Coming Up in Affiliateland in May 2017

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Flowers (and programs) are sprouting up all over the Affiliate network in May. Welcome spring!

CONNECTICUT

Visitors enjoy The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City.

The Decorative Arts Society of the Connecticut Historical Society will be touring The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s exhibition and touring behind the scenes at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, 5.2.17.

Connecticut Historical Society will host a lecture by Damion Thomas, curator at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, on the Museum’s sports galleries, in Hartford, 5.22.17.

NEW YORK

The Long Island Museum opens Midnight Rum: Long Island and Prohibition, an exhibition that will feature a loan from the Hirshhorn Museum, John Sloane’s McSorley’s Saturday Night, in Stony Brook, 5.5.17.

MICHIGAN

The Yankee Air Museum will open SITES’ Mail Call exhibition in Belleville, 5.6.17.

OREGON

The Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals will host a lecture by Jeff Post, curator from the National Museum of Natural History in Hillsboro, 5.6.17.

FLORIDA

A science program in collaboration with the Smithsonian Latino Center helps to open the Frost Museum of Science in Miami.

The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science will host their grand opening, including 5 objects on loan from the National Air and Space Museum in Miami, 5.8.17. The will also host Descubra! Meet the Science Expert, a program focusing on Latino achievement in science in collaboration with the Smithsonian Latino Center, in Miami, 5.13.17.

HAWAII

John Troutman, curator of music at the National Museum of American History, will give a talk and booksigning at the Lyman Museum in Hilo, 5.8.17 and at the Kona Historical Society in Kona, 5.9.17.

MASSACHUSETTS

Framingham State University will host a community-based Latinos and Baseball event, with participation by curator Margaret Salazar-Porzio of the National Museum of American History in Framingham, 5.13.17.

Jeweler Sidney Mobell will give a talk on objects he created that are part of the Jeweled Objects of Desire exhibition, currently on loan from the National Museum of Natural History at the Springfield Museums, 5.21.17.

RHODE ISLAND

Affiliations director Harold Closter will give remarks at the ceremony announcing the Smithsonian’s new affiliation with the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, 5.17.17.

NORTH CAROLINA

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will sign a formal collaboration agreement with the Smithsonian Science Education Center at an event in Raleigh, 5.17.17.

OHIO

SITES’ Rebel, Jedi, Princess, Queen: Star Wars™ and the Power of Costume exhibition opens at the Cincinnati Museum Center, 5.25.17.

 

 

 

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage wants your stories

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Special thanks for this guest post to Angelica Aboulhosn, Public Affairs Specialist with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage invites partners, artists, and others from across the Smithsonian Affiliations network to showcase their work on the new CFCH digital magazine, Folklife. In doing so, contributors can spotlight their work, as well as the work of those individuals and communities they interpret or champion, to a combined audience of over one million viewers.

2011 Heritage Fellows

Photo credit: Roy (left) and PJ Hirabayashi, 2011 NEA National Heritage Fellows. Photo by Tom Pich, National Endowment for the Arts

The website, which launched last month, tells unforgettable stories of music, food, crafts, and culture that help us explore where we have come from and where we are going. Folklife showcases stories of place, history, language and cultural identity as well as the complex lives of individuals and communities—all with focus on the animating questions at the center of contemporary life, such as: How and when do we come together at a time when so much history and so many issues pull us apart? The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage encompasses the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, and a series of cultural sustainability and research projects that together promote greater understanding and sustainability of cultural heritage across the United States and around the world.

Folklife features include short- and long-form pieces, which range in length from 500 to 1,500 words. Short-form work tends to personal, essay-style pieces, while our longer-form features explores a single issue in depth, often drawing connections between media of various kinds. Folklife also features photo and video essays, in case that better aligns with your work. Ours is an educated, culturally attuned audience looking for authentic, first-person perspectives rather than academic pieces. For the time being, all contributions are unpaid, but if your piece is accepted, it will be posted to the Folklife site and cross-promoted on our web and social media channels.

Turquoise Mountain calligrapher

Over half of Turquoise Mountain’s calligraphy and jewelry students are women, as the organization is committed to provided them with a sustainable source of income. Photo courtesy of Turquoise Mountain

Featured work can include a link to relevant museum websites, online exhibitions, and more. That said, these pieces are distinct from press releases in that they focus squarely on artists, communities, and the stories they have to tell, rather than on the details of one exhibition or another, thereby extending the life of the piece online.

We encourage you to reach out to Charlie Weber (WeberC@si.edu) on our editorial team with any new story ideas. For more information, see the examples below.

Long-form example: Radio Jarochelo: Connecting Communities
Short-form example: On Ink, Tradition, and the Handwritten Word: Learning Chinese Calligraphy

Read all about it: Affiliates in the news!

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Things have been busy in Affiliateland! If you have a clipping that highlights a collaboration with the Smithsonian or with a fellow Affiliate, or a clipping that demonstrates leadership in education, research, or innovation, please email Elizabeth Bugbee to see if it qualifies for listing. 

Star Wars Characters

From Star Wars and the Power of Costume. Photo by Paul Martinka

Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO)
Can’t get to the museum? The museum may be coming to you
On loan to the Denver Art Museum from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and the yet-to-open Lucas Museum of Narrative Art planned for Los Angeles, they’re part of the sudden fast rise of the traveling exhibition.

National Jazz Museum in Harlem (New York, New York)
A Jazz Age Exhibition With a Syncopated Sweep
“The Jazz Age” is an example of a classic Cooper Hewitt design exhibition — silk, diamonds, gorgeous furniture — given some new juice…The walking tour, planned for May 18, is presented by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, a Smithsonian affiliate.

Museum of the African Diaspora (San Francisco, California)
African American Smithsonian Sets a New Standard for Museums as Destinations
San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) is a Smithsonian affiliate, which means that MoAD has access to the Smithsonian’s 136 million artifact collection. MoAD deputy director Michael Warr thinks the new Smithsonian’s buzz will increase visibility for many related institutions. “When it’s getting this much love from the public, that type of audience participation from around the country and from around the world… being a professional in the museum world, we’re talking about that,” said Warr.

Students in a science workshop

Reid Middle School students participate in the Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos Youth Summit Feb. 22-23 at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with the Springfield Museum of Art. Contributed

Springfield Museum of Art (Springfield, Ohio)
Smithsonian program teaches Clark County students art, science
A recent program had Reid Middle School students reaching for the stars with assistance from the Smithsonian Institution and Springfield Museum of Art. Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos brought art and science together as students engaged in using robotic telescopes to photograph and colorize their own images of stars and galaxies like professional astronomers, interacting with real astronomers and scientists in the process.

National Museum of Industrial History (Bethlehem, PA)
Steel in Pennsylvania: Explore the industrial history of Bethlehem
In addition to focusing on industries that thrived in the Lehigh Valley, the National Museum of Industrial History also has a fantastic collection of antique engines. These engines represent some of the most beautiful engines in existence, and many are on loan from the Smithsonian.

Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach, CA)
MOLAA offers first solo exhibit featuring Frank Romero
“Death of Ruben Salazar,” from 1986, on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, depicts the death of Los Angeles Times journalist Ruben Salazar. Salazar died during the National Chicano Moratorium March in 1970 protesting the Vietnam War after he was hit by a tear-gas projectile fired by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy.

Mid-America Science Museum (Hot Springs, AR)
African-American history celebrated at Mid-America Science Museum
Creative Mind combined educational exhibit materials from the National Visionary Leadership Project, the African-American History Program, Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture, and the Arkansas Educational Television Network.

High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA)
Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms coming to the High Museum in 2018
The High Museum of Art will be joining the national tour for Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors, the first survey exhibition to explore the evolution of the celebrated Japanese artist’s immersive Infinity Mirror Rooms. Organized by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Smithsonian’s modern and contemporary art museum, the exhibition will be on view at the High from November 18, 2018 through February 17, 2019.

The Apollo 11 command module

The Apollo 11 command module Columbia. COURTESY PHOTO, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Destination Moon
Museum of Flight chosen to exhibit Apollo 11 Spacecraft on 50th anniversary of the Moon landing
A piece of man’s first lunar landing is coming to The Museum of Flight. The Smithsonian Institution announced at a ceremony Wednesday that the Apollo 11 command module Columbia – the only portion of the historic spacecraft to complete the first mission to land a man on the moon and safely return him to Earth – will be exhibited at The Museum of Flight on the 50th anniversary of its Moon flight.

The Apollo 11 capsule is about to go on another mission
Columbia will be featured at Space Center Houston from Oct. 14, 2017 through March 18, 2018, then will be sent to the St. Louis Science Center, where it will remain from April 14 until Sept. 3, 2018. It will then be at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh from Sept. 29, 2018–Feb. 18, 2019 before finishing at Seattle’s Museum of Flight starting on March 16, 2019. “This first stop of the national tour is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for people to see both command modules – the Apollo 11 and the Apollo 17 – as well as an array of original Apollo-era artifacts,” officials at the Texas-based museum said in a statement. “Space Center Houston is the home of the Apollo 17 command module, the last mission to land men on the moon.”

Smithsonian Selects The Museum of Flight to Exhibit Apollo 11
The Smithsonian Institution announced at a ceremony today that the Apollo 11 command module Columbia–the only portion of the historic spacecraft to complete the first mission to land a man on the moon and safely return him to Earth–will be exhibited at The Museum of Flight on the fiftieth anniversary of its Moon flight.

Apollo 11 Capsule Is Going To Leave Its Position After 40 Years To Go On National Tour
Space nerds, rejoice because your dreams are about to come true…It seems that the Apollo 11 command module is about to leave the Smithsonian for the first in nearly 40 years and go on a nationwide tour…include Space Center Houston from 14th October 2017 – 18th March 2018, Saint Louis Science Center from 14th April – 3rd September 2018, Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh from 29th September 2018 – 18th February 2019 and The Museum of Flight in Seattle from 16th March – 2nd September 2019.

affiliates in the news-march enews edition

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Here’s a recap of our Affiliate news makers since January 30, 2017. If you have a clipping that highlights a collaboration with the Smithsonian or with a fellow Affiliate, or a clipping that demonstrates leadership in education, innovation, and arts/culture/history/science you would like to have considered for the Affiliate blog, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee

“Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission” (Multiple Affiliates)

Apollo capsule

Dane Penland / National Air and Space Museum/Smithsonian Institution

Apollo 11 capsule going on tour after decades in D.C.
The capsule will begin its tour in Houston in October of this year and spend about five months at each site, ending in Seattle where it will be for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing: July 20, 2019. The capsule also will visit: the Space Center Houston from Oct. 14, 2017, to March 18, 2018; the Saint Louis Science Center from April 14 to Sept. 3, 2018; the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh from Sept. 29, 2018, to Feb. 18, 2019; and The Museum of Flight in Seattle from March 16 to Sept. 2, 2019.

Apollo 11 Space Capsule Is Going On Another Mission
In 1970 and 1971, before it came to the Smithsonian, the capsule went on a 50-state tour. This time around, it will be going here: Space Center Houston — Oct. 14, 2017–March 18, 2018; St. Louis Science Center — April 14–Sept. 3, 2018; Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh — Sept. 29, 2018–Feb. 18, 2019; The Museum of Flight, Seattle — March 16–Sept. 2, 2019. Those museums were picked for a variety of reasons, including the fact that they had the capacity to display such a large, heavy object.

Apollo 11 command takes off for 4-city tour through 2019
“It did things that up until then were hardly imaginable, and it stoked tremendous excitement about the possibilities of technology in the future,” Smithsonian Secretary David J. Skorton said about the Apollo 11 mission. The traveling exhibition will allow the museum “to reach out to the much greater number of people in their hometowns, in their communities, so they can share the magic of the Smithsonian.”

NASA’s Apollo 11 Space Capsule Is Taking a Road Trip Across America
Starting this fall, Columbia will be on the move once more—though it won’t be going nearly as far as it did on its maiden voyage. The Apollo 11 space capsule will be embarking on a four-city road trip that’ll criss-cross America over the next two years.

Apollo 11’s crew capsule is going on tour
The traveling exhibit, called “Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission,” will reach four US cities in 2018 and 2019, the lunar mission’s 50th anniversary year. All told, the display will include the space capsule, along with other “one-of-a-kind artifacts.”

‘Destination Moon’: Museums and science centers plan for Apollo 11 exhibit
For Houston, it will be a homecoming; for St. Louis, a product of its past. In Pittsburgh, it will be seen as a symbol of innovation; and in Seattle, an arrival worthy of a celebration.

Apollo 11 module, exhibit headed to Pittsburgh’s Heinz History Center
“It is fitting that the ‘Smithsonian’s home in Pittsburgh’ will host this exhibition, since innovations from Pittsburgh companies such as Westinghouse, Alcoa, North American Rockwell, Union Switch & Signal and others played an important role in putting a man on the moon,” History Center CEO Andy Masich said

Smithsonian space exhibition to come to Heinz History Center
Apollo 11 command module Columbia spent 8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes and 35 seconds in space. It spent 46 years at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. And now it’s being prepped for a 142-day mission in Pittsburgh.

Apollo 11 capsule to go on road trip, visit Seattle’s Museum of Flight
The capsule will begin its tour in Houston in October of this year and spend about five months at each site, ending in Seattle where it will be for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing

Apollo 11 command module is coming to a science center near you
The St. Louis Science Center will host the “Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission” exhibit during the 49th anniversary of the moon landing, on July 20, 2018.

St. Louis Science Center will host Apollo 11 moon landing exhibition in 2018
“It’s historic, it’s nostalgic, it’s American, it’s science and it’s special,” said Bert Vescolani, president and CEO of the science center. “I see this as one of those really cool opportunities that we don’t have very often, where a grandparent can stand in front of an object and tell their grandkids their perspective.”

Apollo 11 capsule going on road trip, including to St. Louis
The Apollo 11 command module, which traveled more than 950,000 miles to take Americans to the moon and back in 1969, is going on a road trip, leaving the Smithsonian for the first time in more than four decades.

Columbia Goes On Tour: 11 Fast Facts On Apollo 11 Command Module
As the only piece of the spaceship that completed the first mission to bring humankind to the moon and return him safely to Earth, Columbia has a rich story to tell eager audiences in Houston on Oct. 14 and St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Seattle afterward.

Apollo 11 command module readies for road trip
This year, one of the most important artifacts of the Space Age, the Columbia command module of the Apollo 11 mission, will leave its home at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum for the first time in almost 50 years. The historic spacecraft will be the centerpiece of an exhibition traveling to top museums across the US that will tell the story of the Space Race and the conquest of the Moon.

 

photo of andromeda galaxy

Sarah Markley’s picture of the Andromeda galaxy was colorized using software provided by the Smithsonian’s Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos program. (Courtesy photo)

Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos (Multiple Affiliates)
Star pupils
Two students from the Telluride Middle/High School will present on their astrophotography work at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., for a two-day National Youth Summit, Feb. 22-23. Seventh-grader Mylo Meyers Ornowski and sixth-grader Sarah Markley were selected to attend the summit because of their dedication to the Smithsonian Institution’s Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos program, which is run by the Pinhead Institute, one of 13 Smithsonian affiliates that participated in the initiative.

California African American Museum and High Museum of Art
Naima J. Keith Wins High Museum’s David C. Driskell Prize for African American Art History
California African American Museum deputy director Naima J. Keith has been named the winner of the High Museum of Art’s David C. Driskell Prize, which is awarded annually to a scholar or artist who has made a major contribution to African American art history.

The Rockwell Museum (Corning, New York)
Rockwell Museum Kicks Off Smithsonian Speakers Series
The Rockwell Museum is getting ready for the kickoff of its Smithsonian Speakers Series. This is the first time the Rockwell is holding an event like this, and the goal of this series is to identify leaders in the Smithsonian network while exploring diversity.

Kona Historical Society (Kona, Hawaii)
State Honors Kona Historical Society
Kona Historical Society was presented with a certificate of honor on its 40th anniversary for efforts to preserve local history and share Kona’s culture with residents and visitors.

The Children’s Museum of the Upstate opened a new permanent exhibit, Spark!Lab, sponsored by the Smithsonian, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. RICHARD SHIRO/Contributor

The Children’s Museum of the Upstate (Greenville, South Carolina)
Spark!Lab Smithsonian opens at TCMU
“Spark!Lab will give children and their parents new ways to explore and discover, ultimately opening their eyes to the possibilities of what they can create and achieve through the process of invention,” said Nancy Halverson, president and CEO of TCMU. “We are incredibly grateful to the Smithsonian and the Lemelson Center for giving Upstate children the opportunity to explore the process of invention through an incredibly unique and special experience.”

Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, Michigan)
Arab American National Museum Invites Immigrants To Document Their Stories
“We’re all Americans, and the Arab American culture is a segment of our population we should get to know and celebrate,…”

Schingoethe Center of Aurora University (Aurora, Illinois)
Aurora University’s Schingoethe Center named a Smithsonian Affiliate
The Smithsonian Institution has granted the Schingoethe Center of Aurora University affiliate status, making possible new opportunities for collaborative exhibits, artifact loans, research and educational programs

Schingoethe Center to feature ‘art of facts: Brian Dettmer’ exhibit
The Schingoethe Center of Aurora University begins its 2017 season with an opening reception for “art of facts: Brian Dettmer,” Tuesday, Feb. 7, 5-6:30 p.m. The reception will be followed by an announcement designating the museum as a Smithsonian Affiliate.

Kudos Affiliates! March 2017 edition

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Congrats to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments.

FUNDING

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (Strasburg, PA) has met a $50,000 matching grant challenge by the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society, with funds designated for the preservation of five historic Pennsylvania Railroad steam locomotives. 

The National Park Service (NPS) announced funding for 39 projects in over 20 states that will preserve and highlight the sites and stories associated with the Civil Rights Movement and the African American experience, including the following Affiliate organizations:

  • Ohio History Connection (Columbus, OH) $50,000                              
    20th Century African American Civil Rights Movement in Ohio: Evaluating and Nominating Historic Properties
  • Rhode Island Historical Society (Providence, RI)  $49,557        
    African-American Struggle for Civil Rights in Rhode Island: The 20th Century
  • Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (Birmingham, AL)  $47,000              
    Preserving History, Building Community” project.  This project will focus on the A.G. Gaston Motel as a case study for preservationists and the community to work in partnership to preserve and revitalize a historic civil rights site.

Lowell National Historical Park (Lowell, MA) in partnership with Lowell Community Health Center, Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, City of Lowell Senior Center, Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter School, and YWCA of Lowell has been selected to receive a 2017 Active Trails grant from the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks. The Discover Lowell’s Urban Trails initiative will offer new outdoor recreational programming to Lowell’s canalway trails and will be targeted toward non-users in adjacent neighborhoods.

The Kenosha Community Foundation has awarded 26 grants totaling over $51,000 to 22 non-profit organizations and projects serving Kenosha County residents including funding to the Kenosha Public Museum Foundation (Kenosha, WI) to support its upcoming “Re-Riding History:  From the Southern Plains to Matanzas Bay” exhibit, which features how contemporary art retraces the historical experiences of American Indian communities.

Former cable TV mogul John Sie and his wife Anna have donated $12 million for the construction of a new welcome center at the Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO). The new welcome center is part of the museum’s plans to renovate the North Building. When it’s completed, the new welcome center will include a restaurant, café, ticketing and orientation space, event space, underground art storage and the museum’s conservation lab. 

 

16th Street Baptist Church near the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, part of a new Civil Rights National Monument in Alabama

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

The Durham Museum (Omaha, NE) housed in Omaha’s Union Station was designated as one of 24 new National Historic Landmarks by the Department of Interior.

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (Birmingham, AL) was recently designated by Former President Barack Obama as part of a new Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument.  Along with BCRI, other sites designated as the monument include the A. G. Gaston Motel, 16th Street Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, and Bethel Baptist Church.

The Hawaii State House of Representatives presented Kona Historical Society (Kona, HI) with a certificate of honor on its 40th anniversary for efforts to preserve local history and share Kona’s culture with residents and visitors.

California African American Museum (Los Angeles, CA) deputy director Naima J. Keith has been named the winner of the High Museum of Art’s David C. Driskell Prize, which is awarded annually to a scholar or artist who has made a major contribution to African American art history. 

 

Congratulations all!

 

 

 

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.