coming up in affiliateland in may 2015

The 2015 class of inductees to the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

The 2015 class of inductees to the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Affiliations director Harold Closter will give remarks at the Affiliations announcement at the Upcountry History Museum in Greenville, 5.7.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame (headquartered in North Canton, OH) will host a series of innovation events at the Smithsonian to celebrate the 2015 class of inductees – 14 trailblazing inventors.  The induction ceremony will be held at the National Portrait Gallery/American Art Museum, 5.12.  Innovation Echo, a panel discussion with inductees, co-hosted by the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, will take place at the National Museum of American History, 5.13.

MARYLAND
College Park Aviation Museum will host From Queen Bee to Drone Fever: The Strange Evolution of Unmanned Aircraft, a public lecture by National Air and Space curator Roger Conner in College Park, 5.14.

Dig_It_poster_300NORTH CAROLINA
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will open SITES Dig It: The Secrets of Soil in Raleigh, 5.16.

Affiliates in the news! May 2015 edition

Congrats to these Affiliates making news!  Each month we highlight Affiliate-Smithsonian and Affiliate-Affiliate collaborations making headlines. 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.

Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals (Hillsboro, OR)
Rice NW Museum of Rocks and Minerals announces new affiliation with Smithsonian
Harvey goes on to say that the affiliation “confirms that [the Rice Museum] meets the high standards required to assist our schools and community in earth science education. It assures that visitors and supporters of the museum can have confidence in the quality and content of the exhibits, plus enjoyment in viewing fine minerals, fossils, meteorites and lapidary specimens.”

Jessica Tenenbaum, left, a program manager for the Pinhead Institute, presented the Smithsonian Institution’s webcast “Mineral Dependence: Gemstones to Cell Phones” Thursday at the Wilkinson Public Library. [Photo by Stephen Elliott]

Jessica Tenenbaum, left, a program manager for the Pinhead Institute, presented the Smithsonian Institution’s webcast “Mineral Dependence: Gemstones to Cell Phones” Thursday at the Wilkinson Public Library. [Photo by Stephen Elliott]

The Pinhead Institute (Telluride, CO)
Rock talk
Jessica Tenenbaum, left, a program manager for the Pinhead Institute, presented the Smithsonian Institute’s webcast “Mineral Dependence: Gemstones to Cell Phones” Thursday at the Wilkinson Public Library. The webcast featured Smithsonian geologist Michael Wise explaining different types of minerals, and was geared toward students.

National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia, PA)
Why Albert Einstein, the Genius Behind the Theory of Relativity, Loved His Pipe
And yet, as the 60th anniversary of Einstein’s death approaches on April 18, the pipe itself is not currently on display among the science holdings of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington. Instead, as proof of its popularity, it’s at the National Museum of American Jewish History, a Smithsonian affiliate in Philadelphia, for several years.

College Park Aviation Museum (College Park, MD)
Smithsonian curator to give presentation at College Park Aviation Museum
Dr. Andrew K. Johnston, geographer and curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, will present “Beyond GPS: Navigation on Earth and in Space” at the College Park Aviation Museum

South Carolina State Museum (Columbia, SC)
‘Happy Hubble 25’: State Museum to celebrate space telescope’s 25th anniversary
The event will feature a live-stream webcast from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, in which guests will hear from NASA subject matter experts about the shuttle missions needed for launching and servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.

This building, now the Museum of Contemporary Art, sits on one side of the Avenue of the Martyrs. It commemorates the 1964 Panamanian Flag Riots. Photo by Susana Raab, Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum.

This building, now the Museum of Contemporary Art, sits on one side of the Avenue of the Martyrs. It commemorates the 1964 Panamanian Flag Riots. Photo by Susana Raab, Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum.

Museo del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá (Panama City, Panama)
Anacostia Community Museum examines connections between Metro DC Panamanians and Panama
“Bridging the Americas’ is a timely exhibition because it connects communities across the oceans through diverse personal stories of Washington, D.C., area residents,” said Curtis. “It expands our representation of our local community and engages our visitors in collective reflection about their notions and experiences of community as well.”

Kenosha Public Museum (Kenosha, WI)
Get Out: Here’s lookin’ at you, Earth!
The panels on display locally came from a larger-scale Smithsonian Institution show. When Andersen contacted the Smithsonian, they sent the smaller set of poster-sized prints. Andersen added information from the United States Geological Survey, which she said offers context about the history of map making.

National Inventors Hall of Fame
Three-Day Innovation Event Series To Honor The Nation’s Most Creative Minds On May 11-13
“I am so happy that the National Inventors Hall of Fame was invented. Otherwise I would not have the wonderful opportunity to host this three-day celebration of American inventiveness,” said Mo Rocca, Emmy winning CBS Sunday Morning correspondent and Host of CBS The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation. “My hope is that the genius of these innovators and visionaries will rub off on me so that one day I will invent something worthy of induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.”

The Apollo 8 crew in November 1968. L to R: James A. Lovell Jr., William A. Anders, and Frank Borman. (Photo: NASA)

The Apollo 8 crew in November 1968. L to R: James A. Lovell Jr., William A. Anders, and Frank Borman. (Photo: NASA)

History Colorado (Denver, CO)
History Colorado brings Apollo 8 to Denver in April
Dr. Michael Neufeld, Senior Curator in the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, will be in Denver for two talks on April 21.

The People Who Weren’t Kidding (Huff Post Latino Voices blog written by Eduardo Diaz, Smithsonian Latino Center)
As for museums, there have been a precious few exhibitions on the subject, which is why I was thrilled to see History Colorado, a Smithsonian affiliate, recently open El Movimiento: The Chicano Movement in Colorado at its flagship venue in Denver.

The Mexican Museum (San Francisco, CA)
Berkeley’s CLAS, Mexican Museum in new cultural partnership
The Center for Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley has formed a partnership with the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, a Smithsonian affiliate, to bring innovative cultural programming to a wider audience in the Bay Area and throughout California.

North Carolina Museum of History (Raleigh, NC)
And … action! N.C. Museum of History exhibit highlights 100 years of filmmaking in the state
More than 100 artifacts are borrowed from the Cape Fear Museum and 13 are on loan from Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, MT)
What’s the Army doing with dinosaurs?
April 11, 2014, Montana State University’s, Museum of the Rockies hosted a public sendoff of the Wankel T. rex on a journey to represent Montana’s Dinosaur Trail to the nation and the world at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History becoming the “Nation’s T. rex.” As promised, exactly one year later, another T. rex specimen entrusted to the Montana museum goes on public display … and in massive form.

VIDEO (NBC Montana)

Associate curator at National Museum of the American Indian to speak at MSU March 31
Joe D. Horse Capture, an associate curator for the Smithsonian Institution at the National Museum of the American Indian, will give a lecture at Museum of the Rockies on Tuesday, March 31, as part of Montana State University’s President’s Fine Art Series. Horse Capture is an MSU alumnus and a member of the A’aninin (Gros Ventre) Tribe.

Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
Cesar Chavez portrait to go on display at Smithsonian
. Chavez died in his sleep and the photo Miyatake captured became one of the icon’s last official portraits. On Friday at 9 a.m., the photograph will be donated to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., in a ceremony at the Japanese American National Museum.

Institute of Texan Cultures presents Sikh religion exhibit

Institute of Texan Cultures presents Sikh religion exhibit

UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures (San Antonio, TX)
Exhibition – Sikhs: Legacy of the Punjab
ITC welcomes exhibit on a growing Texan community. The Institute of Texan Cultures will host the traveling exhibit, “Sikhs: Legacy of the Punjab,” developed by the Smithsonian Institution and sponsored by the Sikh Heritage Foundation.

Smithsonian Sikh exhibit opens in SA (VIDEO)
Dr. G.P. Singh came to United States in the 1970s and admits he was the first to wear a turban here. It hasn’t been easy to raise a family and grow a thriving defense contracting business in the process, he said, but he has. “It is the fifth-largest (religion), but nobody knows about our faith,” he said. Singh said he was a catalyst for getting the first Sikh exhibit at the Smithsonian, entitled “Sikhs: Legacy of the Punjab.”

Museums of Sonoma County (Santa Rosa, CA)
Art Museum of Sonoma County set to open
Throughout its long effort to expand, the Sonoma County Museum made other improvements, becoming affiliated in 2009 with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., one of 190 affiliates in 40 states. That entitles the museum to show the Smithsonian’s traveling programs and get advice from its experts.

The Museum of Flight (Seattle, WA)
Pilots reunite on 60th anniversary of Crusader’s first flight
Adding the Crusader to the Museum of Flight’s collection “adds to the story of the transition from the propeller age to the jet age,” he said. The plane is to be displayed in the museum’s gallery at Boeing Field in Seattle. . The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum first loaned the plane to the museum in 1987, later donating it in 2004. Restoration work started in 1996.

Fully restored F-8 Crusader unveiled at Paine Field (VIDEO)
Inside the Museum of Flight’s restoration center at Paine Field, a U.S. Navy F-8 Crusader jet was unveiled. The plane had been donated by the Navy to the Smithsonian, but the Smithsonian in turn donated the jet to the Museum of Flight. The plan is to move the now restored airplane to its great gallery at the museum on the west side of Boeing Field in Seattle in mid-2016. The restoration took about 20 years with volunteer labor.

It’s Not About the Conference: Museums and the Web 2015

The first rule of the Museums and the Web conference–it’s not about the conference. The second rule–meet somebody. What better way start to a conference dedicated to sharing ideas about digital experiences in museums than reinforcing the idea to just get together and share!

The #MW2015 conference kicks off at the Palmer House in Chicago.

The #MW2015 conference kicks off at the Palmer House in Chicago.

I had the opportunity to attend the #MW2015 Conference in Chicago this year representing team Smithsonian Affiliations. As a “first timer” we were given ten guidelines for getting the most out of the meeting. The top five were:

5. Explore
4. Session hop
3. Check out the exhibit hall
2. Meet a new friend
1. Remember- it’s not about the conference!

We all know attending conferences is all about the networking. But here, bouncing ideas off of people is an even bigger priority. It’s even encouraged to skip a session if you are deep in conversation and learning something new. Skip a session? Outrageous, right?!! Not here. The power of collaboration and sharing ideas is key to the experience. Web developers, content managers, museum educators and museum curators all coming together to puzzle out this question of integrating digital into the museum experience. This would be an epic blog if I listed all of the amazing things I took away from the conference, so I’ll just provide some highlights. Bottom line- If you are interested at all in increasing content and engagement online and in person, and you’re interested in meeting some really cool people, this is a really incredible meeting.

My favorite takeaways:

  • storytellingWe are all built to learn things through stories. Not all stories are good stories, but those that are help direct your attention and ask questions and reflect on our lives and others lives. Empowering our whole team to see themselves as storytellers is important. It’s not chronology that is being sought but building connections from overlapping paths. From The Whole Story, and Then Some: ‘Digital Storytelling’ in Evolving Museum Practice
  • Endless browsing is becoming a substitute for deep contact. We want intuitive access with the right balance of control, surprise, visual pleasure and reward. From the XY&Z of Digital Storytelling: Dramaturgy, Directionality and Design. Slide deck here.
  • Internal communication is the key to selling research and improving the user experience when considering motivations of different segmented audiences. From Finding the Motivation Behind a Click: Definition and Implementation of a Website Audience Segmentation
  • We are not technology specialists; we are learning specialists. Technology is just a way to make art accessible. From Museum Making: Creating with Emerging Technologies in Art Museums.
  • place“Place” remains a key part of identity creation and community building within digital culture. Location is not place. Museums positioning themselves in the center of supporting communities are creating a greater sense of place. Connecting audiences with place values creates more engaged communities. From Beyond the Building: Creating and Supporting Communities Based on Place
  • Cultural organizations in change are fertile spaces for critical shifts in their digital work. When considering change: Don’t be afraid to lose some things for the better of the organization. The most interesting digital storytellers will likely NOT be in your digital team. There needs to be a clear project manager–the person who “owns” the project cannot “run” the project because they are too invested. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. Include ALL departments and have conversations about important changes. From Organising for Change and Change in Organisations
  • Digital is beyond the digital department–it is really in every aspect of our business. We need to become more nimble and efficient in how we deliver our services and digital can help us do that. If we don’t embrace it, we will be in danger of losing income, falling behind competitors, losing appeal and missing opportunities. From How to be a Digital Leader and Advocate: The Changing Role of the Digital Department

All-in-all it was an amazing experience. I look forward to using some of these ideas and inspiring change in my organization. Were you at #MW2015? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

That's me in the background experiencing a wind vortex at the Museum of Science and Industry. Can't all be serious business, right?!

That’s me in the background experiencing a wind vortex at the Museum of Science and Industry. Can’t all be serious business, right?!

may kudos Affiliates!

Congratulations on  your spring accomplishments!

FUNDING

Allied Arts announced the distribution of $137,881 in educational outreach and capacity-building grants to fund 47 projects in support of local arts and cultural organizations, including scholarship and transportation assistance for Title 1 schools to attend Space Day at Science Museum Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, OK).

The National WWII Museum (New Orleans, LA) announced a $20 million gift from former board chair Donald T. “Boysie” Bollinger. The gift will be used to add an iconic architectural piece to the six-acre campus – the Canopy of Peace. The Museum also received a $75,000 contribution from Whitney Bank. The gift will be used to support the museum’s researchers and historians in their ongoing educational and preservation efforts, as well as honor the longtime Museum volunteer group affectionately known as the A-Team.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND RECOGNITION

Birthplace of Country Music Museum currently hosts New Harmonies: Celebrating Roots Music exhibition from the Smithsonian

Birthplace of Country Music Museum currently hosts New Harmonies: Celebrating Roots Music exhibition from the Smithsonian

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum (Bristol, TN) received the following prestigious awards from the Tennessee Association of Museums:

-Past President’s Award of Excellence
-Award of Excellence, Permanent Exhibit
-Award of Excellence, Temporary Exhibit-Carter Family: Lives and Legacies
-Award of Excellence, AV -Music Mixing Station at BCMM
-Award of Commendation, Films -Chapel Film at BCMM

The Antique Automobile Club of America Museum (Hershey, PA) was awarded seven awards during the National Association of Automobile Museums (NAAM) Conference. The AACA Museum received awards in the following categories:

– First Place – Division II Events and Public Promotions related to “An Evening with the Tuckers” event that was held in April to commemorate the Tucker automobile and the family.
– First Place – Division II Interpretive Exhibits related to the “Cammack Tucker Exhibit” that features a collection of Tucker vehicles donated to the Museum by David Cammack.
– Second Place – Division II Events and Public Promotions related to the “Sirens of Chrome” event.
– Second Place – Division II Collateral Materials related to the 2014 Wedding Show Mailer.
– Second Place – Division II Collateral Materials related to our “Motoring Mysteries of the Far East” Exhibit.
– Third Place – Division II Events and Public Promotions related to the Night at the Museum event held in October, celebrating the grand opening on the Cammack Tucker Gallery.
– Third Place – Division II Collateral Materials related to the AACA Museum Rackcard used to promote the Museum for its events and exhibits alike. This is a constantly updated publication to reflect the current exhibits and events at the AACA Museum.

Exhibition of Tucker automobiles at the Antique Automobile Museum in Hershey, PA

Exhibition of Tucker automobiles at the Antique Automobile Museum in Hershey, PA

The B&O Railroad Museum (Baltimore, MD) received a “Top Choice 2015” medal by Asian visitors and judges from Lianorg, the leading tourist website in Asia.

The American Marketing Association chapter in Lincoln announced University of Nebraska State Museum (Lincoln, NE) the recipient of their top award, “Prism” in the Social Media Non-Profit Category for the #MonsterSnake Selfies, and a “Merit” award (second place) in the Special Event Non-Profit category for the promotion of Titanoboa: Monster Snake Exhibit Opening Weekend.

The American Alliance of Museums has announced that eight museums including the Kentucky Historical Society, (Frankfurt, KY) earned reaccreditation.

LEADERSHIP 

New York City’s tourism arm, NYC & Company, has appointed Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden (Staten Island, NY) CEO and President Lynn B. Kelly to its board’s executive committee. Kelly, a Staten Island native, was also tapped to head the organization’s Arts & Culture Committee.

10TH ANNIVERSARY
MOR_Logo2013The Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, MT) officially became an affiliate on 5/10/2005.  Happy Anniversary!

new webcasts from the National Air and Space Museum

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) is developing nine STEM in 30, live, fast-paced 30-minute webcasts which will be made available to teachers and students in grades 5-8 classrooms across the country. The primary goal of this program is to increase interest and engagement in STEM for students.  STEM in 30 hopes to achieve:

from the webcast "Earth Day: A View from Above"

from the webcast “Earth Day: A View from Above”

– Increased interest in STEM and STEM careers
– Increased understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics topics
– Increased awareness and importance of current and future human space exploration

This series of webcasts from the National Air and Space Museum and partner sites focus on STEM subjects that integrate all four content areas. The webcasts will feature NASA and NASM curators, scientists, and educators exploring STEM subjects using museum and NASA collections, galleries, and activities. During the 30-minute broadcasts, students will engage with museum experts through experiments and activities, ask the experts questions, and answer interactive poll questions through the interactive ‘Cover It Live’ feature.

The webcast will be available live on the National Air and Space Museum website as well as NASA TV.  After the live broadcasts, NASM will archive the webcasts in an interactive STEM in 30 Gallery.

from the webcast "Hot Air Balloons and Air Pressure"

from the webcast “Hot Air Balloons and Air Pressure”

Upcoming and archived topics include Space Junk, the Wright Brothers, Space Food, Living and Working in Space, and more.

Affiliates are encouraged to share this new resource with their school partners, host “viewing parties” in their own museums, or show the archived webcasts in their galleries or theaters at any time.  If your organization decides to broadcast any of these webcasts, let us know!

New Harmonies, New Opportunities at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Many thanks for this guest post to Rene Rodgers, Ph.D, Associate Curator at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. Would you like to be a guest author? Contact us.

At the beginning of August 2014, the Birthplace of Country Music Museum (BCMM) in Bristol, TN/VA, opened its doors for the first time after several years of planning, fundraising, community support, and finally, exhibit design and construction. For everyone who had believed in the museum becoming a reality and worked so hard to make it happen, the grand opening weekend was a real thrill with staff and volunteers, local and regional supporters, and visitors from many states and even other countries, enjoying the museum’s exhibits, live music performances, and a vintage radio show recording.

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum at night. Photograph by Fresh Air Photo

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum at night. Photograph by Fresh Air Photo

Since that first day, we’ve had the excitement of opening our first special exhibit, the development of a variety of education and outreach programs, the opportunity to partner with other local museums and cultural organizations, media coverage from outlets such as National Geographic and The New York Times, and so much more. And as one of the oldest Smithsonian Affiliates with one of the newest museums, we’ve had the opportunity to see firsthand the resources and support that are possible through our link to the Smithsonian.

In fact, we saw our community benefit from that affiliation even before the museum opened. Back in 2012, we were able to offer “Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos,” an after-school astrophotography program for under-served middle school students using the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Micro-Observatory Telescope Network. This program gave these students access to resources and opportunities they might never have had otherwise, a truly significant benefit we were able to share with our community through the Smithsonian.

The New Harmonies crates arrive at BCMM. Birthplace of Country Music Museum

The New Harmonies crates arrive at BCMM. Birthplace of Country Music Museum

More recently, we have opened our first Smithsonian special exhibit – New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music. After its life as a Museum on Main Street (MoMS) traveling exhibit, New Harmonies has now found its permanent home at BCMM, something made possible through the hard work of our Smithsonian Affiliations National Outreach Manager Alma Douglas and Carol Harsh, Director of MoMS at the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.

After several months of negotiating the many steps in the process, 19 huge crates arrived on a truck in January of this year. Unloading and unpacking each of the crates was like opening a treasure chest – each one revealing another piece in the exhibit puzzle: a panel about sacred music, a diddley bow, a flip panel about the Kingston Trio, an audio box, a banner.

In March, we prepared the special exhibits gallery for New Harmonies. Two days were spent with our volunteers figuring out how the panels fit together – using directional pictograms that made it a little bit like putting together IKEA furniture – and working out the best configuration of all the elements in the gallery. We also created some of our own elements to add to the space – a “woodshed” where visitors can watch short videos about how to play various instruments and then have a go themselves and a lounge area where records can be played on a retro record player.

Visitors enjoy the New Harmonies exhibit on its opening night at BCMM, March 2015. Photograph by Haley Hensley, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Visitors enjoy the New Harmonies exhibit on its opening night at BCMM, March 2015. Photograph by Haley Hensley, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Visitors enjoy the New Harmonies exhibit on its opening night at BCMM, March 2015. Photograph by Haley Hensley, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Visitors enjoy the New Harmonies exhibit on its opening night at BCMM, March 2015. Photograph by Haley Hensley, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

BCMM’s core exhibits focus on the story of the 1927 Bristol Sessions, their role in the development of the commercial country music industry, and the impact of the 1927 recordings on American music. New Harmonies is a wonderful fit for our museum, and its exploration of the distinct cultural identities of American roots music allows us to extend our mission beyond the focus of our core exhibits. It has also proved a wonderful opportunity for developing interesting programming that will give us the chance to bring new audiences to the museum over the coming months – from screening films by Alan Lomax and a concert by Piedmont blues artist John Dee Holeman to a shape note sing and Native American music and dancing. We are also looking into the possibility of sharing this exhibit with smaller regional institutions, libraries, and schools in the future.

Smithsonian affiliation is a real honor, and we are proud to be a part of the affiliate network. More importantly, however, Smithsonian affiliation gives BCMM the chance to bring new exhibits, resources, programming, and so much more to our local community – a way to expand horizons and opportunities. We are excited about what the future will bring!

Visitors enjoy the New Harmonies exhibit on its opening night at BCMM, March 2015. Photograph by Haley Hensley, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Visitors enjoy the New Harmonies exhibit on its opening night at BCMM, March 2015. Photograph by Haley Hensley, Birthplace of Country Music Museum