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TAM is a nonprofit, professional membership organization. In 2008, services to members included professional education, publications, information on museum issues, and networking opportunities. TAM serves as a liaison with regional and national museum associations and works to keep Texas museum professionals informed of museum-related events, trends, educational programs, legislation, and funding opportunities.

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Home > About TAM > Year-End Review

TAM 2008 YEAR-END REVIEW

Mission Statement: The Texas Association of Museums is dedicated to fostering educational, cultural, and recreational opportunities for all Texans. It accomplishes this through service to its members, by providing a communications network, sponsoring educational programs, and encouraging adherence to professional standards and practices.

TAM Council
TAM Council serves as the Board of Trustees for the association and holds responsibility for the management and governance of TAM. Council is composed of 14 duly elected TAM members in good standing: five officers, eight members-at-large, and the immediate past president. In addition to the elected voting members, Council includes the presidents of TAM regional associations and chairs of TAM affinity groups as non-voting members. There are four ex-officio non-voting members: representatives of Humanities Texas, Texas Commission on the Arts, Texas Historical Commission, and TAM executive director.

As required by the TAM bylaws, the TAM Council conducted four Council meetings during 2008 on February 8 in Galveston at the San Luis Hotel; September 5 in Austin at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum; and two sessions on December 5 in Fort Worth at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. All meetings were open to TAM membership. Council held the annual business meeting as part of the annual meeting in March 2008.

In addition, the Council staged a planning retreat in June 2008 in Midland, hosted by The Petroleum Museum. This event included a two-day strategic thinking session, small-group planning, an asset-mapping review, and visits to two local museums. Three TAM staff members (100%) and 12 Council members took part.

Executive Search and Transition
A top priority for Council in 2008 was to select a new executive director to lead TAM. A search committee appointed by Council spent six months in a thorough process to define leadership expectations, to shape the job description, to invite applications, and to conduct interviews with final candidates. In late February 2008, Council President Kelli Pickard announced to the TAM membership that Ruth Ann Rugg had been hired. An active member of the Texas museum community since 1980, Rugg is an experienced leader with strengths in communications and administration. She assumed the duties of executive director of TAM in April, 2008.

Committees
The work of TAM is directed in large part by the Council committees.

Standing Committees include: Executive, Nominating, Membership, Development, Annual Meeting (commonly called Program Committee), and Long Range Planning.

Special or Ad Hoc Committees include: Local Arrangements, Communications, Budget and Finance, and Endowment.

Program Committee
TAM assembled a group of 17 members in good standing to serve as the program committee. Charged with planning the 2009 annual meeting content, this committee met three times and contributed 39 sessions. Meetings took place on May 16 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin; on June 27 at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens; and on August 1 at the Mayborn Museum Complex in Waco.

Local Arrangements Committee
Under the leadership of Michael A. Tomor, Ph.D., Executive Director of the El Paso Museum of Art, the local arrangements committee planned events for the 2009 annual meeting. The committee, representing 28 cultural organizations in El Paso and surrounding areas, met twice with TAM staff and numerous times independently.

Membership
At the end of 2008, the TAM membership stood at 745—comprised of 448 individuals, 32 businesses, and 265 institutions. TAM institutional members may designate one staff member for each $200 in institutional membership dues. There were 116 institutional designees.

Annual Meeting
The 2008 Annual Meeting, Is the Coast Clear?, took place March 25-28 at the San Luis Resort, Spa & Conference Center in Galveston. Attended by 558 participants, it featured ten early and late conference workshops and tours plus 36 concurrent sessions. Numerous noteworthy guests spoke at the sessions and luncheons. Anne-Imelda Radice, Ph.D., Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services gave the keynote address at the opening luncheon. Ford Bell, President and CEO of the American Association of Museums, addressed the members at the TAM Annual Business Meeting. Thomas F. Staley, Ph.D., Director of the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin, spoke at the general session. Deborah Seid Howes, Museum Educator in charge of Educational Media at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, presented the closing talk. The meeting was hosted by 13 Galveston museums and cultural institutions, most of which served as evening event venues.

Workshops
TAM and Northeast Texas Museum Association (NTMA) co-sponsored one workshop, Strength in Numbers: Making the Most of Resource Sharing, on November 9-10, 2008. The Longview Museum of Fine Arts hosted the workshop. Across two days, 22 persons attended and the group visited two local museums.


Publications
TAM’s electronic members’ newsletter, TAMALE, was published quarterly and circulated via e-mail to each individual, business, and institutional member of TAM. Publication dates for the TAMALE in 2008 were on the 15th day of January, April, July, and October.

TAM published Museline Online, its free e-mail newsletter monthly during 2008. Museline Online goes to TAM members and other subscribers—a total of almost 2,200 recipients.

In 2008 TAM continued sales of The Museum Forms Book, and Starting Right: A Basic Guide to Museum Planning. Two TAM publications, Action Plan: Multicultural Initiatives in Texas Museums and Planning for Response and Emergency Preparedness, are published and available on the TAM Web site.

Information Services
Web Site: TAM continued to maintain and update its Web site—www.texasmuseums.org —in-house throughout 2008.

MuseSearch: In 2008 TAM maintained and updated MuseSearch, its online searchable database of information on Texas museums at http://www.museumsusa.org/directory/search/. Hosted by www.MuseumsUSA.org the number of museums listed on MuseSearch was 671 at the end of 2008.

Traveling Environmental Monitoring Kit Program
TAM sustained six traveling environmental monitoring kits for loan to and use by Texas museums. Kit Managers in six regions supervised the program in 2008. Initial funding for this program was received in 1998 from the Meadows Foundation.

Support
The following is a list of 2008 major contributors, patrons, and members whose leadership plays a key role in TAM’s success.

$1000 and over
Austin Museum of Art
Blanton Museum of Art
Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
Contemporary Arts Museum
Dallas Museum of Art
Fort Worth Museum of Science & History
Houston Museum of Natural Science
McNay Art Museum
Museum of Nature & Science
San Antonio Museum of Art
Stark Museum of Art
The Crow Collection of Asian Art
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
Witte Museum

$750 - $999
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum
Amon Carter Museum
Sid Richardson Museum
The Children’s Museum of Houston

$500 - $749
Frontiers of Flight Museum
Harris County Heritage Society
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
Museum of South Texas History
Old Red Museum of Dallas County History & Culture
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
Permian Basin Petroleum Museum
Texas Natural Science Center
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
The Grace Museum
Tyler Museum of Art


$250 - $499
Albert B. Alkek Library, Special Collections
Dallas Visual Art Center
Don Harrington Discovery Center
Dr Pepper Museum & Free Enterprise Institute
El Paso Museum of History
El Paso Zoo
Ellen Noel Art Museum of the Permian Basin
Frontier Texas!
George Bush Library and Museum
Gillespie County Historical Society
Kimbell Art Museum
King Ranch Museum
McFaddin-Ward House
Museum of the Gulf Coast
National Museum of the Pacific War
Ocean Star-Offshore Drilling Rig & Museum
Rice University Art Gallery
San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts
San Jacinto Museum of History
Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery
The Discovery Science Place
The Moody Mansion & Museum
The Old Jail Art Center

Business Members
Art Restorations, Inc.
Arthur M. Manask & Associates
Cecelia Ottenweller Consulting
CrateWorks, Inc
Dean and Associates
Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford
Half Spoon LLC
Henderson Phillips Fine Arts
Hill Country Bazaar
Judith Godfrey Associates, LLC
Lake/Flato Architects, Inc.
Linbeck Group, L.P.
Maria Valentina Sheets Conservation, Inc.
Museum Arts, Inc.
Museumscapes, LLC
Philadelphia Insurance Companies
Quatrefoil Associates
Rhotenberry Wellen Architects
Riggs Ward Design
SellMark
Signet Art
Smith Kramer Fine Art Services
Spacesaver/Southwest Solutions Group
Steve Harding Design
Sybilmedia
Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame
Texas Tropical Trail Region
The Projects Group
U.S. Art Company, Inc.
Whitten & Proctor Fine Art Conservation
WOLF Consulting
Wonder Works Exhibits Company

Supporting
Lisa Rebori

Sustaining
Douglas Harman

Friend
Margaret Blagg
Robert F. Bluthardt
Georgia Caraway
Ellie Caston
Curtis Gunn, Jr.
Thomas A. Livesay
Martha McDaniel
Marise McDermott
Houston McGaugh
Laurence D. Miller, III
Kelli Pickard
Susan Rieff
Priscilla Ann Rodriguez
Calvin Smith
Gary Smith
Christine Jelson West
Mrs. Harris F. Underwood

Grants/Underwriting $1000 and over
Henderson Phillips Fine Arts
Texas Commission on the Arts
The Summerlee Foundation
Albert & Ethel Herzstein Foundation
BP Corporation North America

Grants/Underwriting up to $1000
Collection Managers Committee
Humanities Texas
Texas Commission on the Arts
Patrick H. Butler
Willis Fine Art Jewelry & Specie

In-kind Donations
Galveston Host Museums

Statement of TAM Financial Position

** 2008 figures are through 12/31/2008 and have been audited. For a complete
copy of 2008 financials, audits through 2008, and IRS Form 990s, contact the TAM office.

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