kudos Affiliates! for August 2017

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Congrats to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments!

FUNDING

The Smart Museum of Art and DuSable Museum of African American History (Chicago, IL) have been jointly awarded a $250,000 grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art in support of the special exhibition South Side Stories. The collaborative exhibition opens in September 2018 as part of Art Design Chicago and explores the artistic production and cultural legacy of Chicago’s South Side. At the DuSable Museum, Holdings will consider the ways in which individuals, artists, and institutions collect, shape, and embody history, and how these histories—whether personal memories or institutional archives and collections—are subsequently shaped and reshaped over time through research, curatorial forgings, individual motivations, and incorporation into contemporary artistic practices.

The National Park Service announced that Mystic Seaport (Mystic, CT) is the recipient of a National Maritime Heritage Grant. Mystic Seaport was awarded $49,959 to support development of From Clippers to Containers: The Benjamin F. Packard and the History of U.S. Deepwater Cargo Transport, a long-term exhibition that will explain changes in the maritime cargo trades from the mid-19th century to the present.

The Harry Wilson Loose Trust has awarded a $200,000 one-year grant to Union Station Kansas City (Kansas City, MO) to complete an expansion project that includes an outdoor event space and outdoor Science City exhibit.

Officials at the Peoria Riverfront Museum (Peoria, IL) unveiled the Every Student Initiative, a program to fund once-a-year visits to the facility for 9,000 children across central Illinois through a $250,000 grant from the Barton Family Foundation.

 AWARDS and RECOGNITION

Javier Cevallos, the president of Framingham State University (Framingham, MA) was appointed to serve on a new state-wide Latino Advisory Commission which will promote the economic prosperity of Latinos in Massachusetts.

LEADERSHIP and STAFF CHANGES 

 The DuSable Museum of African American History (Chicago, IL) has named Lee Bly as the museum’s first ever vice president for planning, education and museum experience.

Ahmad Ward, former Vice President of Education and Exhibitions at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute accepted an Executive Directorship role at the Mitchelville Preservation Project in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The mission of the Mitchelville Preservation Project is to replicate, preserve and sustain a historically significant site and to educate the public about the sacrifice, resilience and perseverance of the freedmen of Mitchelville, which in 1862 was the first self-governed town of freed slaves in America. Among the project’s key partners is the Coastal Discovery Museum (Hilton Head Island, SC).

Jeff Nathanson, new Executive Director of the Museums of Sonoma County

Jeff Nathanson has been selected as the new Executive Director of the Museums of Sonoma County (Santa Rosa, CA). Nathanson served as Executive Director of the Arts Council of Princeton in Princeton, New Jersey.

Affiliates in the news! July edition

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Congratulations to these Affiliates making headlines this month! Do you have a Smithsonian collaboration in the news? Email Elizabeth Bugbee, BugbeeE@si.edu, and submit your clipping for review. Each month we compile our newsmakers and distribute in our Affiliate eNewsletter.

Uncrating an exhibition

Rene Rodgers, curator of exhibits and publications, uncrates a Suffolk push mower that is part of the new Smithsonian exhibit called “Things Come Apart” that opens this weekend at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. Photo-Earl Neikirk/BHC

Birthplace of Country Music Museum (Bristol, VA)
VIDEO- Birthplace of Country Music Museum hosting Smithsonian exhibit
“They will start looking around at some of the things that they use every day and really start to think about how they work and how theyve gotten to that point from where they started and actually just think about the way things are made,”Dr. René Rodgers, Museum Director and Head Curator for the Birthplace of Country Music Museum said.

Smithsonian exhibit opens Saturday at BCMM
“It’s one of those exhibits the Smithsonian Institution creates to travel around the country to various museums,” said René Rodgers, curator of exhibits and publications at the museum. “We are the third museum to have it. It’s just come to us from the Kansas City Public Library. The exhibit is based on the work of photographer and artist Todd McLellan. He has taken the idea of common, everyday objects to look at their functionality, their design, the change in technology, and he’s done that by taking them down to their component parts and creating artistic renditions of them.”

South Dakota State Historical Society (Pierre, SD)
Former Smithsonian director in Pierre on July 24
“As an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, we are delighted to bring Mr. Glass to South Dakota,” Jay Smith, director of the Museum of the South Dakota State Historical Society at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre, stated in a release. “He brings with him a message about the value of saving, preserving and visiting historic places which is an important aspect of the mission of the South Dakota State Historical Society. We will be discussing some of our future plans with him as well, so this is an exciting opportunity for our museum.”

Tellus Science Museum (Cartersville, GA)
SMITHSONIAN’S ‘ART OF THE AIRPORT TOWER’ CAPTURES THEIR UNIQUE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNS
In the midst of a nationwide tour, the Tellus Science Museum near Atlanta is currently hosting the exhibit until September 17. The Smithsonian affiliate is home to many aviation and space flown hardware. “This is a fascinating exhibit – it combines photography, architecture, and aviation in unexpected ways,” Tellus Science Museum Executive Director Jose Santamaria said on Sunday. “It is very unique and the images are stunning.

Art of the Airport Tower exhibition

Carolyn Russo, National Air and Space Museum photographer, in front of her exhibit “Art of the Airport Tower.”

 

Virginia Museum of Natural History (Martinsville, VA)
Prehistoric adventure headed to Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville
There will also be a Stegosaurus display from the Smithsonian and fossils collected by scientists in the field.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West (Cody, WY)
Firearms experts gather for Cody museum symposium
July 17 will feature speakers and session leaders from the following institutions: Cody Firearms Museum, National Rifle Association’s Museums Division, Autry Museum of the American West, Springfield Armory National Historic Site, United States Marshals Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Smithsonian Institution National Firearms Collection, Colonial Williamsburg , Royal Armouries Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Pearl earrings from designer brenda smith

Southern Charm,” pearl earrings from designer Brenda Smith, are among the items on loan from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and included in a traveling exhibit that runs through next March at the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art in Elmhurst.
Courtesy of Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary art

Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art (Elmhurst, IL)
Smithsonian gems on display in Elmhurst
“Most of the pieces are either donated or gifted to the (Smithsonian) museum,” said Asher. “We’re a Smithsonian affiliate.” Asher said she worked with Smithsonian gem curator Russell Feather to select the pieces visitors will see in the “Smithsonian Gems” exhibit.

The Children’s Museum of the Upstate (Greenville, SC) (VIDEO)
Children’s Museum of the Upstate provides perfect atmosphere for solar eclipse
They will also have pinhole projectors, a live stream from NASA in the Smithsonian and activities in Spark!Lab focusing on women in astronomy. “We are an official viewing site of NASA, which means that we are able to have some NASA scientists come,” Halverson told WYFF News 4’s Allyson Powell Thursday.

Tellus Science Museum and Booth Western Art Museum (both in Cartersville, GA)
Travel: Consider Cartersville, Georgia
Despite traveling extensively, I’m still impressed when I discover big things in small places. Cartersville, Ga., a city of 20,000 residents about 40 minutes north of Atlanta, has major draws. It’s the smallest town in the U.S. with two Smithsonian Affiliate Museums. The Booth Western Art Museum houses the largest permanent exhibition space for Western art in the entire country — and what a fabulous place it is.

Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
Apollo 11 module will visit Pittsburgh next year — after a makeover
Before the Apollo 11 command module embarks on a cross-country tour of four museums — including the Senator John Heinz History Center in the Strip District — it’s getting a makeover for the first time since it arrived in 1976 at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, NPR reported Monday .

kudos! for July 2017

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Congratulations to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments!

 

FUNDING

The Whatcom Museum has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Norcliffe Foundation in support of the upcoming exhibition, Endangered Species: Artists on the Front Line of Biodiversity. The grant will assist the Museum in funding exhibition design, related educational programming, and an exhibition catalogue.

The National Park Service announced $1.6 million in grants to fund preservation, restoration and education projects at several Japanese American confinement sites including the following Affiliate projects:

  • Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience (Seattle, WA)-$148,764 for “Inspiring Future Generations: Friends and Supporters Who Helped Those Incarcerated.”
  • Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA)-$250,958 for “Contested Histories: Art and Artifacts from the Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection” to conserve more than 100 artifacts from the collection of Allen Hendershott Eaton, a folk art expert who acquired artwork created by incarcerees, which the museum will share as part of a traveling exhibition.
  • Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA)-$176,844 for “Digitization and Accessibility of JANM’s Moving Image Collection.”

The National Endowment for the Arts announced more than $30 million will be awarded to nonprofit organizations including the following Affiliate initiatives:

  • Whatcom Museum (Bellingham, WA)- $60,000
    To support “Endangered Species: Artists on the Front Line of Biodiversity,” an interdisciplinary exhibition, catalogue, and website. Temporary installations, drawings, computer-generated images, and video documentation will comprise the final section of the exhibition. Teacher workshops, an artist-talk for students, and discussions with artists and scientists will complement the exhibition.
  • Anchorage Museum (Anchorage, AL)-$25,000
    To support Studio 61. “61” refers to the latitude of Anchorage and other Northern cities such as Reykjavik and Oslo that are being studied by scientists and others to understand the impacts of climate change. Through the project, artists and designers in these northern climates will share their vision of the environmental and cultural changes they witness due to climate change.

    Programs at the Anchorage Museum. Image credit: Akela Collective

  • Anchorage Museum (Anchorage, AL)-$60,000
    To support the creation and presentation of a series of virtual environments that will explore the ecology of the Arctic in partnership with the Alaska Center for Conservation Science.
  • Museum of Design Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)-$20,000
    To support the exhibition “PLAY: It’s Not Just Fun and Games.” The exhibition will highlight the intentional integration of play into the lives of children and adults living in urban environments through creative design.
  • Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans, LA)-$16,000
    To support the museum’s Teen Docent Program. The program empowers the participants, helps them develop leadership and critical thinking skills, and exposes them to museum career opportunities.
  • Berkshire Museum (Pittsfield, MA)-$20,000
    To support “In the Spirit,” a series of installations by contemporary artists in the museum’s Art Deco Crane room. In the Spirit will feature three artists-Yusuke Asai, Karin Giusti, and Meredith Woolnough-whose site specific work will explore the intersection of art and natural science.
  • Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing, MI)-$30,000
    To support the Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeships and Heritage Awards Program at the Michigan State University Museum. The Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program will support master artists in the instruction of apprentices about various traditional arts. The Heritage Awards Program will provide public recognition of the master artists and demonstrations/performances by the artist and apprentice teams at the Great Lakes Folk Festival.
  • International Storytelling Center (Jonesborough, TN)-$30,000
    To support Storytelling Live!, a seasonal artist residency program. Master artists representing a broad range of storytelling traditions from the United States and abroad will conduct week-long residencies.

The Children’s Museum of the Upstate (Greenville, SC) received a $50,000 grand from the Duke Energy Foundation. The grant will increase its offering of science, technology, engineering, and math  educational programming through the museum’s mobile-friendly outreach platform, “On the Go.”


LEADERSHIP CHANGES

 Aileen Chumard Fuchs has been named the new president and CEO of Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden (New York, NY).

Kyle McKoy has been named the new President and Director of the Mercer Museum & Fonthill Castle (Doylestown, PA).

David N. Myers has been named the new President and CEO of the Center for Jewish History (New York, NY).

 

Coming Up in Affiliateland in July 2017

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Happy summer!

NATIONWIDE
Teen participants in the Smithsonian Latino Center’s Young Ambassador Program will be doing internships at nine Affiliates in July, including the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix; the California Science Center in Los Angeles; the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, CA; History Miami and the Frost Museum of Science, FL; Adler Planetarium in Chicago; Fort Worth Museum of Science and History; History Colorado in Denver; and the Witte Museum in San Antonio, 6.25 – 8.2.

GEORGIA
The Tellus Science Museum will host the Art of the Airport Tower exhibition from the National Air and Space Museum, in Cartersville, 7.14. 

TENNESSEE

Rotary telephone made by Northern Electric in the 1980s.
Component count: 148. Photograph by Todd McLellan, from the Things Come Apart exhibition.

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum will open SITES’ Things Come Apart exhibition in Bristol, 7.15.

NEW YORK
Margaret Weitekamp, curator at the National Air and Space Museum, will give a talk on Art & the Apollo 13 Mission at the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook, 7.16.

WYOMING
David Miller, curator at the National Museum of American History will present at the Arsenals of History: Firearms and Museums in the 21st Century symposium at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, 7.17-18.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Brent Glass, former director of the National Museum of American History, will give a talk and booksigning on 50 Great American Places: Essential Historic Sites Across the U.S. at the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre, 7.24.

kudos Affiliates! for June 2017

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Congrats to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments.

FUNDING

The Pinhead Institute (Telluride, CO) won the first-ever Telluride Foundation Innovation Prize of $50,000 for its Climate Institute idea. The new institute will aim to reduce the area’s carbon footprint by focusing on emissions from the Galloping Goose buses, and eventually, the Telluride Regional Airport.

The Wisconsin Maritime Museum (Manitowoc, WI) has announced a $130,000 bequest from the estate of Robert and Grace Peppard, who were longtime supporters of the museum.

The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art & Technology (Newark, OH) received a $2,625 grant from the Granville Community Foundation in support of the ArtWorks! for Life program. ArtWorks! for Life is designed to expand creativity and enhance the quality of life for seniors in the Granville and Newark communities by offering exceptional engaging art programs.

Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent will be the presenting sponsor of Conner Prairie’s (Fishers, IN) newest outdoor nature experience, Treetop Outpost; its series of summer day camps for youth ages 8-12; and Headless Horseman. As presenting sponsor, the hospital will financially support the three museum initiatives for one year and have multiple opportunities to interact with and engage Conner Prairie visitors throughout the year.

Pew Charitable Trusts awarded the Hagley Museum and Library (Wilmington, DE)$500,000 over three years to expand services for businesses and trade associations. The initiative will advance research and public knowledge of American invention and entrepreneurship.

 

LEADERSHIP and STAFF CHANGES 

The Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach, CA) has selected Dr. Lourdes I. Ramos to serve as President and CEO.

Mark Auslander, a sociocultural anthropologist, has been appointed director of the Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing, MI).

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas, TX) announced that Linda Abraham-Silver will serve as the museum’s new CEO.

The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission has promoted the education chief, Patrick C. Morrison to historic site administrator at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (Strasburg, PA) to oversee the 42-year-old railroading site.

The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium (Dubuque, IA) announced Kurt Strand as the next President & CEO of the organization.

 

AWARDS

Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN) has received national recognition for the revitalization and reinterpretation of the museum’s longest-running exhibit. The American Alliance of Museums honored the museum with an Excellence in Exhibition award. The award recognizes the design, development and implementation of William Conner House, which reopened to the public last year after new interactive and media experiences were installed.

The Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach, CA) announced that their exhibition Transformations, curated by Curator of Collections, Carlos Ortega, has received a 2017 Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement for “A Museum Exhibit on a Limited Budget” from the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA).

Coming up in Affiliateland in June 2017

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Summer is heating up in Affiliateland!

CALIFORNIA
The board of the Smithsonian Latino Center will be meeting at the LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes in Los Angeles, 6.4-5.

The National Museum of American History will present Let’s Do History professional development workshop in collaboration with the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, 6.9.

KANSAS
National Air and Space Museum curator Mike Neufeld will give a talk and booksigning on Werner Von Braun at the Cosmosphere  in Hutchinson, 6.8.

Fort Worth Alliance Airport tower

Fort Worth Alliance Airport
Texas, United States
Photo by Carolyn Russo, National Air and Space Museum

INDIANA
Former director of the National Museum of American History Brent Glass will give a talk and booksigning on 50 Great Historical Places at the Indiana Historical Society in Indianapolis, 6.13.

NEBRASKA
National Museum of Natural History director Kirk Johnson will be the keynote speaker at the Ashfall Fossil Beds Dedication ceremony at the University of Nebraska State Museum  in Lincoln, 6.17.

ILLINOIS
The Dusable Museum of African American History will host the Night of 100 Stars gala and honor Lonnie Bunch, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Chicago, 6.24.