Utah Museums Association

Museum Day on the Hill will be Tuesday, February 28 from 7:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. in the Capitol Rotunda.
This year is very important to you and your museum because of redistricting and the number of new legislators in this session. As of this writing, there are three new Representatives in the House and one in the Senate, according to the Utah State Legislature website.
 

Why is civic engagement important to you?
Because: Nonprofits are affected by governmental action, and the people served by nonprofits are often the most vulnerable to changes in policy. Nonprofits are also in a unique position to empower their constituents, not only as individual citizens, but also as advocates for the organization.
 

The schedule for Museum Day on the Hill is as follows:
7:30-8:30 load in
8:30-9:00 meet in multipurpose room
9:00-2:30 displays in rotunda, meet with legislators
9:45-11:45 meet with Representative*
11:45-12:15 or later meet with Senators*
2:30 -3:00 take down

If you are not sure who your legislators are:
Go to AAM's Find Your Elected Official page.
Enter in your zip code. In some cases you may need to enter your full mailing address.
Locate the legislators for your organization in addition to your personal (home address) legislators.
Visit the Utah State Legislature website and locate your legislators. Familiarize yourself with their faces this will help tremendously on Museum Day.

Prepare a one sheet handout (8 ½ x 11) on your museum.
Some things to include on your sheet: your mission, how many visitors you had last year, what you’ve been able to accomplish with the grant money allocated to you by OMS (if applicable). Make sure to have lots of white space, your organization's contact information (phone, address, website, etc), and a photo if possible.

UMA is pursuing options for providing the Advocacy 101 training that I presented at the conference in different regions around the state, so stay tuned.

Jayceen Walker

Government Relations Specialist at Pathway Associates