Kudos Affiliates! April 2017 edition

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Congrats to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments.

Funding
Pinhead staff at Innovation Prize event

Pinhead Institute Executive Director Sarah Holbrooke, center, poses with Dr. Adam Chambers, right; Chris Arndt, left; and members of the Telluride Earth Guardians at the Telluride Foundation’s Innovation Prize event Wednesday evening at the Elks Club Lodge. (Courtesy photo)

The Pinhead Institute won the first-ever Telluride Foundation Innovation Prize of $50,000 for its Climate Institute idea. The idea of the Climate Institute came about after Dr. Adam Chambers moved to Telluride and became involved with the organization as a consultant. The new institute will aim to reduce the area’s carbon footprint by initially focusing on emissions from the Galloping Goose buses, but the model can be expanded to focus on larger sources of carbon emissions like the Telluride Regional Airport.

Leadership and Staff Changes 

Co-Chairmen of the Museum of Latin American Art’s Board of Directors, announced that the Museum of Latin American Art has selected Lourdes I. Ramos Ph. D. to serve in the position of President and CEO.

Mark Auslander, a sociocultural anthropologist, has been appointed director of the Michigan State University Museum.

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science announced Linda Abraham-Silver, as the museum’s new CEO.

Coming up in Affiliateland in March 2017

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Spring is stirring, and so are Affiliates with fresh activity!

NEBRASKA
National Museum of American History curator Shannon Perich will give a lecture on popular culture in the 1970s at the Durham Museum to complement the SITES exhibition currently on view, Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project, in Omaha, 3.21.                       

Dolores Huerta / by Barbara Carrasco / Silkscreen 1999 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, © 1999 Barbara Carrasco

RHODE ISLAND

National Portrait Gallery curator Taína Caragol will lecture on Dolores Huerta for Women’s History Month at the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence, 3.23.                          

NEW YORK
The Rockwell Museum continues with its Smithsonian Speaker Series with a talk by Adriel Luis of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, in Corning, 3.23.

National Museum of American History conservator Sunae Park Evans will speak on conserving First Ladies gowns at the Long Island Museum to complement the exhibition Brilliant Partners: Judith Leiber’s Handbags and the Art of Gerson Leiber, featuring the loan of Mamie Eisenhower’s purse from the Smithsonian, in Stony Brook, 3.26.

MICHIGAN
Rahim Al Haj, Smithsonian Folkways performer and oud player, presents Letters from Iraq at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, 3.24.

The Michigan State University Museum will host a workshop on the Will to Adorn initiative of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in East Lansing, 3.30.

MARYLAND
Members of the Smithsonian will enjoy lunch and tours at the B & O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, 3.30.

 

February in Affiliateland

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Is the Smithsonian in your neighborhood? Probably so! These Affiliates are bringing the Smithsonian to communities across the U.S. in February!

Kitchen Table in Julia Child's kitchen

The kitchen table, sink, and some of the countertop equipment in Julia’s kitchen at the Smithsonian

North Carolina
National Museum of American History Curator, Paula Johnson, travels to the North Carolina Museum of History for a public program about Julia Child’s kitchen, in Raleigh, 2.2.

South Carolina
Staff from Smithsonian Affiliations and the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation celebrate the opening of Spark!Lab at the Children’s Museum of the Upstate, in Greenville, 2.4

Illinois
Affiliations Director Harold Closter will be on hand to announce the Smithsonian’s new affiliation with the Schingoethe Center of Aurora University, in Aurora, 2.7.

Texas
Smithsonian Science Education Center Director Carol O’Donnell talks about the current state of STEM education at Space Center Houston, in Houston, 2.9.

Nebraska
The Durham Museum opens Searching for the Seventies: The Documerica Photography Project, a SITES exhibition, in Omaha, 2.18

Michelle Wilkinson portrait

Photo by Jati Lindsay

New York
The Rockwell Museum presents its Smithsonian Speakers Series featuring Michelle Wilkinson, curator at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Corning, 2.21.

Washington, D.C.
Students from nine Smithsonian Affiliate communities will host public programs at the National Air and Space Museum as part of the Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos National Youth Summit, in Washington, D.C., 2.22-23.

Special screenings of the original Smithsonian Channel program, The Obama Years: The Power of Words, will take place at multiple Affiliates in February during Black History Month, some with Smithsonian National Museum of American History Curator of Political History Claire Jerry:

At the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, in Baltimore, 2.9.
At History Colorado, in Denver, 2.13.
At the African American Museum in Philadelphia, in Philadelphia, 2.15.
At the Museum of History and Industry, in Seattle, 2.22.
At the Senator John Heinz History Center, in Pittsburgh, 2.23.
At the Western Reserve Historical Society, in Cleveland, 2.24.

Last Chance at Affiliates:

Things Come apart

Things Come Apart exhibition at Upcountry History Museum

South Carolina
Things Come Apart, a SITES exhibit, closes on 2.19 at the Upcountry History Museum in Greenville.

North Carolina
Greensboro Historical Museum closes I want the Wide American Earth, also a SITES exhibit, on 2.26, in Greensboro.

 

 

 

kudos Affiliates! february 2017

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Congrats to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments.

FUNDING

Union Station Kansas City (Kansas City, MO) received a $1 million gift for the creation of an outdoor concert and festival space from the Michael and Marlys Haverty Family Foundation. The landscaped festival plaza is part of the station’s nearly $8 million expansion that also includes a new traffic and pedestrian bridge. The gift will also be used to create an indoor gallery to house paintings depicting the 12 original railroads that formed a consortium to create Union Station in 1914.

Ball Brothers Foundation awarded $3.7 million in grants to nearly a dozen organizations including $25,000 to the Indiana Historical Society (Indianapolis, IN) for the Delaware County History Journeys project.

Conner Prairie Interactive History Park (Fishers, IN) received a $400,000 grant from Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, to support a capital improvement project aimed at increasing energy efficiency at the park’s Welcome Center. The funds will be used to replace several aging HVAC air-handling units with high-efficiency units.

The founders of Ricker’s fuel and convenience stores pledged $500,000 to Conner Prairie to help restore the museum’s Chinese House, a historic venue on the property.

Wild Swan Theater announced a $29,200 grant award from the Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA) Charitable Foundation Fund of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. The funds will be used to develop, in collaboration with the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI), an original, main stage and touring production for elementary school audiences inspired by Arab folktales-Marketplace Stories: Folktales from the Arab World.

Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Flushing), joined by the Board of Directors for the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts, announced the allocation of $125,000 for renovations to Flushing Town Hall (Queens, NY).

The Kenosha City Council approved $500,000 for a new exhibit at the Kenosha Public Museum (Kenosha, WI). The second-floor “A World of Diversity” permanent exhibit will be redesigned to interweave with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) standards.

 The Kona Historical Society (Captain Cook, HI) has received a $28,000 grant from the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority (HTA) to expand its Hands On History program at Kona Coffee Living History Farm.

 

AWARDS and RECOGNITION

Kyle Wenger, Chief Financial Officer of Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN) has been name 2016 CFO of the Year by the Indianapolis Business Journal.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has given its Driehaus Preservation Award to the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship at Mystic Seaport (Mystic, CT).

Independent Sector, the only national membership organization that brings together nonprofits, foundations and corporations to advance the common good, announced its 2016-17 American Express NGen Fellows, which includes Devon Akmon, director of the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI).  The 12 outstanding charitable-sector leaders aged 40 and under will engage over the next year in a range of activities that deepen individual capabilities, expand collective knowledge and grow professional networks.

President Barack Obama appointed Beth Takekawa, Executive Director of the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience (Seattle, WA) to the National Museum and Library Services Board.

 

LEADERSHIP and STAFF CHANGES

The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum (Palm Springs, CA) has hired Julia Bussinger, former director of the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts in Texas, to be its new executive director.

 

 

Kudos Affiliates

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Congrats to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments!

Funding
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced grants for 206 museum projects totaling $21,149,000, including the following Affiliate initiatives:

Historic Annapolis (Annapolis, MD) Award: $150,000.00
Historic Annapolis will design, fabricate, and install the proposed exhibition, “A History of Annapolis in 99 Objects.” The exhibition will tell the broad, inclusive story of Maryland’s capital city.

National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia, PA)  Award: $150,000.00
The National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH) will develop a small-scale traveling exhibition to broaden access to stories of the American Jewish people for schools, synagogues, and museums across the country. “Let My People Go: The Movement to Free Soviet Jews” will feature custom curricula, a programming handbook, and pre-designed marketing materials to inspire dialogue on contemporary issues of immigration, refugees, and religious freedom.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Denver, CO)  Award: $128,506.00
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science will deliver, expand, and evaluate whole-school museum education experiences for all students and teachers in elementary and K-8 schools in two under-resourced school districts.

Mystic Seaport (Mystic, CT)  Award:  $24,971.00
Mystic Seaport will extend the reach, impact, and diversity of its first-person interpretation program which is a hallmark of the museum experience. New interpreters will conduct extensive historical research, participate in professional development opportunities, and create costumes to develop their characters.

Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (San Juan, PR)  Award:  $25,000.00
The Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico will continue its Art and Technology for Youth at Risk initiative which provides learning opportunities for at-risk young adults by integrating museum programming and exhibits, and partner organization programming, into an afterschool program.

San Diego Natural History Museum  (San Diego, CA)  Award:  $148,239.00
The San Diego Natural History Museum will design a program entitled SPECTRUM, which will provide a structured opportunity for high-functioning, verbal young adults (ages 18-25) with autism spectrum disorder to collaborate with their peers in practicing social skills and participate in organized fieldtrips.

National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium (Dubuque, IA)  Award:  $148,795.00
The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium will catalog, inventory, document, and re-house approximately 6,200 undocumented or under-documented objects in their collection, representing 35 percent of their total collection. This documentation is critical to the continued understanding of the people and cultures of the Mississippi River.

B & O Railroad Museum  (Baltimore, MD)  Award:  $150,000.00
The B&O Railroad Museum will undertake the restoration and treatment of B&O #51, the first streamlined diesel locomotive put into service, which in 1937 represented a major shift in locomotive technology. Project activities include research and documentation, asbestos abatement, preservation of original materials, inspection and restoration of subassemblies, and restoring original locomotive finishes to their 1937 appearances.

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Indian Museum  (Clewiston, FL)  Award:  $105,600.00
The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Indian Museum will install high-density moveable shelving in the museum’s main building vault. The proposed shelving will double the vault’s storage space, allowing materials to be properly stored and creating much-needed room for future collection growth.

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (Seattle, WA)  Award: $148,531.00
In anticipation of a new museum facility, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Washington will improve the collection care, management, and accessibility of its malacology (shell) collection, considered the most extensive and valuable in the Pacific Northwest.

Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)  Award:  $149,164.00
The Arizona State Museum will re-house 2,000 archeological basketry specimens with high scholarly significance and interest to the museum and its audiences and will treat 116 high-priority archeological items identified as unstable and threatened with further deterioration.

San Diego Museum of Man  (San Diego, CA)  Award:  $149,534.00
The San Diego Museum of Man (SDMoM) will improve stewardship and collection management of its ethnographic weapons collection by re-housing 3,000 artifacts for long-term preservation.

Museum of History and Industry (Seattle, WA)  Award:  $149,977.00
The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) will create high-quality digital images with metadata tags for 5,287 artifacts, archival materials, photographs, and oral histories relating to the diverse history of the Seattle and Puget Sound region. Images will be searchable by the public and staff through the museum’s online collections management system and through a shared regional online repository hosted by the University of Washington.

Plimoth Plantation (Plymouth, MA)  Award:  $149,245.00
Plimoth Plantation will partner with Mystic Seaport’s Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard to restore 27 planks along the lower port side of the Mayflower II’s hull as part of the larger effort to return the vessel to U.S. Coast Guard operational status, scheduled for 2020.

San Diego Air & Space Museum  (San Diego, CA)  Award:  $150,000.00
The San Diego Air & Space Museum will improve its management of and broaden access to 30,000 collection objects in phase two of its Great Explorations project. Project activities will include connecting this database to the museum’s digital asset management system; and making the data and images available via Flickr, the museum’s website, and its online catalog, AeroCat.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Denver, CO)  Award:  $149,975.00
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science will conduct conservation stabilization treatment for 375 high-priority objects in its American Ethnology Collection of materials from 420 American Indian tribes, including clothing and accessories, cradleboards, musical instruments and toys, kachina, household items, horse gear and travel, and weapons.

Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO)  Award:  $128,065.00
The Denver Art Museum will catalog, document, migrate, and rehouse 425 electronic media artworks in four of its art and design collections. This collection includes artworks with video, audio, digital image, software, and website components contained on a range of storage media including videotapes, audiotapes, optical media, computer diskettes, and external hard drives.

Michigan State University Museum  (East Lansing, MI)  Award:  $50,607.00
Michigan State University Museum will conduct general conservation surveys of the museum’s natural science and cultural collections and begin to implement short-term care and rehousing improvements.

Springfield Museums (Springfield, MA)  Award:  $106,592.00
The Springfield Museums will stabilize and restore twenty Tiffany stained glass windows that are original to the main facade of the historic George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum which opened in 1896. The goals of the project are to stabilize the windows and to restore them, as closely as possible, to their original appearance and condition, using appropriate conservation techniques and materials.

International Museum of Art & Science (McAllen, TX)  Award:  $24,946.00
The International Museum of Art & Science will improve the storage conditions for their framed art collection of approximately 600 pieces. The museum will purchase five mobile art racks and nineteen art storage shelves that will be installed in the museum’s storage room.

History Colorado (Denver, CO) has been awarded a $2.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning program. The project explores the integration of Native American knowledge with Western science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The five-year grant will engage 128,000 STEM learners, educators, and experts across Colorado and Utah in: cutting-edge archaeological and ethnobotanical field work;  interactive exhibits and videos; public programs for families and adults; statewide K-12 education outreach programs, digital badges, and teacher training; and findings for museums, tribes, and scientists.

University Corporation For Atmospheric Research (UCAR) (Boulder, CO) has been awarded a $228,110 grant from NSF. The project, Integrating Indigenous and Western Knowledge to Transform Learning and Discovery in the Geosciences, uses the principles of collective impact to create new partnerships between tribal communities and STEM institutions that promote the participation and inclusion of Native American scientists in the geosciences.

 

October 2016 is BUSY in Affiliateland!

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Thanks to all our Affiliates for such great work!

CONNECTICUT
Affiliations program Director Harold Closter will announce the new affiliation with the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, 10.5.

IOWA
The Dubuque Museum of Art will hold a videoconference on En Plein Air with the American Art Museum in Dubuque, 10.11.

LOUISIANA
The Smithsonian Associates will be working with three Affiliates – the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, the St. Louis Science Center and the Museum of Arts and Sciences on GEAR UP, a science education program for 8th graders in Lafayette, 10.11-13.

MISSOURI
National Outreach Manager Aaron Glavas will announce the new affiliation with the St. Louis Science Center, and National Air and Space Museum educator Tim Grove will present a book talk at a Member Open House event in St. Louis, on 10.13.

HAWAII
The Pacific Aviation Museum will host an astrophotography workshop with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, in Honolulu, 10.13-14.

ARIZONA
The Heard Museum will open the exhibition Kay WalkingStick: An American Artist from the National Museum of the American Indian, in Phoenix, 10.13

GEORGIA
Staff from the National Museum of Natural History will be giving talks at a private event for the Atlanta Regional Host Committee at the David Sencer Centers for Disease Control Museum in Atlanta, 10.13.

NEVADA
The Las Vegas Natural History Museum will open the SITES exhibition Titanaboa in Las Vegas, 10.15.

NORTH CAROLINA
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will host the Board meeting and associated activities of the Smithsonian Science Education Center in Raleigh, 10.17.

WASHINGTON, DC
Over 120 Affiliate staff will help celebrate the 20th anniversary of Smithsonian Affiliations at the annual conference in Washington, 10.17-20.

TENNESSEE
John Franklin from the National African American Museum will announce the new affiliation with the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, 10.20.

OHIO
National Outreach Manager Jennifer Brundage will give comments at the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology groundbreaking, dedication and dinner event in Akron, 10.22.

American Art Museum curator Virginia Mecklenburg will present a talk on Seeing America with Norman Rockwell at the Springfield Museum of Art in Springfield, 10.25.

COLORADO
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the Smithsonian Science Education Center will collaborate on workshops on Building Awareness for Science Education in Denver, 10.24-25.

DELAWARE
National Museum of American History curator Katherine Ott will attend and offer commentary at the Making of Modern Disability conference at the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, 10.28.