The New York City Museum Educators Roundtable (NYCMER) invites proposals for its 2026 Annual Conference, centered on the theme Action! Museums are cornerstones of learning, community engagement, and civic life, yet they now face escalating political, financial, and environmental pressures. These challenges call on cultural workers to respond with clarity, courage, and imagination. This year’s conference asks how we—individually and institutionally—can take action to uphold our missions, support our communities, and sustain our field in a time of crisis.

We welcome proposals from museum educators, cultural workers, librarians, teaching artists, archivists, zoo and science center educators, public historians, students, and community partners. Sessions should consider how action takes shape across cultural spaces: resisting censorship, advocating for staff and audiences, fostering civic dialogue, cultivating networks of care, or innovating new models of engagement. We encourage submissions that highlight strategies for navigating the present moment while empowering museum professionals to imagine the future with hope, resilience, and purpose.

NYCMER is seeking dynamic conference sessions and poster presentations that offer clear, actionable takeaways. Proposals may explore institutional change, community-centered initiatives, educational practice, digital innovation, accessibility, or collaborative models that move beyond discussion and toward implementation. Presentations representing a variety of institutions—large, small, emerging, or alternative—are strongly encouraged, as are cross-institutional collaborations.

The Conference Committee also welcomes expertise from outside the museum field, including classroom educators, organizers, artists, scholars, and other practitioners whose work intersects with cultural engagement and public learning. Together, we aim to create a conference that reflects the breadth of our sector and the urgency of the moment—one that strengthens our shared capacity to act with intention, integrity, and care.

For full details of the proposal process, including styles and options, and proposal templates, please review the Request for Proposals folder here. Proposals are due February 6, 2026.

When you are ready to submit, please use the Request for Proposals Form.

Tickets to attend the 2026 NYCMER Conference will be available soon!