The JIMI 2023 Experience COHORT QUESTIONS

1) What is your favorite JIMI memory?

2) What is the most important thing you learned?

Key Fletcher , Director, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center

1. In the constant give and take, with mutual respect and understanding of our differences and values, magic happened. We discovered that the sum of us all together was greater than the outside forces telling us what our museums should be.

2. My experience at JIMI reminded me to keep challenging what I know to be true against new information and calibrating when needed.

Will Story , Museum Manager, Jekyll Island Authority

1. The really very nice dinner at the Jekyll Island Club. It was a lovely and a great way to end an incredible program.

2. That I have a professional network to reach out to. The cohort, you and Zinnia, Robin, all of the instructors… the getting to know everyone.. developing relationships… that to me was the most valuable part of it all. Not to say that the instruction wasn’t valuable too… it certainly was.

Chris Cook , Education Curator, Louisiana State Museum

1. The discussions: Webinars and conferences are great sources of information, but it is often difficult to process what you have learned with your peers in the audience as everyone is hurrying back to work or the next session.

At JIMI we had the time, space, support, and safety to really dig into topics and trade notes on not just how things were going at our own organizations, but what we hoped might change in our field in the future. Everyone was interested in what each other had to say, to a teacher and to a student. Being able to digest lessons and try to reconcile difficulties in a timely manner with such an interested and interesting cohort made me so much more excited about my museum career… I am proud to have been part of such a great cohort!

2. I don’t think I can isolate a single lesson I took home, except that I came back feeling empowered. In my first week back I started trying to find ways to be a bridge between different departments so that we could all work together on some common issues. I also recently became project manager for a major grant application to fund an exhibit change, and will be using lessons from the interpretation, education, design, and communication sessions to help bring together a vision for that space.

Olivia Helmer , Director of Development and Community Relations, Alexandria Museum of Art

1. I can’t pick just one! Fitting nine of us in a large Adirondack chair outside the Jekyll Island club? Intense lunchtime discussions about which US President was hottest? Korean food and finding out Every Friday is Potato Day? Shark tooth hunting at the beach; stargazing at night?

2. I learned that the next generation of museum leaders