NEMA | Annual Conference Evening Events

Conference Evening Events

Wednesday Evening Events

5:15 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.
Exhibit Hall Reception
Don't miss this opportunity to visit the exhibit booths and learn about wonderful museum products and services. Enjoy delicious hors d'oeuvres and meet with friends old and new!
Hosted by Harvard University Extension School/ Master of Liberal Arts in Museum Studies

Tour the Newly Renovated Bowdoin College Museum of Art
6:15 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Sponsored by SmallCorp
Celebrate the arts at Bowdoin College. A social half-hour will provide time to unwind before dinner is served in Daggett Lounge on campus, catered by the award-winning Bowdoin College dining service. After dinner, stroll across the Quad and explore the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, just reopened following a 2-year renovation and expansion. Machado and Silvetti Associates of Boston, architects, creatively combined preservationist techniques with new architecture to respectfully enhance the original building, while preserving the landmark structure designed by McKim, Mead and White. The collections range from the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world to artwork created in the first years of the 21st Century. Guided tours will be available.
Pre-registration is required. Registration fee of $42 includes dinner with complimentary wine and transportation.

Directors & Trustees Dinner
6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Sponsored by Museum Search & Reference
Enjoy a delicious dinner and complimentary wine with friends at the Maine Historical Society in downtown Portland. Celebrate the 200th birthday of America’s most beloved poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, by visiting our current exhibit, Drawing Together: The Arts of the Longfellows and the Wadsworth-Longfellow House, the poet’s boyhood home. Founded in 1822, Maine Historical Society is the third oldest historical society in the country and, in addition to the Museum and House, includes a one hundred year-old Research Library that is currently being restored and expanded, and the Maine Memory Network (www.mainememory.net), a digital museum with materials from throughout the state.
Pre-registration is required. Registration fee of $45 includes dinner with complimentary wine. A five minute walk from the hotel; directions will be provided.

Join us for a Traditional Maine Lobster Bake!
6:45 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Discover the power of play at the Children’s Museum of Maine, recently voted 14th in the nation by Child Magazine. Experience the museum’s interactive exhibits and explore “Tree Houses: Look Who’s Living in the Trees,” created by the New England Environmental Exhibit Collaborative. Travel over a wobbly bridge to create an animal sound symphony on the tree house dance floor and discover the treats that forests provide while exploring the drawers of a tree house kitchen. Then dig into your own lobster feast: 1 ¼ lb. lobster, 1 lb. of steamers, drawn butter, corn on the cob and potato. For the land-lovers there’s BBQ Chicken with baked beans and corn on the cob OR Grilled Vegetarian Kabob and potato (all entrees come with salad, bread and dessert).
Pre-registration is required. Registration fee: Lobster $45; Chicken $28; Vegetarian $18, includes two complimentary drink tickets (beer and wine). A five minute walk from the hotel; directions will be provided.

Thursday Evening Events

Newcomers Reception
4:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Meet NEMA staff, board members, and your local hosts over refreshments in a casual reception designed just for you. This is your chance to become acquainted with NEMA and to hear the inside story of this year’s conference. Whether you’re new to the profession, the region, or just new to NEMA, please plan to join us. We’ll be expecting you!
Hosted by Tufts University Museum Studies Program

Historical Mill Renaissance Tour
6:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Explore the rich history and cultural renaissance of Lewiston-Auburn! The night starts at the Bates Mill Complex in its acclaimed Museum of Labor and Industry with hors d’oeuvres, a glass of wine and Franco-American entertainment. View the immense collection of New England’s one-time textile giant in one of the remaining original mill buildings. Experience the Museum’s new exhibit, “Portraits and Voices: Workers of Seven Mills.” Enjoy dinner at Davinci’s brick-oven Italian restaurant in a restored mill storehouse. Cross the street to Maine Heritage Weavers to witness former Bates employees continuing to craft the heirloom bedspreads that shaped the cities’ history.
Pre-registration is required. Registration fee of $36 includes dinner, complimentary wine and transportation.

Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. and Museum
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Ride along sparkling Casco Bay on the Portland waterfront at twilight in vintage 19th century Maine two-foot narrow gauge coaches. Learn how this two-foot gauge railroad was the economic development engine for interior Maine! Walk through historic coaches in the museum and take a peek at the history of the Portland Co., founded in 1846 to build the Grand Trunk railroad. This railroad was the first major US trade connection with Canada, still this country’s biggest trading partner. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres and drinks in the museum, and learn the rest of the story. A cash bar will be available. Consider exploring the exciting restaurants of nearby Old Port on your own following this event.
Pre-registration is required. Registration fee of $25 includes a train ride, reception refreshments, and transporation to and from the museum at the conclusion of the reception.

An Evening at the Portland Museum of Art
6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Join us for an evening of delicious hors d’oeuvres, friendly conversation, and three centuries of exquisite art and architecture. Experience the rich artistic heritage of Maine and the United States through the work of world-class artists including Winslow Homer, Marsden Hartley, Rockwell Kent, Louise Nevelson, and Andrew Wyeth. Learn about the story of American art before 1900, from Gilbert Stuart to Frederic Edwin Church, in the Federal-era McLellan House (1801) and Beaux-Arts L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Galleries (1911). See Maine’s finest collection of European art by masters such as Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Pablo Picasso. A cash bar will be available. Consider exploring the exciting restaurants of nearby Old Port following this event.
Pre-registration is required. Registration fee of $20 includes reception refreshments. A five minute walk from the hotel; directions will be provided.