Technical Assistance
Receiving Assistance
Offering Assistance
Technical Assistance Projects
Emergency Response Task Force
Collections-In-Action NEW!
The Virginia Association of Museums has always been dedicated to giving our members the best opportunities possible for professional development and growth. We are continuing that tradition with our Technical Assistance program. Every day the VAM staff receives requests for assistance from new members, volunteers trying to form a museum, and staff who are facing a challenge they are not quite prepared to handle alone. To provide ongoing support for requests such as these, our Technical Assistance programs allow individual access to the expertise in the Virginia museum community.
We hope that you agree that these programs afford VAM members a wonderful resource to call on when needed!
Receiving Assistance
Review our available technical assistance topics to see if one might match your needs at this point. If so, fill out the assistance request form and send it to VAM. We will match you with an available Advisor. All Technical Advisors agree to offer their services at no charge; in return, all those receiving assistance agree to pay all out-of-pocket expenses that the Advisor may incur—to include reimbursement for travel, copies or phone service. Remember, you must be a current VAM member to request assistance from a Technical Advisor.
Offering Assistance
If you would like to serve as a Technical Advisor, please fill out our technical assistance information form and return it to VAM. Technical Advisors should be professionals with recognized expertise in a given topic area, and be willing to share that expertise with other VAM members. As an Advisor, you would be placed on our list of available expertise. If VAM member requests assistance and your expertise seems to fit, we will facilitate the process of connecting you to each other. All Technical Advisors agree to offer their services at no charge; in return, all those receiving assistance agree to pay all out-of-pocket expenses that the Advisor may incur—to include reimbursement for travel, copies or phone service.
Technical Assistance Projects
The Technical Assistance program is designed to help with specific projects, not to serve as an ongoing mentorship program. When considering whether to apply for a Technical Advisor, make sure you meet the following criteria:
1. The project you need assistance with has specific parameters and is easily defined (Examples include creating a furnishing plan or writing an interpretive plan.)
2. The project can be completed in 6 months or less
If you are matched with a Technical Advisor, the site or person receiving assistance will be required to cover all out-of-pocket expenses incurred by your Advisor during the project.
Collections-In-Action (CIA)
The newest addition to our technical assistance programs, the Collections in Action program (CIA) matches volunteers for a one-day period to VAM-member institutions (i.e. museums, historical societies, historic houses, etc.) needing assistance with specific collections-related projects, such as numbering and cataloging objects, photographing objects, conducting inventories, or moving and re-housing collections. Volunteers are a combination of experienced professionals from similar institutions who donate their time and expertise to assist other museums with collections-related projects and newer staff members and museum studies students who want to learn more about collections care through hands-on experiences. To ensure the work meets professional standards, less experienced volunteers are paired with seasoned professionals. CIA events are a wonderful way to aid institutions who need a little bit of extra help while seeing new places and collection materials and meeting new people or catching up with those you already know!
Fill out our volunteer form if you would like to work on one of these projects. Current projects for November include The Maggie Walker National Historic Site in Richmond on November 12th and The Loudoun Museum on November 18th and 19th.
Fill out our site application form if you are interested in having the CIA at your site. (Form coming soon! We are currently completing pilot projects)