2025 Conference Speaker Announcements, Affinity Groups, ARCS Meetup Princeton, NJ-Nov 1, and Fall Internship Applications ARCS Update Vol 10 Issue 22
October 27, 2025 | ARCS News2025 Conference
November 18-21, 2025
St. Louis Union Station
1820 Market St, St. Louis, MO 63103
The Association of Registrars and Collection Specialists invites you to join us at our 2025 conference to share bold, ambitious, and unique actions through ideas of interconnectedness, listening, and caretaking in service of the care of our collections in the PRESENT tense.
Keynote and Land Acknowledgement Speakers
ARCS is excited to announce our Keynote and Land Acknowledgement Speakers for the 2025 Conference.
Land Acknowledgement
- Galen Gritts (Cherokee Nation)
- The Forgotten Trunk in the Attic
Keynote
- Linda Norris, Founder of Creative Futures, LLC
- What can Ethics and Empathy mean in this Current Moment?
Keynote and Land Acknowledgement Speakers
Affinity Groups
Upcoming Meetings:
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Oct 30, 2025 12:00 p.m. EST Private Collections and Museums
An ARCS Affinity Group is a community group made up of ARCS members who share common interests and goals, and who come together to support one another, share knowledge, and advocate for mutual concerns.
The Affinity Group meetings are a safe space to meet and discuss issues or questions with your colleagues. Members self-select to join the group and meet and participate as they choose to achieve their objectives.
Affinity Groups are open to all ARCS members.
Upcoming Schedule and Registration
Meetup Princeton, New Jersey November 1, 2025
Join ARCS members at the re-opening of the Princeton University Art Museum!
The opening is kicking off with a FREE 24-hour open house starting at 5:00 p.m. on October 31st.
ARCS will be there from 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. on Saturday November 1! Enjoy everything the museum has to offer!
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Please check-in with ARCS at the museum between 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. near the information desk so we know you’re there, but feel free to arrive and depart whenever you want!
Then we’ll head over to the historic Yankee Doodle Tap Room from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. to enjoy drinks, food, and merriment!
Fall 2025 Internship Announcement
ARCS is committed to advocating for paid internships in an industry that remains inaccessible to many. ARCS offers internship stipend opportunities for the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. Starting in Fall, 2025, we are excited to announce that ARCS now will be offering a $1,800 stipend plus an annual membership to three applicants pursuing internships in registration and/or collections management. Candidates are asked to submit their application materials by November 15, 2025, and awardees will be notified by mid-November 2025.
Applicants should already have been accepted into an unpaid internship program and will be asked to submit a letter of support from their internship supervisor with their application materials. Applicants in internships with a limited stipend can also apply but those in unpaid internship programs will be prioritized. International and U.S. based ARCS members may apply for internship stipend opportunities. Selected candidates will be asked to submit a brief report and to participate in a takeover of the ARCS Instagram at the end of their program.
Congratulations to Former ARCS Board Member Elise LeCompte
Southeastern Museum Conference 2025 James R. Short Award Winner
Elise V. LeCompte, Museum Consultant, Registrar and Administrator (retired, Florida Museum of Natural History); Adjunct Professor, University of Florida and Johns Hopkins University Museum Studies Programs, is the 2025 recipient.
Elise V. LeCompte is an independent museum consultant. Recently retired, she was formerly Registrar, Coordinator for Museum Health and Safety, and Assistant Department Chair for the Florida Museum of Natural History for 40 1/2 years. She has served as Collections Manager, Exhibit Registrar, and Conservation Technician and continues to consult on collections management, curation, exhibit design, and artifact treatment for museums throughout the southeast. She has organized and presented at workshops and conference sessions on collections management, museum ethics, and administration for national, regional, and state organizations. Ms. LeCompte is a member of the American Alliance of Museums (Museum Assessment Program and Accreditation peer reviewer), the Association of Registrars and Collections Management (former Board Secretary), the American Institute for Conservation, the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (Chair, Travel Grants Committee), and the Southeastern Museums Conference (former Council member) and Southeastern Registrars Association. Ms. LeCompte holds an M.A. in archaeology and chemistry from the University of Florida and a B.A. in anthropology from Johns Hopkins University.
James R. Short Award
Established in 1981, the James R. Short Award is SEMC’s most prestigious recognition of service to the museum profession in the Southeast. It honors individuals with a lifetime (20+ years) of service, with a significant portion of that service in the SEMC region.
