit and chat with presenters to ask their questions directly and engage in conversation for up to 30 minutes.
Join us at the 2026 GHHN Annual Conference and find out why attendees have said our Conference "has always been a favorite: nice crossover between different types of cultural heritage organizations, nice size, informative sessions, lots of camaraderie, and true warmth from the GHHN staff!"
We hope to see you there! Registration will open in June - watch for an announcement!
Call for Presenters!
Our 2026 Call for Presenters is now open - Deadline to submit is June 15
At a time when many organizations are being asked to do more with fewer resources and under greater scrutiny, this conference will highlight the creativity, resilience, and courage that museum professionals bring to their work every day. We welcome proposals that speak to the risks, worries, and pressures institutions are grappling with, as well as the strategies, experiments, and collaborations emerging in response. Presenters are encouraged to share case studies, lessons learned, ongoing projects, and candid reflections from across all areas of museum practice. We also encourage proposals that invite discussion rather than provide definitive answers — sessions that surface questions, test ideas, and create opportunities for shared learning among peers. Together, we will explore not only what worries us, but what is helping us move forward.
We invite proposals from museum, library, archive, and cultural heritage professionals working in organizations of all sizes and types. Whether you are experimenting with new approaches, navigating ongoing challenges, or rethinking long-standing practices, your experiences can help shape a thoughtful and supportive dialogue across the field.
What we’re looking for:
We welcome proposals that are honest, practical, and reflective of real work happening across the field. Presentations do not need to showcase polished successes — sessions that share questions, challenges, experiments, or lessons learned are equally encouraged.
We are especially interested in proposals that explore:
We encourage proposals from staff at all career stages and from organizations of all sizes - we all have valuable information to share!
Deadline to submit a presentation proposal is June 15!
Our 2026 Call for Presenters is now open - Deadline to submit is June 15
At a time when many organizations are being asked to do more with fewer resources and under greater scrutiny, this conference will highlight the creativity, resilience, and courage that museum professionals bring to their work every day. We welcome proposals that speak to the risks, worries, and pressures institutions are grappling with, as well as the strategies, experiments, and collaborations emerging in response. Presenters are encouraged to share case studies, lessons learned, ongoing projects, and candid reflections from across all areas of museum practice. We also encourage proposals that invite discussion rather than provide definitive answers — sessions that surface questions, test ideas, and create opportunities for shared learning among peers. Together, we will explore not only what worries us, but what is helping us move forward.
We invite proposals from museum, library, archive, and cultural heritage professionals working in organizations of all sizes and types. Whether you are experimenting with new approaches, navigating ongoing challenges, or rethinking long-standing practices, your experiences can help shape a thoughtful and supportive dialogue across the field.
What we’re looking for:
We welcome proposals that are honest, practical, and reflective of real work happening across the field. Presentations do not need to showcase polished successes — sessions that share questions, challenges, experiments, or lessons learned are equally encouraged.
We are especially interested in proposals that explore:
- Challenges you’re currently navigating
Examples: funding instability, staffing changes, leadership transitions, deferred maintenance, political or community pressures, shifting visitation patterns. - How your organization is responding to change
Examples: new program models, reinterpretation efforts, policy shifts, strategic pivots, revised collecting priorities, new operational approaches. - Projects or initiatives that required courage or difficult decisions
Examples: sunsetting programs, rethinking interpretation, addressing controversial histories, restructuring staffing, advocating for resources, setting new institutional priorities. - Creative or resourceful approaches to persistent problems
Examples: caring for collections with limited resources, adapting historic buildings, building partnerships, leveraging volunteers, experimenting with low-cost solutions. - Lessons learned from experiments, risks, or setbacks
Examples: pilot programs that didn’t go as planned, technology implementations, community engagement efforts, internal process changes. - Conversations the field needs to have right now
Examples: relevance and public trust, workforce sustainability, collaboration, advocacy, balancing mission with capacity. - Discussion-based topics that invite peer exchange
Examples: questions you’re wrestling with, ideas you want feedback on, approaches you’re testing, or challenges you’d like to explore with colleagues.
We encourage proposals from staff at all career stages and from organizations of all sizes - we all have valuable information to share!
Deadline to submit a presentation proposal is June 15!