Events

We have participated with fellow researchers, academics, Girls’ Studies scholars, and other museum professionals in conferences, symposia, and other events around the world as well as producing small events ourselves. We have held awesome events for project launches, pop-up exhibitions, conferences, and film screenings. Check out some of the highlights below.

If you are interested in collaborating on an event with us, or know of one that we should be aware of, please get in touch.

Childhood Publics & the Child’s Gaze Seminar 3:
Ethics and Infrastructures for the Child’s Gaze, June 2023

Girl Museums’ Head of Contemporary Art Scarlett Evans spoke at this panel discussion which took place at Goldsmiths University in London. The theme was the ethics of commissioning and showcasing young people’s art, with Scarlett speaking alongside Gayatri Nair, founder of the Chennai Photo Biennale in Chennai, India, and Annebella Pollen, Professor of Visual and Material Culture at the University of Brighton. The discussion was the third in a three-part seminar series by the Children’s Photography Archive, dedicated to exploring the aesthetic, ethical and technical aspects of children’s art. Here is a link to the podcast recording.

Childhood Publics

Girlhood Studies Collective, March 2023

In March 2023, Ashley and Tiffany presented as part of the inaugural conference, held virtually and entitled, “The Girl in Theory: Toward a Critical Girlhood Studies Symposium.” Tiffany presented a modified version of her “Girls+Museums: A Manifesto” paper with actionable steps and questions for girl studies scholars to work with museums, while Ashley presented “How to Define a Girl in Art History,” based on her doctoral research. 

SAWH 2022 Conference banner

SAWH Conference in Lexington, Kentucky

In the summer of 2022, Tiffany was invited to present at the Southern Association of Women’s Historians Triennial Conference held at the University of Kentucky campus. As part of the “Southern Girlhood: Home, School, and the Archive” panel, Tiffany discussed “Expanding Narratives: How Amplifying Girls is Good History” with conference participants. Her discussion focused on how incorporating girls into their history courses and projects is “good history.” The published version of her talk is available online here.

SAWH 2022 Conference banner

Women on the Move

On March 8, 2022, Ashley participated virtually in the “Reshaping the Era and Self-Development: A Review and Prospect of Women in Cultural Relic and Museum Territory,” jointly organized by Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Museum International magazine and Sina Weibo. The Museology Institute collaborated with social platform Wenboquan, assisted by Anhui Museum, Jiangxi Provincial Museum, Suzhou Museum and Huzhou Museum, by inviting renowned female experts and scholars to share their stories and insights on women’s development. The forum discussed how women have impacted and achieved success in Cultural Relic and Museum Territory, how to promote communication and support among them, and how to ensure a better future for all.

Chinese text for Women on the Move event

National Council on Public History Virtual Conference

In April 2020, Tiffany led a panel on girlhood studies for the virtual National Council on Public History conference. Tiffany discussed our Sites of Girlhood project and Jessie Swigger presented “Girls in the Wonder House” that discussed how the Brooklyn Children’s Museum has depicted girlhood from 1899 to 1940. Both sessions were offered virtually via our YouTube channel.

As a result of the conference, Tiffany was invited – and accepted – to produce an edited volume, A Girl Can Do: Recognizing and Representing Girlhood, with Vernon Press (2022).

AAANZ Conference in Auckland, New Zealand

At the beginning of December Ashley travelled to Auckland, NZ for the 2019 Art Association of Australia and New Zealand annual conference. The theme was Ngā Tūtaki – Encounter/s: Agency, Embodiment, Exchange, Ecologies. She was very busy as a conference volunteer, presenter, and convenor! She assisted with editing the conference program, convened an entire day (triple session) on “Looking for women and girls inside the institutions of art history,” ending the day with her own talk. Eight women (all from Australia, presented diverse and fascinating presentations about women curators, makers, subjects, and objects. She is very grateful to them for making her first conference convening a great experience. 

While it changed focus from the original intentions, the paper she presented, called, “Check Your Privilege: Giving Girls a Voice in Art History,” will hopefully be expanded into an article for publication. It also forms part of the basis for her PhD research commencing in March 2020. 

Re-connecting to people from Ashley’s academic and professional past, like Jane Legget, Caroline Vercoe, Len Bell and David Maskill, as well as make many new friends was a true joy. Another highlight was meeting Dr Maura Reilly, author of Curatorial Activism, who came all the way from New York, for a Masterclass and a keynote. She was very cool and informative. All around it a professional success and was a great time.

Ashley presenting, “Check Your Privilege: Giving Girls a Voice in Art History,” AAANZ 2019, Auckland NZ. Photo: Louise R Mayhew.

International Girl Studies Association 2nd Biennial Conference

In February 2019, three of our team members attended the second International Girls Studies Association conference, held in conjunction with the University of Notre Dame’s 5th Biennial International Gender Studies Conference. Tiffany Rhoades, Hillary Hanel, and Libby Burrows attended sessions and networked with our girl studies’ colleagues.

Hillary presented “Girl Museum and the Virtual Classroom: Exhibits, Artifacts, and Interactive Resources for Teaching and Learning” during a session about girls’ public history. She explored how teachers can make up for the inequity of girls’ names in history textbooks by including our resources in their curriculums. 

Tiffany presented our 2020 project, “Sites of Girlhood,” a large-scale global project to put girls “on the map.” She described how the project came to be, how it will be presented, and how the IGSA and gender studies communities could help bring the project to life by submitting sites and promoting internships with us. Her presentation featured a poster about the project.

Hillary, Libby, and Tiffany after our Sites of Girlhood presentation at IGSA@ND 2019.

Museum Computer Network Conference, Colorado USA, 2018

In 2018, Education Advisor Hillary Hanel received a scholarship to attend the Museum Computer Network’s annual conference. Reflecting on the experience, she stated,

“This November, I was honored to be part of the group of scholars selected to present their work at the Museum Computer Network Conference in Denver, Colorado, USA. I learned about MCN while researching digital technologies being used in museums since that fits perfectly with our work at Girl Museum. I learned that MCN has a robust scholarship program to allow scholars to attend and participate at the annual conference. The 2018 group of scholars included museum professionals from around the world who presented their work on a variety of topics and experiences. Of course, I chose to give a lightning talk about my work with Girl Museum.

Virtual museums are a new idea, so the overall concept of this was the basis for my presentation. I shared the benefits (free for visitors, open 24/4, etc.) and implications (time zones, marketing, funding, etc.) of being a virtual museum. I also highlighted our 52 Objects exhibit to show how digitized collections can be used to curate in new ways. There was a lot to fit in a time limit of 5 minutes! Luckily, I was able to chat with many other MCN attendees throughout the week to discuss Girl Museum more in-depth.

In addition to the experience of presenting at an incredible conference, I enjoyed learning from fellow museum professionals. Did you know that 57% of people will benefit from accessibility features in museums at some point in their lives? This is from a great session about accessibility that suggested looking to video games to make museum tech more accessible. I also learned about some super cool museum mascots, who are now my favorite Twitter accounts (hi @MarktheMammot, @MSUMuseumBear, and @TomytheSheep). I met some of the museum world’s best and brightest, including Hannah Hethmon, author of “Your Museum Needs a Podcast” and I am a little starstruck to be in possession of the business cards of several Smithsonian staff members. For my live-tweets of MCN sessions, please visit my Twitter @HillaryHanel and #MCN2018.

Thank you MCN for this opportunity and thank you Girl Museum for the experiences that I was able to share!”

Hillary presents a lightning talk on Girl Museum at MCN 2018.
Hillary and the MCN scholars at MCN 2018.

Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre, Laos, 2018

In November 2018, Head Girl Ashley E Remer presented a talk at the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre in Luang Prabang, Laos, on Girl Museum, stories from our past ten years, her experience living in Laos, and our exhibitions. 

Society for the History of Children and Youth, 2017

Zulu doll, Botswana.

Zulu doll, Botswana. The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

In late June, Head Girl Ashley E Remer attended the Society for the History of Children and Youth (SHCY) 2017 biennial conference held at Rutgers University – Camden, New Jersey campus. The conference theme was ‘Transition, Transaction, and Transgression’. She presented a paper on our Kiwi Chicks: New Zealand Girl History project as a showcase of girl history as well as how to create a successful public history project.

It was an excellent conference, with many new connections made as well as meeting longtime colleagues for the first time. Besides acquiring a new excellent intern for our team, Ashley became co-chair for the new Girls’ History and Culture Network (GHCN). In bits of free time, she got to visit the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology—a dream come true! An excellent collection and museum experience.

International Women’s Museums conference, 2016

In late October 2016, Head Girl Ashley E. Remer attended a women’s museums conference in Istanbul, Turkey. Hosted by the Women’s Museum of Istanbul, the conference included academics and museum directors from around the world. Ashley describes in her blog,

The conference concept was how women’s museums act as agents of inclusion and social memory. What we discussed was so much more. While inclusion was a theme, it is also a desperate cry in such unstable situations we find ourselves in the world today. We learned how important issues of inclusion are for us all right now. And duly reminded about how all history (and memory) is political. I had no real idea of all that women currently face in Turkey. From the suppression/expulsion of academics and activists to the challenges of creating a women’s museum in a war zone (Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey), we checked our privilege and were reminded of how lucky we are to do what we do under the banner of a democratic and free country.

After having amazing experiences and meeting such wonderful women, Ashley is looking forward to returning to Istanbul for the International Association of Women’s Museums conference in 2018.
Also be sure to check out our spotlight in Haber Turk. (Please note the article is in Turkish, and may not translate correctly.)

International Girl Studies Association Conference, 2016

Sarah Jackson and Katie Weidmann attended the International Girl Studies Association’s inaugural conference in 2016 and presented about Girl Museum!  They joined over 100 amazing women, all working or interested in the field of girls’ studies. During 33 panels, Sarah and Katie got a glimpse of the latest research being conducted on girls’ lives in the past and present.  As Katie stated on our blog,

Although girls studies is still a relatively new field, I was in awe–as were many of the attendees–at the range of topics being studied. To give you just a small selection of the topics, some of the panel titles included “Girl Cultures on YouTube,” “Queering Girlhood,” “Girls at the end of the World,” “Wartime Girlhood,” and “Violence and Justice in the Lives of Girls.”

One of the panels I attended was “Girls at the end of the World,” which looked at apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic sci-fi and horror. It had papers on the television shows The 100 and Spooks: Code 9, as well as the video game The Last of Us: Left Behind. Sadly, the paper on Caprica was cancelled due to a family illness. Trying to describe the papers is difficult; though I could include the abstracts of each one here, suffice it to say that they all looked at a wide range of topics, from agency (the abilty to make choices for oneself) to power, sacrifice, and passivity.

The entire conference was inspiring, from the realization that there are a lot of us who work in the area of girls studies, to the specific work that people are doing in the field. On a personal level, it was amazing to spend three days at an academic conference, something I don’t get to do much of these days. And because I was presenting on behalf of Girl Museum, it was so gratifying to see the level of interest in Girl Museum. Sarah and I both had so many people seek us out because they’re interested in future collaborations, and we felt the same way. I almost ran up to a few different presenters, begging them to work with us–and the best bit was that everyone was open to and excited by the idea!

Like Katie, I left the conference feeling inspired, hopeful and completely exhausted! There were so many fantastic people doing amazing work and everyone was so enthused and approachable. It really felt like we were all united by our love and passion for making the world a better place for everyone – not just girls! I guess the whole conference can be summed up with Mary Celeste Kearney’s final keynote, “Girls Make Media: Then, Now and So What?”, which looked back at the development of the first in-depth study of girls’ media production and Professor Kearney’s first book. It began with fist-pumping blasts Riot Grrrl anthems by Bikini Kill and ended with a call to action, to bridge the gap betwen girls who make media and women who make media. All too often we see girls creating their own zines, videos, music – anything you can imagine! But many creative industries, especially film, are lacking women in key roles.

We all know that girls are amazing and IGSA certainly proved that time and time again – now let’s work together to make sure they have the opportunities they need to become extraordinary women!

Sarah Jackson

#LORTLive Webcast on Girls and Gaming

Tiffany Rhoades, our Program Developer, was a guest speaker for the #LORTLive weekly webcast on January 25, 2016.  #LORTLive is produced by LORT Nation. You can view her discussion on Girl Museum, girls, and gaming at right.

Jo, Caitlin and Jess at ‘Girls in the Museum’ for IDG 2013
Curatorial Panel discussing ‘Girls in the Museum’ for IDG 2013
Florence and Merinda at ‘Girls in the Museum’ for IDG 2013
Girls Rising at at ‘Girls in the Museum’ for IDG 2013
Sabina and friend celebrating IDG 2013
‘Girls in the Museum’ after our IDG 2013 event

Girls in the Museum, 2013

Girl Museum and Te Papa Tongarewa hosted ‘Girls in the Museum’ in honour of International Day of the Girl (IDG) 2013, to promote dialogue about girls in fine arts and museum collections and to raise awareness about the NSTP/Girl Museum exhibition Kiwi Chicks: New Zealand Girl History   This free event consisted of an introduction from UN Women; a discussion panel of museum curators examining representations of girls in art, museum collections and in the community; and a screening of the film, Girl Rising.

Participants:  Ashley E Remer, Founder & Head Girl of Girl Museum;  Sunshine Prior of UN Women; Lynette Townsend, Curator of Communities & Diversity;  Rebecca Rice, Curator of New Zealand Art; Rachel Yates, Curator of Pacific Cultures, and high school girl moderators.

Produced by Girl Museum & National Services Te Paerangi

Supported by Friends of Te Papa, 10×10, UN Women

After Girl Power — What Next? Conference, 2012

Junior Girls Vhari Finch and Katie Weidmann presented at the “After Girl Power — What Next?” conference at the University of York in the U.K.  Their presentation, “Inside/Outside Girl Museum,” discussed the work that we do in girl studies.  You can read Vhari’s experience at the conference on our blog.

After Girl Power: What Next? explored the state of global girlhoods and the state of Girls’ Studies itself as an evolving discipline. It aimed to raise awareness about Girls’ Studies and girls’ issues in general and to bring together Girls’ Studies scholars, students, advocates for girls/youth, and local girls to encourage dialogue, networking and joint projects.

Girl for Sale, 2011

On March 31, 2011, The Corner Store in Washington D.C. hosted the launch of our exhibition, Girl or Sale. This show was a production between Girl Museum and the American Poetry Museum. Special thanks to Mary Case for supporting this event.

In the photos at right, Ashley poses with John West-Bey, and discusses issues related to human trafficking with attendees.

John West-Bey and Ashley E Remer at The Corner Store, Washington DC for the launch of the co-produciton 'Girl for Sale'.
Ashley E Remer discussing the issues at The Corner Store, Washington DC for the launch of the co-produciton 'Girl for Sale', 31 March 2011.

Hina Matsuri, 2010

In June and August 2010, Girl Museum produced pop-up exhibitions of Hina Matsuri: Celebrating Girls’ Day in Japan at the Japanese festivals in Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand. Special thanks to Briar Barry and Jane McGill for their assistance at events.

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