Doing It Together: Stories of Rural Collaboration

ID: WMA2026_588

Track:

Rural museums are experts at doing more with less, but you don’t have to do it alone.  This session shares practical strategies for stretching resources through collaborating with fellow rural organizations. Hear how shared staffing and cross-institution programming builds regional partnerships, expands capacity, and deepens community engagement. Leave with practical ideas, honest lessons learned, and strategies to identify your best collaborators for a clearer path toward doing it together.

Session Information

Format: Regular session/panel (roundtable, single speaker, etc.)

Uniqueness: Grounded in real rural partnerships, this session offers candid, two-sided perspectives, and proven strategies for stretching limited resources through collaboration.

Objectives:

• Identify practical collaboration models for rural organizations. Participants will explore real examples of shared staffing and cross-institution programming, gaining a clear understanding of how partnerships can expand capacity without increasing costs. Examples from panelists will show that you can think “outside the box” to identify your collaborators and compound your impacts. 

• Evaluate the benefits and challenges of shared resources. Through candid, two-sided perspectives, attendees will learn what makes collaborations succeed, where they can break down, and how to navigate common obstacles such as communication, accountability, and organizational differences.

• Develop actionable next steps for their own context. Participants will leave with concrete ideas for initiating or strengthening partnerships in their communities, including strategies for identifying potential collaborators, starting small, and building trust over time.

Engagement: Audience engagement will center around a Q&A, inviting participants to bring their own challenges and ideas into the conversation. Presenters will facilitate discussion and the session requires minimal resources like a projector for visuals and a microphone to support audience participation.

Relationship to Theme:

Audience

Audiences: Development and Membership Officers Marketing & Communications (Including Social Media) Other Registrars, Collections Managers 

Professional Level: Mid-Career Senior Level 

Scalability: While the examples come from small, rural organizations, the ideas of sharing staff, co-creating programs, and building partnerships can apply at any size. Smaller museums can use these right away, while larger ones can adapt them to expand reach or test new ideas. With multiple examples, attendees can find an approach that fits their own capacity and context.

Participants