FREE WEBINAR RECORDINGS
Elevating Indigenous Voices in Interpretation
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FREE for members / $15 nonmembers
Using interpretation to amplify Indigenous voices provides spaces for healing and education within the local Indigenous and wider communities. This panel discussion will highlight a unique partnership between California’s largest Native American tribe, the Yurok Tribe, and California State Parks. These two entities have been working together for over three decades to make parks relevant through elevating the voices of the people who have cared for these landscapes since time immemorial.
Panel Moderator Erin Gates serves as an NAI Board Member and Director of the Wild West Region. In her capacity as a California State Parks Interpreter II Program Coordinator for the Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students (PORTS) Program, she assists the North Coast Redwoods District with amplifying Indigenous voices through digital interpretive programming to reach K12 students throughout California and the United States.
Victor Bjelajac has been with California State Parks since 2007. His collaborative resource work and partnership focus for land management across jurisdictions began in earnest in 2008 and includes work with local tribes; federal, state, and local agencies; as well as non-profit organizations.
Linda Cooley is a proud Yurok Tribal member, and is COO of Mad River Brewing Company, owned by the Yurok Agricultural Corporation. She also serves as Deputy Director of the Yurok Economic Development Corporation focused on tourism, marketing, and branding.
Skip Lowry is an interpreter within the North Coast Redwoods District of California State Parks. He is one of the first Yurok Tribal descendants to be hired as an interpreter in California State Parks history. His life experience within the culture brings unique and transformational experiences to every aspect of his work. He has an AA degree and is pursuing a BA in Native American Studies at Humboldt State University.
Marnin Robbins is the interpretive program manager for the North Coast Redwoods District of California State Parks. His team conveys the story of the tallest trees on Earth and the people who have lived among them. He has worked in the interpretive profession for 26 years, and holds an MS in Natural Resources Planning and Interpretation (Humboldt State University, 2005).
Closed for Business. Open for Impact.
Immersive At Home Visitors Inside Your Interpretive Site Within 48 Hours With Nothing More Than A Camera and Laptop
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With your doors closed for the foreseeable future, how can you maintain (or even expand) relationships with your community? As part of our effort to bring more free, timely programs to our members, NAI presents a webinar hosted by one of our corporate partners, TimeLooper, where we will explore the power of virtual reality and use cases in the current environment and practical ways to get your site online within 48 hours.
Learn how to share your experiences, educational plans, living history, and natural beauty with key stakeholders who are stuck at home, including:
- Families with kids dealing with cabin fever
- Educators forced into distance-based learning
- Topic enthusiasts and institution members searching for engagement
In this Zoom-based webinar, TimeLooper will discuss (and answer questions on) the following topics:
- Best practices on how (and why) to build VR-based immersion experiences
- Types of experiences you can easily develop
- Easy off the shelf tools to consider
- Hardware (how to capture footage)
- Distribution platforms (how to share the content)
- Creative tips on how to make content more meaningful
Best Practices for Going Virtual: Staying Engaged with our Visitors During Difficult Times
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Do you find yourself wondering how to best engage with your visitor while your facility is closed or with limited staff? If so, join us for this free webinar and learn from a series of panelists on how they’ve been using Skype, Facebook Live and Twitter both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hear their thoughts, see some of their ideas (have you seen the penguins wandering around the Shedd Aquarium yet?) and get your questions answered during this discussion with Q&A.
Panelists will come from across the profession of interpretation including the Shedd Aquarium, National Park Service, California State Parks and Big Horn Radio Network.