M10 Summit 2026
Joy! Reimagining Work, Connection and Care
Joy! Reimagining Work, Connection, and Care.
Come celebrate the creative community of Museums10 and connect with fellow museum professionals at the M10 Summit 2026!
Enjoy breakout groups, lunch and an art-making activity.
Joy As Infrastructure, keynote by Andrea “Philly” Walls, Multidisciplinary Artist, Creator & Curator, Museum of Black Joy, and Quilting the Commons: A Collective Practice, Workshop.
Monday, June 1, 2026, 11am - 4pm, Willits-Hallowell Conference Center, Mount Holyoke College.
M10 Summit Schedule
11:00 am Welcome & M10 Year in Review
Siddhartha Shah, John Wieland 1958 Director of the Mead Art Museum; Tricia Y. Paik, Florence Finch Abbott Director of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum; Terre Parker, Associate Project Director, M10 Workforce Development, Five Colleges, Incorporated.
11:25 - 12:10 pm Keynote: Joy As Infrastructure, Andrea “Philly” Walls
A reframing of joy not as a retreat from life and work, but as a practice that makes life and work sustainable, bringing a sense of wonder to the process. Through storytelling, visual examples, and participatory reflection, the session connects a joyful framework to the shared challenges and possibilities facing cultural workers and institutions.
12:10 - 1:00 pm Lunch
1 - 2 pm Workshop: Quilting the Commons: A Collective Practice, Andrea “Philly” Walls
This hands-on paper quiltmaking workshop invites participants to engage with pre-curated images drawn from Museums10 member collections. In a collaborative effort, we will transform institutional materials into a shared act of art and meaning-making. Using printed images, textures, and paper collage techniques, we will create a patchwork quilt that reflects joy, resilience, collective work and responsibility within sustainable futures. Rooted in the legacy of traditional quiltmaking as both art form and communal language, this workshop emphasizes process over perfection and participation over product.
2 - 2:15 pm Break
2:15 - 3:45 pm Breakout Discussions
Finances, Marketing, Visitor Experience, Curation, Collections, Development, Education, and more!
3:45 - 4:00 pm Closing
4:00-5:30 pm Post-Summit Gathering
Breakout Discussion Groups
How do we market a feeling? Together, let’s consider the ever-evolving process of translating the joy of connection found in our physical spaces through digital mediums. We’ll discuss creating content that pauses the “doom scroll” on social media, how we measure successful campaigns and marketing materials, and ways to consciously cultivate an online community.
Facilitated by Maia Kinney-Petrucha, Social Media Specialist, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.
How do we engage our communities in curating exhibitions? How much or little do our visitors have a say in what we choose to display? How does the pressure of the current political and funding climate impact our vision for our museums and how we engage with our communities? In this open discussion we will share our approaches and consider these issues together.
Facilitated by Amanda Herman, Associate Director, University Museum of Contemporary Art
Connect with museum finance colleagues for mutual support and identify possible collaboration and professional development opportunities.
Co-facilitated by Jess Henry-Cross, Financial and Systems Manager, Smith College Museum of Art & Victoria Nardone, Financial & Administrative Assistant, Mead Art Museum.
What kind of experiences do visitors/modern museum goers hope to have? How much choice are they looking for? Where do they want flexibility? This breakout session will be an opportunity to hear each other’s viewpoints and look at these essential questions in the context of each M10 museum.
Co-Facilitated by Brooke Steinhauser, Senior Director of Programs, Emily Dickinson Museum & Maura Brennan, Office and Visitor Experience Coordinator, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum.
How are we bringing joy into our work? What does it look and feel like? Join colleagues to build accountability with follow up actions.
Facilitated by Siddhartha Shah, John Wieland 1958 Director, Mead Art Museum
Andrea “Philly” Walls
"I imagine & ritualize an opulent Black future rooted in joy". Multidisciplinary artist Andrea “Philly” Walls is the curator and creator of the Museum of Black Joy. Her writing, scholarship, and visual art have been supported by The Colored Girls Museum, The Studio Museum of Harlem, Mural Arts Philadelphia, Drexel Writers Room, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others.
For questions, please contact fc-museums10@fivecolleges.edu.