2013 Affiliations National Conference Resources

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Thanks to everyone who joined us at the 2013 Affiliations National Conference! We had a record-breaking 119 attendees from 74 Affiliates in 31 states and Puerto Rico join us! We know we learned a lot from you and hope you learned something new, met a new colleague, or discovered new possibilities while you were in town. Feel free to share the below post-conference resources with your colleagues who weren’t able to join us this year. And stay tuned…we’ll be uploading the digital recordings for many other sessions shortly. For now, enjoy the webcasts from our two keynote addresses and our one session on mobile marketing as well as the PowerPoint presentations from most sessions (Click on each speaker’s name to find the presentation). View the conference guidebook here and check out photos on our Flickr Photostream too! Contact Elizabeth Bugbee with any questions, comments or other feedback. Thanks for a seriously amazing conference!

Tuesday, June 11
Keynote Address:
Re-purposing the Museum: Using Digital Tools to Re-engage Young Audiences
Stephen Brown, President and Executive Producer at Mobile Digital Arts and General Manager of the New Learning Institute

Linking the Landscape: Digital Outreach to Small Towns and Rural Communities
Tom Falvey, Director of Education, South Carolina State Museum
Carol Harsh, Director, Museum on Main Street, Smithsonian Institution
Sonchia Jilek, Executive Director, The Pinhead Institute

Digital Trends: Crowdsourcing, 3-D, and Badging, Oh My!
Herbert Maschner, Director, Idaho Museum of Natural History
Lynn-Steven Engelke, Director of Programs, Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access
Kathryn Burke, Museum Technician, National Postal Museum

SITES=Success: Transforming Museums Through Traveling Exhibits
Micah Parzen, Chief Executive Officer, San Diego Museum of Man
Betsy Gordon, Project Manager, National Museum of the American Indian
Jonathan Stevens, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Textile History Museum
Jennifer O’Keefe, Special Assistant to the Director, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service

Establishing Deeper Connections: Creating a Culture of Membership
Christi Janssen, Executive Director, The Durham Museum
Laurie Pillman, Membership Coordinator, Peoria Riverfront Museum

Make It Mobile: The New Museum is in Your Hand
Richard Cooper, Manager of content Development & Interpretation, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Heather Foster, Writer, Editor, Web Content Manager, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
Nancy Proctor, Head of Mobile Strategy & Initiatives, Smithsonian Institution

What’s The New Normal? Strategies for Survival and Reinvention
Thomas Stoneback, Executive Director, National Canal Museum
Jose Santamaria, Executive Director, Tellus Science Museum
Camille Akeju, Director, Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum

Wednesday, June 12
A Peek at “Object Project” at the National Museum of American History (Workshop Tour)
Howard Morrison, Director of Education and Interpretation
Judy Gradwohl, Assistant Director for Education and Public Programs
Click here for a diagram reporting on visitors’ responses to questions about their connections to history, motivations for visiting, expectations for their visit, actual visit experiences, and perceptions of benefits.
Click here for the front-end evaluation report for the new National Museum of Natural History learning center.

Keynote Address:
Envisioning a National Network of Early Learners
Kimberlee Kiehl, Executive Director, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center
With an introduction from Marsha L. Semmel, former Director of Strategic Partnerships, Institute of Museum and Library Services

Full STEAM Ahead: Integrating Science, History and Art
Ellen Rosenthal, President and CEO, Conner Prairie
Brian Mancuso, Director of Exhibits, Conner Prairie
Jeff Dunn, Planetarium Supervisor, Mystic Seaport
Deborah Stokes, Education Specialist, National Museum of African Art

Collaboration Block: Seriously Amazing Opportunities

  • Places of Invention: The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation
    Julia Swan, Adult Public Programs Manager, Museum of History and Industry
    Anna Karvellas, Places of Invention Affiliates Project Coordinator, The Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation
    Kate A. Lukaszewicz, Lead Educator, Senator John Heinz History Center
  • Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
    Combined session presentation
    Lindsay Bartholomew, Miami Science Museum, Moderator
    Christopher Myers, U.S. Space & Rocket Center
    Chelsea Dorman, Educator, College Park Aviation Museum
    James Wells, Education Program Manager, York County Culture & Heritage Museums
  • Our American Journey
    Elizabeth Bly, Director of Grants, Japanese American National Museum
    Magdalena Mieri, Director, Program in Latino History & Culture, National Museum of American History
    Pino Monaco, Director of Program Evaluation & Audience Research, Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access
  • Smithsonian Science NOW: National Museum of Natural History
    Combined session presentation
    Margaret Benson, Online Community Manager
    Colleen Marzec, Managing Producer Web Portal


Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Capturing the Cosmos in Huntsville

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Special thanks to our guest blogger, Chris Myers, U.S. Space and Rocket Center®, Huntsville, AL for this post

Bringing the Cosmos to Space Camp®!

YCCC AyshamAt the U.S. Space and Rocket Center® and Space Camp, we are constantly looking for fun and innovative ways to teach our museum guests and trainees about space history and the science and math concepts that surround it. Naturally, we were excited to participate in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics series of instructional webinars in order to get some fresh ideas and content.  The creativity started to flow as we reviewed the background material, but the amount and quality of the lesson plans and information presented to us by Mary Dussault and Erin Braswell was impressive. By the end of the first hour of the webinar, we had solid ideas and lesson plans that could be implemented in every program from summer Day Camp for 5-year-olds to Advanced Space Academy® for high-school seniors. And they meet both state and national curriculum guidelines!  In this case, our target subject was astronomy.

For our younger trainees, we adapted the activities that dealt with colors and filters into a hands-on component for our astronomy briefing “Tenacious Telescopes.” We use PVC pipe, colored felt and theater lighting gel in the primary colors to teach the trainees about how real telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope use filters to look for specific information, and how scientists can put these single-color images together to make a full-color picture. In addition to making it look more like a real telescope, mounting the color filter inside a PVC pipe telescope has the added bonus of keeping our filters fingerprint and wrinkle free.

YCCC3For our Advanced Academy (junior high to high school) trainees, we added an image processing component into our existing astronomy curriculum which is made up of four components. At the beginning of the week, the trainees participate in a lecture called “Exploring the Night Sky” where they learn the basics of astronomy and focus on finding and naming the constellations and deep space objects. Our second astronomy block is the “Micro Observatory Lab,” where our trainees use the Mobs software to compile full-color images of deep space objects. Our third astronomy block is a “Night Telescope” activity, where the trainees use real telescopes to find the same objects in the sky of which they compiled images the day before. And for our final astronomy block, our Advanced Academy trainees learn the stories behind selected constellations in our inflatable Star Lab.

YCCC AkilHWe have been running the “Micro Observatory Lab” astronomy block since December, 2011, and have had more than 1,500 trainees from all over the world participate. We have so many students participating that we aren’t able to display all their artwork at once, so we have set up two small rotating exhibits of 12 featured photos each here at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, one located in the Main Museum and the other located in the Science Lab used for our summer Space Academy for Educators® camp, and we plan to add a third, larger display to our computer lab this summer.

These kinds of seminars and programs are what make it so awesome to be a part of the network of Smithsonian Affiliates. Imagine all the fun, innovative and educational activities you can dream up with the help of these services! So get out there and sign up for a class today! And spare a glance for the colorful cosmos while you’re at it!

take me out to the ballgame

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Summer is upon us, which means the baseball season is literally in full swing.  Nothing says America more than a sunny afternoon at the ballpark with a hot dog and ball cap, cheering on your favorite team.

Now baseball fans can share their passion outside the ballpark too, with a new initiative launched by the National Museum of American Jewish History, our Affiliate in Philadelphia.  The museum is inviting fans of all ages and backgrounds to submit artifacts, photos, and memorabilia that illustrate their connections to the game.  This collecting effort and national conversation will support a major exhibition opening at the Museum in spring 2014 called Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Jews in America. 

Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax during the 1966 World Series

Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax during the 1966 World Series

This exhibition (which is expected to travel around the country) is the first major exhibition to weave together the history of American sport, leisure and national identity with the story of Jewish immigration and integration into American life.  The exhibition will also tell the stories of other minority groups – including African-Americans, Latinos, Italian and Japanese immigrants – for whom baseball provided an important sense of belonging and pride.

The public is invited to share stories and memories of how baseball has affected generations of fans and their communities through the Museum’s site – chasingdreamsbaseball.tumblr.com.  Here, fans can post images of their memorabilia and share their stories with the Museum’s curators and fellow baseball aficionados.

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Sandy Koufax’ glove, on view at NMAJH, 2010-2012

Those who have visited the National Museum of American Jewish History in the past have likely seen Sandy Koufax’s glove, on loan from the Smithsonian and on view in Philadelphia when the Museum opened in its current location in 2010. 

For more information on the exhibition or public collecting initiative, please read the press release, or visit the Museum’s website at www.nmajh.org.

Just think, here’s something else you can do during the seventh inning stretch!

affiliates in the news, spring 2013 edition

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Affiliates are making news this month!

National Atomic Testing Museum (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Las Vegas museum tells of city’s history with nuclear testing

 

North Carolina Museum of History (Raleigh, North Carolina)
Exhibition featuring 19th-century African American master cabinetmaker Thomas Day opens at Renwick Gallery April 12

 

Mennello Museum of American Art (Orlando, Florida)
Live Active Cultures: Orlando’s balance of old and new: 20th-century canvases and a world-premiere play just a few hundred yards apart.

 

National Civil War Museum (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) and the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History (Kennesaw, Georgia)
Medal of Honor 150: The National Civil War Museum gathers 6 examples of highest honor

 

Mashantucket Pequot Museum (Mashantucket, CT)
Ramp It Up’ at museum

 
Abbe Museum (Bar Harbor, ME)
Abbe will partner with Smithsonian

what’s new at SITES?

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From amazing animals to the immigration experience in America, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) exhibitions reflect the depth and breadth of the Smithsonian’s research and collections.  Host a SITES exhibition and find out how it can expand your community of visitors and supporters, lead to creative programming opportunities and generate greater press coverage.  Here are some of our newest available exhibitions:

Rothschild Giraffes, Barbara von Hoffman, Nature’s Best Photography

Rothschild Giraffes, Barbara von Hoffman, Nature’s Best Photography

Nature’s Best Photography:  Windland Smith Rice International Awards
Nature’s Best Photography features 48 award-winning, large-scale, color photographs of wildlife and wild places from around the globe.  From animals on land, in the sea and in the air to images of people in nature, Nature’s Best Photography reveals the majesty, diversity and even humor of the animal and natural world.  Nature’s Best Photography includes information about the species and its habitat, a description of how each photographer captured their shot, technical photo specifications and a video of polar bear cubs in the wild.  Don’t miss your chance to host this eye-opening exhibition of rare and wonderful images of our animal cousins. Now booking! Tour begins April 2014. Contact:  Ed Liskey, liskeye@si.edu, 202.633.3142

Asians worked the Hawai’i plantations, playing a major role in the archipelago’s agricultural industry. Photograph courtesy The Bishop Museum, Hawai’i

Asians worked the Hawai’i plantations, playing a major role in the archipelago’s agricultural industry. Photograph courtesy The Bishop Museum, Hawai’i

I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story
Asian and Pacific Americans (APAs) make up more than 5% of the U.S. population –over 17 million people–and those numbers are growing. In the first exhibition of its kind, the Smithsonian celebrates APA history across the multitude of incredibly diverse cultures, and explores how APAs have shaped and been shaped by the course of our nation’s history. Rich with compelling, often surprising stories, the exhibition takes a sweeping look at this history, from the very first Asian immigrants to the influx of highly skilled workers many decades later. Thanks to a generous grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Wide American Earth is available at a modest fee of $2,000 per 10-week booking, plus outgoing shipping. Now booking! Tour begins September 2013. Contact: Minnie Russell, russellm@si.edu, 202.633.3160

Bollywood dancers

Dancers and musicians perform a Bollywood show at a restaurant in Jackson Heights. Queens, New York. Photo by Preston Merchant

Beyond Bollywood:  Indian Americans Shape the Nation
Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation is a groundbreaking exhibition exploring the vibrant heritage, daily experience, and diverse political, professional and cultural contributions of Indian Americans in shaping the United States.  Told through captivating images, music, visual art, and first-person narratives, Beyond Bollywood documents a history of discrimination, resistance, achievements and the lasting influence Indian Americans have had on the American experience. Tour begins January 2015. Contact:  Ed Liskey, liskeye@si.edu, 202.633.3142

coming up in affiliateland in may 2013

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May is a busy time in Affiliateland! 

CALIFORNIA
The Japanese American National Museum will open SITES’ American Heroes: Japanese American WWII Nisei Soldiers and the Congressional Gold Medal, 5.4. The museum will also host the National Portrait Gallery’s traveling exhibition Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits in Los Angeles, 5.11.

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Detail of a historic firearm to be displayed in Cody, Wyoming.

WYOMING
64 artifacts from the National Museum of American History’s firearm collection go on display at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, 5.4.

FLORIDA
The Polk Museum of Art will host the Mayfaire Arts Festival. Beverly K. Cox, formerly Exhibits Coordinator for the National Portrait Gallery, will serve as the jurist for the museum’s annual two-day arts festival in Lakeland, 5.10. 

St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum will host a public program on the Art of Boatbuilding, featuring curator Douglas Herman from the National Museum of the American Indian. He will present a public  demonstration on boatbuilding by Pacific Islanders in St. Augustine, 5.18.

NORTH CAROLINA
The Schiele Museum of Natural History and Lynn Planetarium will open an exhibition entitled Mammal Safari, featuring 25 mounted specimens on loan from the National Museum of Natural History, in Gastonia, 5.18.

MARYLAND
College Park Aviation Museum will host their second Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos workshop in College Park, 5.19.

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum hosts a reception for all Affiliate staff during the American Alliance of Museums annual meeting in Baltimore, 5.21.

ramp

Native skateboard culture is headed to Connecticut

CONNECTICUT
The Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center hosts SITES’s Ramp it Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America in Mashantucket, 5.25.

TEXAS
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is hosting SITES’ Elvis at 21, featuring 40 Smithsonian artifacts in Fort Worth, 5.23.

MAINE
Abbe Museum opens SITES’ IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas, in Bar Harbor  5.23.