Executive director of Campus Martius awarded prestigious fellowship
Executive Director of the Campus Martius and Ohio River Museums Erin Augenstein was awarded an “Empowering Museum Voices” fellowship by the Ohio Museums Association. (Photo Provided)
Above is the “Mounds, Moon & Stars: The Legacy of Ohio’s Magnificent Earthworks” exhibit, one of several exhibits that have been displayed at the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta. The museum’s executive director Erin Augenstein was awarded an “Empowering Museum Voices” fellowship by the Ohio Museums Association. (File Photo)
Executive Director of the Campus Martius and Ohio River Museums Erin Augenstein was awarded an “Empowering Museum Voices” fellowship by the Ohio Museums Association. (Photo Provided)
Above is the “Mounds, Moon & Stars: The Legacy of Ohio’s Magnificent Earthworks” exhibit, one of several exhibits that have been displayed at the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta. The museum’s executive director Erin Augenstein was awarded an “Empowering Museum Voices” fellowship by the Ohio Museums Association. (File Photo)
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A local museum executive director has been awarded a fellowship.
The Ohio Museums Association (OMA) announced Tuesday the 10 individuals they chose to participate in the "Empowering Museum Voices" Fellowship Program.
Erin Augenstein, executive director of the Campus Martius and Ohio River Museums in Marietta, was selected as a participant in the Fellowship, according to a media release.
This is the first year the OMA has had the fellowship program, and its purpose is to connect the OMA with fellows from backgrounds - including the BIPOC community, people with disabilities, Appalachian and rural communities, lower income communities, LGBTQ+ communities and justice-impacted communities - that have been historically underrepresented in the museum field due to historic exclusion, the release said.
The fellowship is made possible through grant support from Ohio Humanities and the Ohio Arts Council through their ArtRise grant. The fellowship program will provide participants with a year's worth of OMA webinars, travel expenses and registration for the 2024 OMA annual conference in April, registration for the 2025 OMA conference, four years of OMA membership and compensation for program planning the fellows will contribute during 2024 and beyond, the release said.
"The Ohio Museums Association has been given a wonderful opportunity to advance not only our organization but the museum field as a whole," OMA Board of Trustees President Jacob Masters said. "We are excited to be working with these 10 Fellows -- providing them access to continuing education in museum practices, but also learning from them to better the work we do every day. We can't wait to see the innovative ideas and initiatives we can create together."
The fellowship program will provide a platform for the fellows to share feedback and input into how OMA can better engage and serve their communities, OMA Executive Director Johnna McEntee said in the release.
"This fellowship will help amplify these diverse voices to aid OMA and museums across the state as we strive to better represent the communities we serve, and help strengthen and diversify the leadership in Ohio museums," McEntee said of the program.
Augenstein was appointed as the executive director of the Campus Martius and Ohio River Museums in July 2022, according to her Linkedin page
"I am honored to be included in this wonderful fellowship, a diverse group of museum professionals from throughout Ohio, as we work together to serve our museums and our visitors," Augenstein said about being chosen for the fellowship.
The OMA is a nonprofit that was founded in 1976 that works with museum professionals and providers of museum services in Ohio to strengthen the state's museums, foster excellence in the field and to support museums, according to the release.
To learn more about the Ohio Museums Association and the fellowship program contact 614-297-2375 or visit www.ohiomuseums.org.
To learn more about the Campus Martius and Ohio River Museums go to https://mariettamuseums.org/campus-martius/.