First Look: SITES’ Evolving Universe

/in , , , , , /by

Our Sun is only one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Without it, life on Earth would not be possible. What we know about our Sun serves as the foundation for what we understand about distant stars. Credit: NASA/Lockheed Martin/SAO.

Special thanks to Ed Liskey, Senior Scheduling & Exhibitor Relations Coordinator, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, for this guest post.

The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) is pleased to offer Smithsonian Affiliates an early opportunity to be among the first venues to host the new The Evolving Universe traveling exhibition.  The Evolving Universe will feature 27 full-color, oversize images that will explore what we know about the history and structure of our solar system, the Milky Way and other galaxies and the universe as a whole. 

Two bright pinpoints of light in NGC 6240 show two supermassive black holes merging in the galaxy’s center. The black holes are only 3,000 light years apart and have been spiraling toward each other for about 30 million years. Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT, NASA/STScI.

 

Through these stunning photographs and engaging text, visitors will travel back in time and space to the beginnings of our universe.  With specialized content targeting both the young and curious as well as more technically-savvy visitors, The Evolving Universe will have wide appeal.  Act now to host this exciting exhibition of the latest cosmological knowledge and the amazing technologies scientists use to attain that knowledge.  Learn more and see additional exhibition images on SITES’ The Evolving Universe website.

 

During the supergiant and supernova phases of star death, nuclear reactions fuse helium and carbon into heavier elements, such as silicon (seen in green in this image) and iron (red). These elements are ejected forcibly in clouds that are light-years in diameter, seeding the next generation of star formation with the elements that make up planets like Earth. Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT/UMass-Amherst.

 

 

kudos! december 2011 – january 2012

/in , , , /by

Congratulations Affiliates on ending the year so strong!

Two Affiliates received SITES’ Smithsonian Community Grants, supported by MetLife Foundation:

        The Orange County Regional History Center (Orlando, Florida) received $5,000 to fund honoraria, travel, materials and marketing for three programs related to the themes of Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente.    

        The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture (Baltimore, Maryland) received $3,310 to fund a panel, “Clemente in Context/Clemente en Contexto,” to provide museum visitors with some historical and cultural context about Afro-Latino populations in the Caribbean and in the United States. All programming relate to the themes of Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente and IndiVisible: African-Natives Lives in the Americas.

 Chabot Space and Science Center (Oakland, California) received $200,000 to fund the Redwoods overnight environmental education center from the Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council which promotes programs and projects to bring young people in touch with the environment. 

The Center for Jewish History (New York, New York), announce the expansion of its international fellowship program to include senior scholars, early career scholars and emerging artists and writers through a new five-year, $750,000 grant from The Vivian G. Prins Foundation. The grant will support fellowships for those who seek permanent teaching and research positions in North America. 

Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) received a $5 million gift from the estate of the late William S. Dietrich II to turn a vacant building into an artifacts storage facility and conservation center. The Center also received a $2 million grant from UPMC to support educational programs and operations at the museum, where the library and archives will be renamed for Thomas and Katherine Detre.

Three Affiliates received Art Works grant awards from the National Endowment for the Arts:

     Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing, Michigan) will receive a $40,000 grant to support the 2012 Great Lakes Folk Festival. In collaboration with the City of East Lansing, the university will produce a festival that showcases the traditional music, dance, foodways, and other cultural expressions of the nation’s Upper Midwest using an innovative approach, highlighting the cultural sustainability and adaptive reuse (recycling) inherent in traditional culture in conjunction with modern technology (a solar powered stage).

     Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art (Biloxi, Mississippi) will receive $34,000 to support the exhibition, George Edgar Ohr: Apostle of Individuality. Designed to be installed in the Knight Gallery, the exhibition will include works by Mississippi ceramic artist George Ohr.

     Whatcom Museum (Bellingham, Washington) will receive $34,000 to support the exhibition, Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775-2012. The exhibition will examine the artistic legacy of the planet’s frozen frontiers — glaciers, icebergs, and fields of ice– now jeopardized by climate change through the presentation of 75 works.

Science Museum Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) received a $1 million donation from Love’s Travel Stops to help kick off a capital campaign and $30 million renovation for the museum entrance and the addition of a permanent exhibit aimed at introducing young children to science.

Putnam Museum and IMAX Theatre (Davenport, Iowa) received $5,000 award from the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend to support the Putnam Power Mission video production. 

Plimoth Plantation (Plymouth, Massachusetts) will receive a $235,000 grant from the state’s Cultural Facilities Fund to fund repairs, improvements, and expansions. 

The Coca-Cola Foundation awarded $50,000 to the North Carolina Museum of History (Raleigh, North Carolina) for the development and implementation of the initiative “Educational Outreach Programs for North Carolina Students.”

Two Affiliates were recipients of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) 2011 Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives awards:

     Center for Jewish History (New York, New York) received $229,600 to fund Illuminating Hidden Collections at the Center for Jewish History.

     San Diego Museum of Man (San Diego, California) received $115,200 to fund Capturing History: Cataloging the San Diego Museum of Man’s Photographic Collection. 

 

 

 

We want YOU! (to share your conference ideas with us)

/in , , , /by

2011 conference attendees at the roundtable session "What's the Big Idea?: Revitalizing Education Through Partnership and Collaboration." Photo by tony brown/imijphoto.com

Each June, we invite all of our Smithsonian Affiliates to Washington, D.C., to participate in our Smithsonian Affiliations National Conference.  We host sessions, workshops, tours, and receptions designed to give you more tools to make the most of your Affiliation.  We’re currently planning the 2012 conference, and would like your feedback. 

  • Is there a session you’d like us to organize? 
  • Is there a Smithsonian museum you’d like to visit in a behind-the-scenes tour? 
  • Are there resources that you’d like to have better access to? 
  • Are you working on an app?  What uses of technology would you like to share with your fellow Affiliates?

Please tell us!  Your input helps us craft a conference that helps you fulfill your organization’s mission and hopefully, inspires you in the year ahead. 

And of course, we’re interested in your dislikes too. 

  • Do we not allow enough time in between sessions? 
  • Would you like different speakers, food or transportation? 
  • Would you like us to bring back the ice cream social instead of a happy hour reception?  We want to know!

Please drop us a line!  Send all suggestions, comments, and critiques to BugbeeE@si.edu.  You’re our shareholders- help us do a better job.  Thank you!

Mark your calendar- The Affiliations National Conference is scheduled for June 12- 14, 2012!

2011 Conference photos:

coming up in affiliateland in november 2011

/in , , , , /by

ILLINOIS:
The National Museum of Natural History’s David Hunt will be the keynote speaker at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Spurlock Museum’s 100th anniversary celebration in Champaign, 11/1.

NEW MEXICO:
The City of Las Cruces Museum System will host SITES’ NASA | ART: 50 Years of Exploration in Las Cruces, 11/4.

CALIFORNIA:
Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden speaks about his book, Falling to Earth, at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, 11/4.

The Sonoma County Museum will host SITES’ Singgalot: The Ties that Bind in Santa Rosa, 11/12.

MARYLAND:
The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture will host two SITES exhibitions –  IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas and Beyond Baseball:The Life of Roberto Clemente, opening in Baltimore, 11/5.

NORTH CAROLINA:
The National Museum of American Indian’s Dennis Zotigh will present a workshop and lecture at the Charlotte Museum of History in Charlotte, 11/5.

The Greensboro Historical Museum will host a lecture from the Smithsonian Associates in Greensboro, 11/7.

ALABAMA:
The Anniston Museum of Natural History celebrates its 10th Anniversary as a Smithsonian Affiliate in Anniston, 11/10.

GEORGIA:
Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden speaks about his book, Falling to Earth, at the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, 11/11.

NEW YORK:
Richard Kurin, Smithsonian Under Secretary for History, Art, Culture, will present a lecture about the Hope Diamond at the Museum of American Finance in New York, 11/15.

 

An inspiring exhibition for your neighborhood

/in , , , , /by

"The Healing Power of Art" while on view at the Smithsonian's S. Dillon Ripley Center in 2010.

Thirty-five seconds. That’s all it took to forever change the world for millions of Haitians on January 12, 2010. Now imagine those 35 seconds from a child’s point of view.  

Soon after the devastating earthquake, first lady of Haiti Elisabeth D. Préval called on Haitian artist Philippe Dodard and his fellow artists, as well as psychologists, educators and politicians, to create a safe place for children to express their feelings through art. Operating from converted buses at two sites in Port-au-Prince, Plas Timoun (The Children’s Place) uses the power of the visual and performing arts to bring healing to children, ages 6-10. 

Exhibition works of art in the concourse of the S. Dillon Ripley Center.

The simple works on paper created immediately following the earthquake were dark in color and imagery. Soon after, drawings began to reveal glimmers of hope and healing. The children of Plas Timoun were using brighter colors and depicting the innocence of childhood and their vision for a brighter future, attesting to the resilience of a nation and the power of art. With the help of Plas Timoun, these children will move more confidently toward their future and the lasting reconstruction of Haiti. “This exhibition gives the children of Haiti a chance to present to the world their vision of themselves and of the reconstruction of their country,” said Préval. “Their voices, so well expressed by colors and emotions, reflect our imaginary and social reality as vectors encouraging viewers to think with us of solutions to the problems facing contemporary Haiti.” 

Simple works on paper in "The Healing Power of Art" reveal glimmers of hope and healing.

Nearly 100 paintings and drawings created by Haiti’s young people at Plas Timoun are featured in the exhibition The Healing Power of Art: Works of Art by Haitian Children after the Earthquake, organized by the National Museum of African Art. Now, Smithsonian Affiliates can be the first to host this inspiring exhibition in their own community.  

While several of the artworks depict images relating to death and destruction, they also include illustrations of houses – both standing and damaged – with local architectural features, planes and helicopters reflecting rescue and recovery efforts, as well as colorful Haitian flags, nature scenes, abstract designs and children at play. Drawings by former First Lady Elisabeth Préval, First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, and Second Lady of the United States, Jill Biden who participated in a painting session at Plas Timoun, are included. 

"The Healing Power of Art" at the S. Dillon Ripley Center in 2010.

In addition, the exhibition includes three videos: Thirty Five Long Seconds: Haiti’s Deadly Earthquake, an 18-minute film chronicling the earthquake and its aftermath written and narrated by Mario L. Delatour, and two short video segments, one in which Dodard discusses the concept behind Plas Timoun and the other on a visit to Haiti by Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden. An outstanding beaded Haitian flag, map of Haiti and didactic panels complement the exhibition. 

For more information on booking this exhibition, click here to download the exhibition prospectus.

kudos affiliates! november 2011

/in , , , /by

Nice going, Affiliates!

The Allegheny Regional Asset District board has proposed a $25,000 increase for the Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) in the upcoming 2012 budget. The increase is to oversee the operating for the Fort Pitt Museum.

The Wisconsin Maritime Museum (Manitowoc, Wisconsin) has received a $39,550 award through the Wisconsin Department of Tourism Joint Effort Marketing Grants to promote the fun that visitors can have when they come to Northeast Wisconsin.

The Museum of Nature & Science (Dallas, Texas) announced two $1-million challenge grants from Dallas-based Highland Capital Management, L.P., and Atmos Energy Corporation that will extend matching gift opportunities for the new $185 million Perot Museum to provide funding for site acquisition, exhibition planning and design, construction of the new building, education programs and an endowment.

The Rubin Museum of Art (New York, New York) announced that its founders, Shelley and Donald Rubin, had donated $25 million to help support operations, exhibitions and programs over the next five years.