what’s going on in Affiliateland, December 2015 – January 2016

Affiliates finished the year off with a bang, and are charging into 2016, full steam ahead.  Happy holidays to all!

SI curator Mary Savig signs her book and talks with visitors to RIHS about artists' handmade holiday cards.

SI curator Mary Savig signs her book and talks with visitors to RIHS about artists’ handmade holiday cards.

RHODE ISLAND
Archives of American Art curator Mary Savig gave a lecture on handmade holiday cards by 20th century artists at the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence, 12.5.

NORTH CAROLINA
The Schiele Museum of Natural History & Lynn Planetarium opened SITES’ Titanoboa: Monster Snake exhibition in Gastonia, 12.5.

WYOMING
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West reopened its popular Journeying West: Distinctive Firearms from the Smithsonian exhibition with 50 artifacts on loan from the National Museum of American History, in Cody, 12.5.

SOUTH DAKOTA
The South Dakota State Historical Society hosted a public program around the presentation of the Smithsonian Channel’s Stories from the Vault: Let’s Eat show, in Pierre, 12.15.

CALIFORNIA
Cerritos Library opens SITES’ I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story exhibition in Cerritos, 1.3.16.

The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum opens IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas exhibition in Palm Springs, 1.19.16.

NEW MEXICO

The Post Diamond Tiara with matching brooches made in the mid-19th century will soon be on view in New Mexico.

The Post Diamond Tiara with matching brooches made in the mid-19th century will soon be on view in New Mexico.

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science will announce their affiliation with the opening of the Post Diamond Tiara exhibition featuring the object which is on loan from the National Museum of Natural History, in Albuquerque, 1.9.16.

COLORADO
Smithsonian Undersecretary Dr. Richard Kurin will give a public lecture on his book The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects at History Colorado in Denver, 1.11.16.

IOWA
Affiliations director Harold Closter will announce the Smithsonian’s new affiliation with the Dubuque Museum of Art in Dubuque, 1.12.16.

CONNECTICUT
Carlene Stephens, curator at the National Museum of American History, will present a talk on Connecting the World in Time as part of the Stars of the Smithsonian lecture series at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, 1.14.16.

FLORIDA
The Art of Video Games exhibition, organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, will open at the Frost Art Museum in Miami, 1.23.16.

PUERTO RICO
The Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico will host the traveling exhibition, Impressionism and the Caribbean featuring the self-portrait of painter Pío Casimiro Bacener on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in San Juan, 1.29.16.

Smithsonian Institution and Affiliate Collections Come Together for “Super Indian” at the Denver Art Museum

Special thanks for this guest post to: Eric Berkemeyer, Curatorial Assistant of Native Arts, Denver Art Museum

This October the Denver Art Museum opened Super Indian: Fritz Scholder, 1967-1980 which explores how Fritz Scholder used color and composition to create the powerful and innovative works of his Indian series. The exhibition features more than 40 monumental paintings and lithographs, including works loaned from Smithsonian Institution and Affiliate museums. With the support of these institutions the Denver Art Museum was able to realize an exhibition that fully engages with Scholder’s work from the period of 1967 to 1980; highlighting major themes and artistic approaches within the series.

rhino2

Fritz Scholder, “Indian and Rhinoceros,” 1968, Oil paint on canvas, 68 × 120 in. Collection of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, 268066.000 Photographer: Walter Larrimore, NMAI, © Estate of Fritz Scholder.

From the National Museum of the American Indian comes two works that draw attention to Scholder’s Pop art sensibilities with their bright color, scale, and use of popular, everyday imagery. These paintings, Indian and Rhinoceros (1968) and Walking to the Next Bar (1974), also exhibit his interest in social issues such as the conflicted relationship between American Indians and the Federal government and alcoholism respectively.

Also on view is Indian in Contemporary Chair (1970) from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. With the figure’s gritty, expressionistic rendering, its inclusion contributes to the interpretation of English artist Francis Bacon’s influence on Scholder’s style and composition. Furthermore, the contrast of an Indian subject within a contemporary setting serves to challenge viewers’ assumptions of the place of American Indians in the present day, another theme that runs throughout the exhibition.

Fritz Scholder, Indian at a Gallup Bus Depot, 1969, Oil paint on canvas, 40 × 30 in. Booth Western Art Museum permanent collection, Cartersville, GA, 2013.011.001 Photo courtesy Louis Tonsmeire, Jr., © Estate of Fritz Scholder.

Fritz Scholder, “Indian at a Gallup Bus Depot,” 1969, Oil paint on canvas, 40 × 30 in. Booth Western Art Museum permanent collection, Cartersville, GA, 2013.011.001. Photo courtesy Louis Tonsmeire, Jr., © Estate of Fritz Scholder.

In addition to the fourteen works from the Denver Art Museum, works from two other Smithsonian Affiliates are also featured in the exhibition. From the Booth Western Art Museum is Indian at a Gallup Bus Depot (1969) depicting what Scholder called an “Indian cowboy” in front of an arcade machine, highlighting Scholder’s Pop art sensibility as well as the influence of his teacher Wayne Thiebaud. And, from the Heard Museum comes Indian Dying in Nebraska (1972) adding to the exhibitions exploration of dark and mysterious subjects.

With generous institutional support such as this, visitors to the exhibition are better able to explore the rich work of Fritz Scholder. The exhibition continues at the Denver Art Museum until January 17, 2016. It will then travel to the Phoenix Art Museum February 16, 2016 to June 5, 2016 and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, KS June 23, 2016 to September 18, 2016.

Affiliates in the news- Thanksgiving edition!

Congrats to these Affiliates making news!  If you have a clipping highlighting a collaboration with the Smithsonian or with a fellow Affiliate you’d like to have considered for the Affiliate blog, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee.

Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West (Scottsdale, AZ)
Video: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West now a Smithsonian Affiliate
The video features the presentation of the official certificate of affiliation from Richard Kurin, the Smithsonian’s Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture along with remarks from David N. Smith, Scottsdale’s vice mayor, Jim Bruner, chairman of the museum board, and Barbara Barrett, board member of the Smithsonian Institution.

Coastal Discovery Museum (Hilton Head, SC)
Coastal Discovery Museum becomes Smithsonian Affiliate — a new partnership that could help grow programs, improve visitor experience
“But I think more than increasing the number of visitors, (the affiliation) will increase the quality of the experience that people have when they come to the museum,” Garniewicz said

Coastal Discovery Museum named a Smithsonian affiliate
“The Coastal Discovery Museum’s recognition as a Smithsonian Affiliate will allow us to grow significantly in several areas related to our mission,” said Rex Garniewicz, director of the museum. “We are always seeking to improve our visitors’ understanding of how coastal wetlands will respond to a changing planet, and the Smithsonian’s Global Change Research Wetland is a great partner for improving our presentation of this science to the public.”

Tellus Science Museum (Cartersville, GA)
Tellus Science Museum’s Cartersville meteorite receives Smithsonian recognition
A four billion year-old meteorite which plunged into a house in metro Atlanta was officially recognized and named by the international Meteoritical Society with the assistance of the Smithsonian Institution during a ceremony on Wednesday at the Tellus Science Museum. 

The Rockwell Museum (Corning, NY)
Rockwell Museum becomes Smithsonian affiliate
It’s going to open up new things for the Rockwell and community; it will give people a reason to come back again and again,” Rockwell Museum Executive Director Kristin Swain said.

New Smithsonian partnership among highlights of Rockwell Museum’s 40th anniversary
Having the ability to access the Smithsonian’s collections, as well as those of the other 200 affiliates, will be an important element of creating that broader context, officials said.

Rockwell Museum Becomes Smithsonian Partner: The Rockwell is the first Smithsonian Affiliate in upstate New York
You won’t have to travel to Washington, D.C. to see some of the amazing artifacts in the Smithsonian institute- soon you’ll be able to see some of them right here in the Twin Tiers

The Rockwell Museum Joins Forces With The Smithsonian
The Rockwell Museum now has 139 million more artifacts, artworks, and living collections at its fingertips. That’s because it has become a Smithsonian Affiliate 

Schiele Museum of Natural History (Gastonia, North Carolina)
On the way: largest snake ever
This gives us access to different artifacts and things that couldn’t be done without the Smithsonian’s resources,” McGinnis said

National Atomic Testing Museum (Las Vegas, Nevada)
New museum executive director selected
Hall replaces Jim Braun, who served as director for six months after former Executive Director Allan Palmer retired last year. In his last position as the head of a museum, Hall was executive director of the Roswell Museum and Art Center in New Mexico.

San Diego Air & Space Museum (San Diego, California)
NBC 7 SAN DIEGO AND NBCUNIVERSAL FOUNDATION AWARD $100,000 TO THREE LOCAL NONPROFITS IN SAN DIEGO AREA
The San Diego Air & Space Museum adheres preserves, interprets, educates and shares its rich aviation and space resources. BEAMPro cutting edge programs inspire an interest in science, technology, engineering, math and innovation with schools that lack transportation funding. (They were awarded $25K)

Montana State University paleontologist Jack Horner visits a field research site in July 2013 near Livingston. Photo credit- Kelly Gorham/MSU

Montana State University paleontologist Jack Horner visits a field research site in July 2013 near Livingston. Photo credit- Kelly Gorham/MSU

Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, Montana)
Famed paleontologist Jack Horner to retire from MSU
World-famous dinosaur scientist Jack Horner, whose discoveries about how dinosaurs lived changed paleontology, will retire next year from Montana State University and the Museum of the Rockies after 33 years. He said he intends to work with the Burke Museum in Seattle at the University of Washington, which is building a new museum 

Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO) [Exhibition includes a painting from the Smithsonian American Art Museum]
Denver Art Museum’s Wyeth show looks a little weird to Jamie
Strange to see your life flash before your eyes, he said, never knowing what curators will choose when they prepare a look back at his career. This one, titled “Wyeth: Andrew and Jamie in the Studio,” mixes, mingles and compares the paintings of the famous father and son artists. 

Denver Art Museum Strengthens Commitment to Native American Work
Early last month, the Denver Art Museum raised the curtain on “Super Indian: Fritz Scholder, 1967-1980,” an exhibition featuring about 40 colorful, rarely seen artworks by a controversial figure who died in 2005. 

Universidad del Turabo (Gurabo, Puerto Rico) and North Carolina Museum of History (Raleigh, NC)
UNC profs discuss Puerto Rican culture, literature in Smithsonian sessions
Scholars from the Smithsonian Institution and the Universidad del Turabo in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, discussed Puerto Rican culture and literature Thursday in a session available online at museums across the country, including the N.C. Museum of History. 

Scholars from the Smithsonian Institution and the Universidad del Turabo in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, discussed Puerto Rican culture and literature Thursday in a session available online at museums across the country, including the N.C. Museum of History.

Scholars from the Smithsonian Institution and the Universidad del Turabo in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, discussed Puerto Rican culture and literature Thursday in a session available online at museums across the country, including the N.C. Museum of History.

El Turabo y el Smithsonian discuten la diáspora puertorriqueña
“Este simposio es el resultado de la colaboración entre el Smithsonian Latino Center, las instituciones afiliadas al Smithsonian Affiliations y el doctor Félix Huertas, decano de Educación General de la Universidad del Turabo. 

Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ)
A rare performance combining members of the world’s two leading Tex-Mex bands
GRAMMY winners Los Texmaniacs have been crisscrossing the world with music that incorporates rock and roll and jazz while honoring the roots of conjunto Tejano. They recently appeared at Austin City Limits with Flaco Jiménez and Dwight Yoakam. Max Baca, the founder of the band, has been a frequent guest with Los Lobos and won another GRAMMY Award a year ago for Flaco & Max: Legends & Legacies, his duo album on Smithsonian Folkways with Jiménez.

Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
Smithsonian Awarded Carnegie Grant To Advance Digital Learning Practices
Teacher training at the pilot sites will be conducted by SCLDA, the Senator John Heinz History Center and Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which serves the county’s 42 suburban school districts and Pittsburgh Public Schools, and is made possible by a Grable Foundation grant.

People on the move:
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture (Baltimore, MD)
Reginald F. Lewis Museum appoints new chief curator
Charles E. Bethea, who grew up in Bladensburg, becomes one of the most public faces of the Baltimore museum. He’ll apply his quarter century of experience working for museums and cultural organizations in his new role as the Lewis’ chief curator and director of collections and exhibitions

Highlight Your Affiliation with a SITES Exhibition

The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) works closely with many Smithsonian Affiliates to bring diverse exhibitions to local communities.  Many Affiliates complement exhibitions by hosting speakers or creating innovative programming to engage their communities and serve their missions.  Two new exhibitions, Roots of Wisdom: Native Knowledge. Shared Science. and Things Come Apart- explore the fascinating world of art and science.  Find out how to bring them to your neighborhood!

Roots of Wisdom: Native Knowledge. Shared Science.

Tulalip1

Cooking salmon traditionally on iron wood sticks over wood coals.

This brand new exhibition from the Smithsonian and The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry raises the question: How do Native communities handle the environmental challenges that threaten their way of life?

Roots of Wisdom focuses on four examples of successful restoration efforts in Native communities. For example, when modern construction, farming, and dams blocked streams important to Pacific Northwest tribes, the salmon – a sacred food – had trouble making it upstream to tribal lands. The tribes combined the ecological knowledge inherited from their ancestors with their own scientific studies and worked alongside government agencies and neighbors to address the problem. Today, the salmon are returning to the streams.

What environmental challenges face your community? Roots of Wisdom gives host venues an opportunity to customize three additional banners to highlight local content. Complementary educational resources include clever online games, demonstration guides, classroom activities, and more to reinforce exhibition themes.

Perfect for those Affiliates interested in Native American topics or natural history and environmental sciences, the exhibition was created in collaboration with the featured Native communities and is supported by a National Science Foundation grant. Learn more here.

Things Come Apart
Did you know that there are over 216 components that make up a common power drill?

Disassembly_DigCameraV03

Photo of Digital SLR Camera, 2012. Sony. Component count: 580. © Todd McLellan

Through extraordinary photographs by Canadian photographer Todd McClellan, disassembled objects and fascinating videos, Things Come Apart reveals the inner workings of common, everyday possessions. The exhibition embraces key STEAM concepts and includes hands-on educational activities and supplies, aligned with Next Generation Science Standards. Learn more here.

“When taking objects apart, I organize the pieces in separate containers in the sequence in which they are removed. To arrange the objects, first, I position the main component, usually the exterior shell. After that, placing the parts in a beautiful shape is a bit of a puzzle, and I repeatedly rework the layout to make each piece fit in the space. Even the smallest objects can take three days or more. The full size of the disassembly, with every single object laid out, can be huge in relation to the original object. It is as if the true scale of the object is revealed only when it is taken apart.” – Todd McLellan

Upcountry History Museum_Documerica installation

Installation from Upcountry History Museum, Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina. Not only did the Museum launch the national tour of Searching for the Seventies, they used the exhibition to celebrate their new Smithsonian Affiliation. Photo courtesy of the Museum.

 

Last-minute booking opportunities

Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project
Nov 21, 2015 – January 31, 2016
Reduced fee: $5,000, plus outgoing shipping (opening date negotiable)

What’s Up, Doc?  The Animation Art of Chuck Jones
December 12, 2015 – April 10, 2016
Reduced fee:  $35,000 including shipping

Patios, Pools, & the Invention of the American Backyard
December 19, 2015 – February 28, 2016
Reduced fee: $4,000, plus outgoing shipping

 

 

 

Affiliates in the news! November enewsletter edition

Congrats to these Affiliates making news!  If you have a clipping highlighting a collaboration with the Smithsonian or with a fellow Affiliate you’d like to have considered for the Affiliate blog, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee.

Agua Caliente Cultural Museum (Palm Springs)
Agua Caliente exhibition selected for national spotlight
We are so honored to be able to bring such an important exhibition about Agua Caliente to the National Museum of the American Indian,” said Hicks, a member of the Prairie Band of Potawatomie Indians. “We feel that Native communities tell their own stories best, and we are thrilled to partner.”

Section 14 exhibit heads to Washington
We are a small, 1,600-square-foot museum, and we’ve got an exhibition that’s going to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian,” an exuberant Michael Hammond, executive director of the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum gushed to the hundreds gathered Saturday night for the annual Dinner in the Canyons event. 

Section 14: The Dark Days (VIDEO)

Ohio History Center, Ohio History Connection (Columbus, Ohio)
Superman suit fitting for ’50s pop-culture exhibit at Ohio History Center (VIDEO)
We thought it was an important cultural icon,” said Dwight Blocker Bowers, the curator of entertainment history for the national museum. “He was the first real superhero to have a huge effect on American culture.”

Lesley Poling, registrar of collections for the Ohio History Connection, fine-tunes the Superman costume worn by George Reeves. It will be on display through Jan. 3 at the Ohio History Center.

Lesley Poling, registrar of collections for the Ohio History Connection, fine-tunes the Superman costume worn by George Reeves. It will be on display through Jan. 3 at the Ohio History Center.

Iconic ‘Adventures Of Superman’ Suit Flies Into Ohio
The iconic outfit is on a special loan from the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.  The super suit was worn by Reeves, who portrayed mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent and his heroic alter ego, Superman from 1952 to 1958. It is first time ever the suit has appeared in the Buckeye State. 

George Reeves’ Superman suit flies into Columbus for Ohio History Center appearance
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Superman — his suit, anyway — and it’s headed to Columbus. George Reeves’ iconic red, blue and yellow outfit goes on display Saturday at the Ohio History Center, part of the museum’s ongoing exhibit on the 1950s. The super suit was worn by Reeves, an Iowa native, during the TV series “Adventures of Superman,” which aired nationally from 1952 to 1958. The suit has been at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History for the past 30 years, but hasn’t been on display since 2006. Its appearance in Columbus is the costume’s first public showing in nearly a decade.

Reeves’ Superman suit on display at Ohio History Connection
On loan from the Smithsonian Institution, based in Washington, D.C., it is part of the facility’s “1950s: Building the American Dream” exhibit.

Anchorage Museum (Anchorage, Alaska)
Native wood carving makes a comeback at Anchorage Museum (VIDEO)
Traditional Native wood carving is coming back to the Anchorage Museum. Three master carvers – John Hudson (Tsimshian), Norman Jackson (Tlingit) and Donald Varnell (Haida) – are taking part in a week-long residency at the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center. .“Organizing this project is about teaching and education and sharing, maybe some arts that aren’t very well known with the broader public and with young people who are really interested in learning,” said Aron Crowell, Alaska director for the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center.

UAA students work on cedar whistles at the Anchorage Museum's Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center.

UAA students work on cedar whistles at the Anchorage Museum’s Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center.

Photos: Student carvers learn to make Alaska Native musical instruments
The Smithsonian’s artist residency program is focused on “material traditions,” with cedar being this particular program’s focus. Not only do master craftsmen get to pass on their skills, but museum conservators use the knowledge to better enable them to care for the artifacts in their custody.

South Dakota State Historical Society (Pierre, SD)
Museum curators, government officials welcome back horse effigy
Kevin Gover, a Pawnee and director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, said the Smithsonian can do what it does only because of its partnerships with smaller museums, such as the Cultural Heritage Center. The Smithsonian has a collection of about 800,000 American Indian items, and only 1 percent of these are on display in its two locations at any given moment.

Bounding home: Masterpiece of Plains Indian sculpture returns to South Dakota
And this weekend that sculpture returns to South Dakota, where for the next two years, visitors to the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center will have the chance to compare it to two other horse effigies known to have been made by No Two Horns. One is on loan from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Historical Society Adds New Smithsonian Affiliation Benefits To Membership Program
Beginning in October, the society is launching its new membership program which features the addition of Smithsonian Affiliate Member benefits for all new or renewing members at the Heritage Circle level.

Arielle Parsons is eMammal Project Coordinator for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Arielle Parsons is eMammal Project Coordinator for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (Raleigh, NC)
Inside NC Science: Help capture wildlife on camera
Rather than stay up all night stalking wildlife, you can use camera traps – motion-triggered cameras – to record animals that live in a particular area. Biologists in the Biodiversity Lab at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences are using these cameras to document what species occur along urban-to-rural areas around Raleigh and Charlotte. This project, called eMammal, is a partnership between the museum and the Smithsonian Institution.

Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO) (a painting from SAAM is in this exhibition)
Artsplainer: Fritz Scholder’s Indian Paintings at the Denver Art Museum
In 2008, the National Museum of the American Indian mounted a retrospective of the work of the 20th-century Figurative artist Fritz Scholder. It titled the show “Indian/Not Indian,” referring to the identity question at the heart of Scholder’s work. Scholder, who died in 2005, was a quarter Luiseño, a registered member of the tribe, with a father who worked at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. But at points in his career Scholder denied the significance of that Native American heritage.

Frontiers of Flight Museum (Dallas, TX)
Google Expeditions Pioneer Program Launched For Students To Take Virtual Trips; What Could This Mean For The Future?
. The Android maker’s partners in the Expeditions Pioneer Program are the American Museum of Natural History, Alchemy VR, Frontiers of Flight Museum, The Smithsonian,.  

US Space and Rocket Center (Huntsville, AL)
Alabama’s U.S. Space and Rocket Center sets one-day attendance record with new exhibit
The U.S. Space and Rocket Center Saturday set a one-day attendance record while hosting Museum Day Live, an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine which includes participating museums across the country. During the free event, almost 5,500 people visited the Rocket City hotspot to enjoy and explore the state’s largest tourist attraction. 

Paleontologists Louis Jacobs, SMU, and Anthony Fiorillo, Perot Museum, have identified a new species of marine mammal from bones recovered from the Aleutian island Unalaska in the North Pacific. (Hillsman Jackson, SMU)

Paleontologists Louis Jacobs, SMU, and Anthony Fiorillo, Perot Museum, have identified a new species of marine mammal from bones recovered from the Aleutian island Unalaska in the North Pacific. (Hillsman Jackson, SMU)

Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas, TX)
New fossils intensify mystery of short-lived, toothy mammals unique to ancient North Pacific
Paleontologists Louis Jacobs, SMU, and Anthony Fiorillo, Perot Museum, have identified a new species of marine mammal from bones recovered from the Aleutian island Unalaska in the North Pacific.

Sullivan Museum and History Center (Northfield, VT)
Smithsonian official to speak at Norwich
Kurin will talk about American history as reflected in iconic objects, as outlined in his most book “The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects.”

St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum (St. Augustine, FL)
New name and a renewed focus on maritime history
But under the new moniker of St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, the Smithsonian Affiliate organization aims to enhance its reputation in the field of maritime history and research as well.

Museum of the African Diaspora (San Francisco, CA)
Museum of the African Diaspora Names New Deputy Director
The Museum of the African Diaspora announced the appointment of Michael Warr as its new deputy director. Warr will lead the museum’s operations and planning

kudos affiliates! for november 2015

 

way to go Affiliates!

FUNDING

Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center (Solomons, MD) received a $15,000 grant from the Dominion Foundation, in support of the Children’s Discovery Garden & Nature Trail. The Children’s Garden will be natural play space and outdoor classroom where young guests will explore the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay with a particular focus on strategies to protect the Critical Area.

Through an approximately $7,000 Wisconsin Humanities Council grant, the Wisconsin Maritime Museum (Manitowoc, WI) created a Facing the River program. Facing the River features activities to teach kids about river history and ecology, including a now-and-then photo comparison, songs and storytelling from childrens performer David H.B. Drake, a travel brochure art project and samplings of local food.

Through a generous $1.13 million grant over three years from Dell, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas, TX) has created a mobile innovation truck that will bring science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) learning to a broader and more diverse audience in the Dallas/Fort Worth region and beyond. The Perot Museum TECH Truck, powered by Dell, will provide more opportunities for the community to engage in museum experiences through free, out-of-school educational and interactive programs, including drop-in sessions and workshops, using no- and low-tech activities as well as high-tech experiences. The program is designed to reach people who – for a variety of reasons – do not or cannot engage with the Museum at its physical location.

ACHIEVEMENTS and RECOGNITION
After spending six weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list in 2015, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography” has been chosen by the members of the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association (MIBA) as a Midwest Booksellers Choice Award recipient for nonfiction. The South Dakota State Historical Society published Wilder’s account of her family’s pioneering experience last November.

The South Dakota State Historical Society’s museum director, Jay Smith, received the President’s Award for his service to the Mountain Plains Museums Association (MPMA). The President’s Award is a public recognition of those people, institutions or businesses that have contributed significantly in any capacity to the continued growth and success of the MPMA.

Framingham State University has been recognized for its efforts to support diversity and inclusion on campus with a Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award. The award is given by INSIGHT into Diversity, the oldest and largest diversity magazine and website in higher education today.