About FAMDA

Mission Statement

FAMDA was organized to promote the development of a scholarly and creative role for Florida visual arts museums and their directors in the cultural life of the State of Florida and to apply its members' knowledge and experience in the field of art to the promotion of the public good; to encourage communication among visual arts museums and their directors; and to promulgate both a Code of Ethics as to the profession of visual arts museum directors and Standards as to the conduct by art museums of their affairs.

Summary

Regular activities of FAMDA and its member institutions include ongoing exhibition and collections exchanges, co-sponsorships of museum and museum-related professional development activities throughout the state, and service to the Florida Arts Council and DCA through representation on task forces and grant application review panels. There are 51 art museums and art centers that are members of FAMDA. Accreditation by the American Association of Museums is stressed as a goal and half of FAMDA’s members have achieved this distinguished professional status.

Chronology

• Florida’s art museum directors begin to meet informally to exchange information and ideas.

• As FAMDA, an informal network, art museum directors work to establish the Florida Arts Council (FAC) which leads to the creation of the Division of Cultural Affairs (DCA).

• Helps to establish ARTS DAY under the sponsorship of the Secretary of State and DCA.

• Incorporated on April 21st.

• FAMDA creates a Lifetime Achievement Award and helps to establish the Florida Cultural Endowment Program, a state funding program.

• Hires its first coordinator.

• Hires Ruth Meyers as its second and current coordinator.
• Assumes sponsorship of the Museum of Arts and Sciences’ Annual Conference on Current Topics in Museum Education.

• Organizes a 4-part workshop series on conservation, funded by the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and NEA.
• Sponsors the 6th Annual Conference on Current Topics in Museum Education on "The Visitor-Centered Museum."

• FAMDA, with the Florida Association of Museums, leads a grassroots effort to strengthen state museum associations. IMLS funds the first ever national conference of state museum associations in Miami, attended by 56 representatives from 45 associations.
• Sponsors the 7th Annual Conference on Current Topics in Museum Education at MOAS on "The Growing Museum."

• Opens the 1996/97 Florida Visual Arts Fellowship Exhibition, guest curated by Frank Holt, Public Art Coordinator, City of Orlando.
• FAMDA and FAM/F receive IMLS funding to organize the 2nd National Conference of State Museum Associations, held in Denver. FAMDA coordinator is elected to serve on the national steering committee for NCSMA. A corollary project of the Western Museums Association, also IMLS funded, develops a web site and a list serve (through the University of New Mexico with the New Mexico Museums Association), and purchases computers for state associations without the capability to utilize this communications network.
• Sponsors the 8th Annual Conference on Current Topics in Museum Education at MOAS on “Visual Learning through Museums," with noted Harvard educator Abigail Hausen.
• Sponsors the FAM/F Annual Meeting keynote by Jack Nokes, executive director of the Texas Association of Museums and chairman of the NCSMA, and 9 hours of program sessions organized by Arts for a Complete Education/Florida Alliance for Arts Education.

• FAMDA president, Christina Orr-Cahall, and immediate past president, Gary Libby, serve on the Florida Arts Council’s Strategic Planning Task Force.
• Opens the 1997/98 Florida Visual Arts Fellowship Exhibition, guest curated by Karen Valdes, director of the Arts Center Galleries, Okaloosa-Walton Community College.
FAMDA members loan works to the Museum of Art/Tallahassee for its inaugural exhibition, State of the Arts.

• Assists VISIT FLORIDA with the development of a driving tour brochure for art museums.
• Successfully applies on behalf of NCSMA to IMLS to create the first centralized online database of museum and museum association information.
• Sponsors 9th Annual Conference on Current Topics in Museum Education at MOAS on “Art Centered Learning,” and its relation to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

• FAMDA opens the 1998/99 Florida Visual Arts Fellowship Exhibition, guest curated by Ken Rollins, director of the Gulf Coast Art Museum.