New Mexico Association of Museums

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About NMAM

The New Mexico Association of Museums is a volunteer-run professional interest group for those working in museums and museum-related fields.

In recent years, NMAM has:

  • Informed New Mexico legislators about concerns, programs, and other endeavors of museums within the state;
  • Issued and updated NM Cultural Institutions Directory of Museums;
  • Developed strong ties with statewide groups like the Tourism Association of New  Mexico (TANM);
  • Held informative and entertaining annual meetings in Ruidoso, Santa Fe, Silver City, Los Alamos, Roswell, Farmington, Taos and Albuquerque;
  • Provided scholarships to attend the Annual Meeting to beginning Museum professionals and students;
  • Presented the Edgar L. Hewett Award for Excellence to individuals who have demonstrated significant contributions to museums in New Mexico and the Institutional Award to museums who have made outstanding contributions to New Mexico;
  • Held regional workshops on conservation techniques;
  • Made available the Conservation Test Kit to museums in New Mexico;
  • Joined the American Association for State and Local History led coalition to support an initiative to lobby for federal formula funding for museums.  This is an important new initiative to create a funding structure similar to that of our libraries statewide, where federal funds are distributed to each state based on population and other criteria and the state decides how they want to distribute the funds statewide.  This could contribute significantly to our small museums statewide.