Coming up in Affiliateland in April 2012

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Spring has sprung in Affiliateland!

WASHINGTON
The Museum of Flight will host Dr. Sharon Shaffer, Director of the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, to present a training seminar in Seattle, 4.1. 

FLORIDA
The Orange County Regional History Center opens SITES’ Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente, in Orlando, 4.7. 

MASSACHUSETTS
National Portrait Gallery Senior Historian Dr. Sidney Hart will present a lecture on the Art of the War of 1812 at the USS Constitution Museum in Boston, 4.11.

TEXAS
The Frontiers of Flight Museum celebrates the completion of the restoration project of the V-173 “Flying Pancake” aircraft, on loan from the National Museum of Air and Space, in Dallas, 4.16

NEW YORK
SI Gardens’ Cynthia Brown will present a lecture on Gardens in American History at The Long Island Museum of American Art in Stony Brook, 4.22.

CALIFORNIA
The San Diego Museum of Man opens SITES’ Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America in San Diego, 4.28.

Jazz Appreciation Month and International Jazz Day

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The 1st Annual International Jazz Day, formulated by the United States and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)will be held on April 30, 2012. UNESCO officially proclaimed April 30 as International Jazz Day to pay tribute to this uniquely global art form, with distinctly American roots, that is played and enjoyed across cultures, languages, and musical traditions.  Jazz is a powerful unifying force that builds bridges and brings people together. 

In celebration, the U.S. Department of State is partnering with the Smithsonian Institution to showcase jazz events and programs taking place across the country. We have several programs already in the works that you and your community can get involved in, including:

  • UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock will headline a series of concerts on April 30 that will take place at sunrise in New Orleans and at sunset that same evening from New York City. The concerts will be streamed live via the internet.  Stay tuned for the web address.
     
  • Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), held every April and recognized by public law, was launched by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in April 2002. JAM aims to draw greater public attention globally to the extraordinary heritage and history of jazz. For more information on JAM events worldwide, as well as recordings, educational resources, oral histories, blogs, articles, and links to archived and streamed jazz concerts, workshops and discussions, please visit www.smithsonianjazz.org.

Are you interested in joining the celebration of the first-ever International Jazz Day?

Here are a few ways to get involved:

  • Host a Herbie Hancock Listening Party featuring one of the April 30th concerts streamed live on the web.
  • Arrange an International Jazz Day concert in your school or community.
  • Tweet your thoughts on the importance of Jazz: #JazzDay2012
  • Request a 2012 JAM poster featuring Frank Sinatra to alert your community to jazz events or artifacts at your organization.
  • Keep an eye on the JAM events calendar and take part in an event in your community, or add your own by emailing jazz@si.edu!
  • Visit Smithsonian Jazz and discover 112 ideas for celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month.   Many of these ideas will also work for International Jazz Day.

Have any ideas of your own? We’d love to hear about them. Please let us know at jazz@si.edu, and we’ll add them to the JAM U.S. and International event calendar to showcase jazz events around the world.

Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos Program

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Teach kids astronomy by controlling real telescopes over the internet, and create images like these!

Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos Program is a special opportunity for 25 Affiliates from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) and Smithsonian Affiliations. Qualified Affiliates that successfully complete the online professional development program to facilitate the use of the MicroObservatory online telescope system will be awarded $1500 for implementation of Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos Program. Funding has been provided by the Smithsonian Youth Access Grant Fund.   

  • Are you an Affiliate educator interested in sharing the art and science of astrophotography with youth in your community?   
  • Does your organization have an informal education program, partnerships with area community centers or middle schools and interest in providing enrichment activities for students based on STEM? 
  • Can your museum or organization implement a workshop for middle school students, underserved by science and technology educational programs, ages 12 – 18   (minimum of 10 or more students) and facilitate an 8 – 20 hour program? 
  • Would you like to learn how to organize and promote an exhibition of youth-created astronomy photographs? 

For more information on the program, join us for a Teleconference to discuss implementing Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos Program on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. 

Dial In:  1-877-860-3058
Participant Pass code:  607773
Call in and learn about participating in this program before registration goes live.  

Talk to SAO astronomy educators Mary Dussault and Erin Braswell. Smithsonian Affiliations representatives Christina Di Meglio Lopez and Caroline Mah will also be available to answer questions.

Follow the MicroObservatory’s Twitter feed; Facebook page; and Flickr photostream.

Telescopes "Ben" and "Cecilia" at the Whipple Observatory in Amado, AZ. Along with "Annie," located on the roof at SAO, they are three in a network of telescopes, controllable over the internet, helping students learn more about astronomy. Photo Credit: Dan Brocious/SAO.

do you live in a place of invention?

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The iconic Hewlett-Packard garage in 2009. Courtesy of BrokenSphere/ Wikimedia Commons.

Company labs.  Governmental research centers.  Universities.  These places are where many of us think inventions happen.  But how about garages, coffee shops, parks, or other community gathering spots?!  Invention can happen in all kinds of places.  This idea forms the foundation of the Lemelson Center’s exhibition in development, Places of Invention.  It’s about communities “where people, resources, and spaces have come together to spark inventiveness.”  Does that describe your environment?  If so, consider contributing your story to the Places of Invention exhibition website.

The Lemelson Center team has assembled case studies of historic and contemporary invention hubs – Hartford, CT in the late 1800s; Hollywood, CA in the 1930s-40; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN in the 1950s-60s; Silicon Valley, CA and the Bronx, NY in the 1970s-80s; and Fort Collins, CO today.  Over the course of the next year, the exhibition team will work closely with six Affiliates to create community documentation projects of their places of invention to be featured in the exhibition.  Affiliate partners in this project include: the Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA); American Museum of Science and Energy (Oakridge, TN); Museum of History and Industry (Seattle, WA); Lakeview Museum (Peoria, IL); American Textile History Museum (Lowell, MA); and The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art and Technology (Newark, OH).

But we know there are many more stories to be told.  Take the Lemelson Center’s survey or email them at lemcen@si.edu to describe your place of invention and join the conversation!

kudos! affiliates for february 2012

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The Center for Jewish History (New York, New York), announced a $2.5 million gift from The David Berg Foundation to establish The David Berg Rare Book Room.  This contribution will enable the Center and its partners to realize their longstanding goal of creating a public space that showcases and preserves some of the most important works in Jewish history.

Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, Michigan) will receive $15,000 from The Michigan Humanities Council to develop and implement “Setting Our Table,” an interpretive exhibit focusing on Arab American food ways concepts and customs as a gateway to culture. The exhibit will explore the culinary diversity of the Arab world and how foods have changed as Arab immigrants acclimated to life in Michigan and America. The project is funded through the Council’s Major Grants Program “Michigan People, Michigan Places; Our Stories, Our Lives.” The program emphasizes collaboration among cultural, educational and community-based organizations to provide public humanities projects.

coming up in Affiliateland in February 2012

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Lots of love spreading around the Affiliate network in February.

FLORIDA
The Museum of Arts and Sciences will be featuring a loan of meteorites from NMNH in Daytona Beach, 2.1.                       

History Miami will host NASM curator Von Hardesty for a talk and book signing about “Black Wings” in Miami, 2.25. 

WASHINGTON
The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture opens NMNH’s Dig It! The Secrets of Soil in Spokane, 2.4. 

TEXAS
The National Museum of American History will feature the Institute of Texan Cultures in its Let’s Do History Tour, which offers professional development opportunities for elementary and secondary teachers in San Antonio, 2.7-9.

PENNYSYLVANIA
NMAAHC Director Lonnie Bunch will be speaking at a conference on American Slavery, sponsored by the African American Museum in Philadelphia and the National Park Service in Philadelphia, 2.25.

NEW MEXICO
The City of Las Cruces Museum System opens SITES’  Journey Stories in Las Cruces, 2.25. 

CALIFORNIA
Agua Caliente Cultural Museum will host a Festival of Native Film & Culture with a guest programmer from NMAI in Palm Springs, 2.28 – 3.4. 

WYOMING
The National Museum of American History will feature the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in its Let’s Do History Tour, which offers professional development opportunities for elementary and secondary teachers in Cody, 2.29 – 3.1.

Congratulations to those celebrating 10 years of Smithsonian Affiliation in February!

The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art and Technology  

The American Civil War Center At Historic Tredegar  

Lyman Museum and Mission House