kudos Affiliates! December 2015-January 2016

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Wow!  Congratulations to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments.  What a way to start a new year.

 

FUNDING

Lilly Endowment awarded a $7.5 million grant to Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN). $6 million of the grant will be used to bolster the Lilly endowment; the rest will be used to renovate the historic Chinese House, enhance summer camp programs, and hire additional fundraising staff.

The Riverboat Development Authority has awarded $50,000 to the Putnam Museum (Davenport, IA) for The Magical History Tour exhibit scheduled for February 2017.

Union Station, Kansas City (Kansas City, MO) announced that Science City had received a $250,000 grant from the David Beals Charitable Trust to enhance exhibits about human health. In addition, Science City recently received an international award for visitor experience from the Association of Science-Technology Centers.

Six contemporary Arab American artists from a broad range of disciplines will participate in a new artist residency program after the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI) received a $50,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge. The artist residency program will enlist artists that demonstrate the multiplicity of contemporary arts production by and about Arabs and Arab Americans.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced $21.8 million in grants for 295 humanities projects, including the following Affiliate recipients:

  • Ohio History Connection (Columbus, OH): $12,000
    Project Description: The digitization of community materials and support for public programs that will deepen the historical record documenting Ohio’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
  • Black Archives of Mid-America, Inc.: $12,000
    Project Description: The digitization of community photographs, letters, employment records, artworks, and artifacts pertaining to the African American experience in Kansas City, Missouri, during the early 20th century. In cooperation with the American Jazz Museum (Kansas City, MO) the project will also offer public lectures by area scholars and musicians about the history of Kansas City in the Jazz Age and Great Depression and would sponsor screenings of films held by the Jazz Museum, including the documentary Women in Jazz.
  • ACCESS (On behalf of the Arab American National Museum): $12,000
    Project Description: A digitization event, open to the general public, to gather personal collections relating to the history of Dearborn, Michigan, and a community oral history event. That event will be followed by a community-focused community storytelling and spoken word event, which will highlight the cultural history and contributions of notable Dearborn residents.
  • African American Museum in Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA): $12,000
    Project Description: A community event to explore Philadelphia’s African American history through community photographs contributed by members of the public, as well as programming to highlight photography at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. The project will include workshops on family history and photographic preservation, lectures and a film screening of the documentary, Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People.
  • Birthplace of Country Music (Bristol, TN): $6,000
    Project Description: A preservation assessment of a country music collection consisting of photographs, archives, and audiovisual materials. The collections provide an important resource for scholars, community members, and visitors and are currently used for research, in exhibitions, and for public programs, including an upcoming Ken Burns documentary on country music.

In addition, NEH awarded $162,242 to the Florida International University (Miami, FL) for a Humanities in the Public Square project to fund a series of public events, programs, and conversations addressing the environmental threat posed to Miami from rising sea levels.

The National Endowment for the Arts awarded $27.7 million to support 1,126 projects in the first round of FY 2016 funding, including the following Affiliate projects:

  • Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO)-$70,000
    To support the exhibition “Women of Abstract Expressionism.” The exhibition will feature more than 50 paintings by women Abstract Expressionist painters active during the 1940s and ’50s. Artist quotes, a short documentary film, related programs, and an illustrated catalogue will help the public understand the role these women played in the Abstract Expressionist movement.
  • HistoryMiami (Miami, FL)-$20,000
    To support the Miami Street Culture Project. HistoryMiami will conduct fieldwork to identify and document the communal recreational and occupational traditions found on the streets of Miami’s various communities. These traditions will include artistic expressions such as murals, graffiti, displays of street vendors, and parades, as well as decorations found on cars and bicycles. The documentation – including interviews, photographs, and artifacts – will be assembled into an exhibit that will share and interpret these traditions with the larger community.
  • Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center, Inc. (On behalf of High Museum of Art) (Atlanta, GA)-$50,000
    To support the exhibition “Al Taylor: What Are You Looking At?,” and an accompanying catalogue. The exhibition, featuring the work of the late American artist Al Taylor (1948-99), will include approximately 100 objects, drawings, and prints, many made of commonplace materials such as hangers, broomsticks, and plastic bottles. Educational programming for all ages will complement the exhibition.
  • Lowell National Historical Park (Lowell, MA) -$35,000
    To support the Lowell Folk Festival. The festival will celebrate its 30th year showcasing master folk artists. Performances of traditional music such as Appalachian bluegrass, Portuguese Fado, and Irish reels will be offered alongside traditional dance, crafts, and ethnic foodways.
  • International Storytelling Center (Jonesborough, TN)-$20,000
    To support Storytelling Live!, a seasonal teller-in-residence program. Master artists representing a broad range of storytelling traditions from the U.S. and abroad will conduct week-long residencies. In addition to storytelling performances, the artists will offer workshops and present special programs designed to serve seniors and youth.
  • Buffalo Bill Center of the West (Cody, WY)-$20,000
    To support the catalogue “Enduring Legacies: Indian Art from the Paul Dyck Collection.” The catalogue will feature 150 images of objects from the Paul Dyck Plains Indian Buffalo Culture Collection, long considered by scholars to be one of the most comprehensive assemblages of pre-reservation and early reservation art.
  • Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ) -$10,000
    To support performances by violinist Rachel Barton, and associated violin master classes intended to serve lowincome and minority youth.


ACHIEVEMENTS and RECOGNITION

The Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach, CA) and Tampa Bay History Center (Tampa, FL) have received accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums.

Springfield Museum of Art (Springfield, OH) has won a statewide award, and received national and state recognition for its current exhibit, “Authentic Narratives: Ohio’s Regionalists, 1915-1950.”  The Museum earned the RUBY Award, awarded by the Ohio Travel Association and Ohio Magazine.

A four billion year-old meteorite which plunged into a house in metro Atlanta was officially recognized and named by the international Meteoritical Society with the assistance of the Smithsonian Institution during a ceremony at the Tellus Science Museum (Cartersville, GA). The 295 gram meteorite was officially named “Cartersville” in honor of the city in which it landed. It was classified as ordinary Chondrite L5 meteorite, according to Smithsonian officials, having low iron-nickel and a level 5 degree amount of deformation on a scale of 1-7.

Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing, MI) Curator of Folk Arts Marsha MacDowell has been named a fellow of the American Folklore Society, demonstrating outstanding accomplishments and making important contributions to the field of folklore.

John E. Herzog, founder of the Museum of American Finance (New York, NY), received the International Federation of Finance Museums (IFFM) Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the field of financial literacy.

UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures (San Antonio, TX) Executive Director, Angelica Docog, has been named the recipient of the 2015 Constellation Stars Award sponsored by the San Antonio Women’s Chamber of Commerce. The award goes to women who have demonstrated advocacy, connection and empowerment.


LEADERSHIP CHANGES

The Bakken Museum (Minneapolis, MN) has hired Minnesota native Michael Sanders to replace its longtime director David Rhees, who retired in September. Rhees stepped down after 23 years overseeing the growth of the museum, which was created by Medtronic founder Earl Bakken to showcase his collection of pacemakers and historic medical devices that used electricity.

Affiliates in the news: Happy New Year edition!

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Congrats to these Affiliates making news!  If you have a clipping highlighting a collaboration with the Smithsonian or with a fellow Affiliate you’d like to have considered for the Affiliate blog, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee.

Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN)
Women’s Volunteer Group Achieves $1 Million Milestone In Raising Funds To Support Conner Prairie
At its Annual Meeting today, the Conner Prairie Alliance announced it has raised $1,077,123 for the museum since the group was founded in 1984.

Astronauts Thomas Stafford, left, and James Lovell speak Wednesday during a news conference on the 50th anniversary of the Gemini 6 flight at the Oklahoma History Center. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman

Astronauts Thomas Stafford, left, and James Lovell speak Wednesday during a news conference on the 50th anniversary of the Gemini 6 flight at the Oklahoma History Center. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman

Oklahoma History Center (Oklahoma City, OK)
NASA heroes mark 50th anniversary of first manned rendezvous in space, speak at Oklahoma History Center
The mission was the first manned rendezvous of two spaceships. The capsule from the mission is displayed at the history center, where it is on long-term loan from the Smithsonian Institution.

Four NASA heroes to visit Oklahoma City on Wednesday
Former astronauts Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jim Lovell, Alan Bean and Tom Stafford will visit the Oklahoma History Center on Wednesday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Gemini 6 flight and rendezvous in space with Gemini 7. The mission represented the first manned rendezvous between two spaceships in space.

Greensboro Historical Museum (Greensboro, NC)
Travel Channel show to feature Greensboro museum, Dolley Madison dress
Hart said she is excited for the museum to once again get national exposure for the country’s best collection of Dolley Madison artifacts. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery had borrowed it in 2012 for its “1812: A Nation Emerges” exhibition.

Rebel, Jedi, Princess, Queen: Star Warsâ„¢ and the Power of Costume

Rebel, Jedi, Princess, Queen: Star Warsâ„¢ and the Power of Costume

Denver Museum of Art (Denver, Co.)
Original costumes from ‘Star Wars’ film series coming to Denver Art Museum
“So many of us have warm memories and a fascination associated with the Star Wars films, and it’s really the characters that maintain this longstanding connection,” said Stefania Van Dyke, interpretive specialist of the DAM. “Our unique presentation will give a look at the inspiration and nuanced creative processes of designers and artisans.

At The Denver Art Museum, Costumes See You Will
The Force is coming to Denver in the form of costumes and design as “Star Wars and the Power of Costume” exhibit comes to the Denver Art Museum.

‘Star Wars’ exhibit coming to Denver – with original Darth Vader, Leia costumes
The Denver Art Museum Wednesday morning announced it will present “Star Wars and the Power of Costume,” an exhibition of more than 60 costumes from all seven Star Wars films, from Nov. 13, 2016 to April 2, 2017.

‘Star Wars’ Is Coming To The Denver Art Museum
The film, due out on Dec. 18, marks the seventh in the blockbuster series. So the time seems right for the Denver Art Museum to announce an exhibition based on the franchise.

STAR WARSâ„¢ AND THE POWER OF COSTUME: COMING TO THE DENVER ART MUSEUM IN 2016
On the eve of what could be the most-awaited Star Wars film premiere of all time – Star Wars: The Force Awakens officially opens in theaters nationwide on December 18 – the Denver Art Museum just announced an out-of-this-world prize.  A showy Smithsonian-curated exhibit, Star Warsâ„¢ and the Power of Costume, will feature costumes and artifacts culled directly from the source of the Force: the archives of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

(Denver Art Museum website for the exhibition)

Jim Bruner, left, chairman of the Board of Scottsdale’s Museum of the West, shakes hands with Richard Kurin of the Smithsonian Institution, right, as Scottsdale Vice Mayor David Smith looks on. (submitted photo)

Jim Bruner, left, chairman of the Board of Scottsdale’s Museum of the West, shakes hands with Richard Kurin of the Smithsonian Institution, right, as Scottsdale Vice Mayor David Smith looks on. (submitted photo)

Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West (Scottsdale, AZ)
Scottsdale museum officially becomes Smithsonian Affiliate
Richard Kurin, the Smithsonian Institution’s Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture, presented the Certification of Affiliation at a private event attended by numerous museum board members, Scottsdale Vice Mayor David Smith, Barbara Barrett, former U.S. ambassador to Finland, and Gay Wray, Smithsonian national board member.

Local Museum gets BIG Cred
Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West was recently certified a Smithsonian Affiliate museum, making it a recognized partner with the world’s largest museum and research complex. It is one of the youngest organizations ever to become a Smithsonian Affiliate.

Museum of American Finance (New York, NY)
Herzog honored with Lifetime Achievement Award in Beijing
John E. Herzog, vice president of the Fairfield Museum and History Center and founder of the Museum of American Finance, received the International Federation of Finance Museums (IFFM) Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the field of financial literacy on October 30.

Heard Museum (Phoenix, AZ)
A Long Overdue Retrospective for Kay WalkingStick Dispels Native Art Stereotypes
Her 1983-1985 Cardinal Points from the collection of Phoenix’s Heard Museum is in the exhibition and blends the four-directional cross, the compass directions, and the coloration of the male cardinal (the bird) and of Catholic cardinals. “There’s this double meaning to the title,” WalkingStick says.

Measuring 48 feet long and weighing in at 2,500 pounds, the massive predator Titanoboa cerrejonensis is coming to Seattle. ©2012 SNI/SI Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

Measuring 48 feet long and weighing in at 2,500 pounds, the massive predator Titanoboa cerrejonensis is coming to Seattle.
©2012 SNI/SI Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

Schiele Museum of Natural History (Gastonia, NC)
‘Monster Snake’ slithers into The Schiele Museum of Natural History
A massive snake is now calling The Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia home. Well, at least a life-size replica of the serpent is. The Titanoboa, a prehistoric snake from the South American rain forest, has been extinct for 60 million years

Buffalo Bill Center of the West (Cody, WY)
Center of the West Reopens Smithsonian Firearms Exhibit
Continuing the Center’s relationship with the Smithsonian, this is the second loan from the National Firearms Collection. The Center’s 2013 exhibit originally opened with 64 firearms; the new loan retains 42 arms from the original loan and adds 8 new objects.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West reopens Smithsonian firearms exhibit
The exhibit, titled “Journeying West: Distinctive Firearms from the Smithsonian,” is now on display. The exhibit features 50 objects, including a video of the Smithsonian’s gun vault.

Firearms exhibit re-opens in new spot at museum
“In 1876, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History established the National Firearms Collection – now grown to nearly 7,000 objects – in honor of the American Centennial,” Hlebinsky added. “From the Smithsonian Channel, this exhibit includes a video of the Smithsonian’s actual gun vault, which visitors are sure to find fascinating.

Virginia Museum of Natural History (Martinsville, VA)
Can you dig it? Hastings can
Hastings, the Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Virginia Museum of Natural History, was one of three researchers who discovered the Titanoboa.

Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach, CA)
Museum Of Latin American Art Receives AAM Accreditation
“Accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums is a great honor and an important milestone for MoLAA as the museum prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2016,” MoLAA president and CEO Stuart A. Ashman said in a release.

Poster, Gib acht sonst “Be Careful or Else”, 1929–30. Joseph Binder, American, b. Austria, 1898–1972, designer Österreichische Zentralstelle für Unfallverhütung, Vienna, publisher Ferdinand Kehlborn, Vienna, printer Offset lithograph The Wolfsonian–FIU

The Wolfsonian-Florida International University (Miami, Florida)
When “Danger” Is Art’s Middle Name: A new exhibit looks at the inspiration that comes from the clash of glory and catastrophe
The image is one of roughly 200 works in a new exhibit, “Margin of Error,” now open at Miami’s Wolfsonian museum at Florida International University in Miami Beach (the Wolfsonian is also a Smithsonian affiliate.) Through graphic and decorative art, photography, painting, sculpture, industrial artifacts and ephemera, the show explores cultural reactions–ranging from glorifying to terrifying–to major innovations in Europe and the U.S. between 1850 and 1950, including coal mines, steamships, airplanes, electricity, railways and factories.

20 years in your neighborhood!

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Twenty years ago, during the 150th anniversary celebration of the Smithsonian Institution, Secretary I. Michael Heyman announced the creation of a national outreach program that would extend the reach of the Smithsonian collections to communities, museums and research organizations across the nation. To fulfill the Smithsonian’s mission for the “increase and diffusion of knowledge,” Smithsonian Affiliations was created to provide access to Smithsonian collections and vast resources. The program’s goal was to make sure those who cannot travel to Washington, D.C., could experience and enjoy the Smithsonian in their own neighborhoods.

At the end of its first year, Smithsonian Affiliations welcomed 21 museums as Affiliates. Today, the program has established partnerships with more than 200 organizations in 45 states, Puerto Rico and Panama.

This month begins our series of highlighting the Smithsonian in Affiliate communities. We’ll be posting blogs, sharing photos on social media, inviting Affiliate guest authors to share their stories of being an Affiliate as well as Smithsonian guest authors sharing their history with Affiliates. We’ll be continuing this series through October 2016, so follow us along on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram and this blog. We hope you’ve experienced the Smithsonian in YOUR neighborhood!

A gift to Smithsonian Affiliations will enhance our efforts to reach Americans in their own communities. Donate to the I. Michael Heyman Smithsonian Across America Fund today. 

Are you a Smithsonian Affiliate? Contact us (affiliates@si.edu) for the logo and guidelines.

About Smithsonian Affiliations’ 20th Anniversary

About Smithsonian Affiliations

 

 

what’s going on in Affiliateland, December 2015 – January 2016

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Affiliates finished the year off with a bang, and are charging into 2016, full steam ahead.  Happy holidays to all!

SI curator Mary Savig signs her book and talks with visitors to RIHS about artists' handmade holiday cards.

SI curator Mary Savig signs her book and talks with visitors to RIHS about artists’ handmade holiday cards.

RHODE ISLAND
Archives of American Art curator Mary Savig gave a lecture on handmade holiday cards by 20th century artists at the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence, 12.5.

NORTH CAROLINA
The Schiele Museum of Natural History & Lynn Planetarium opened SITES’ Titanoboa: Monster Snake exhibition in Gastonia, 12.5.

WYOMING
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West reopened its popular Journeying West: Distinctive Firearms from the Smithsonian exhibition with 50 artifacts on loan from the National Museum of American History, in Cody, 12.5.

SOUTH DAKOTA
The South Dakota State Historical Society hosted a public program around the presentation of the Smithsonian Channel’s Stories from the Vault: Let’s Eat show, in Pierre, 12.15.

CALIFORNIA
Cerritos Library opens SITES’ I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story exhibition in Cerritos, 1.3.16.

The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum opens IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas exhibition in Palm Springs, 1.19.16.

NEW MEXICO

The Post Diamond Tiara with matching brooches made in the mid-19th century will soon be on view in New Mexico.

The Post Diamond Tiara with matching brooches made in the mid-19th century will soon be on view in New Mexico.

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science will announce their affiliation with the opening of the Post Diamond Tiara exhibition featuring the object which is on loan from the National Museum of Natural History, in Albuquerque, 1.9.16.

COLORADO
Smithsonian Undersecretary Dr. Richard Kurin will give a public lecture on his book The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects at History Colorado in Denver, 1.11.16.

IOWA
Affiliations director Harold Closter will announce the Smithsonian’s new affiliation with the Dubuque Museum of Art in Dubuque, 1.12.16.

CONNECTICUT
Carlene Stephens, curator at the National Museum of American History, will present a talk on Connecting the World in Time as part of the Stars of the Smithsonian lecture series at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, 1.14.16.

FLORIDA
The Art of Video Games exhibition, organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, will open at the Frost Art Museum in Miami, 1.23.16.

PUERTO RICO
The Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico will host the traveling exhibition, Impressionism and the Caribbean featuring the self-portrait of painter Pío Casimiro Bacener on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in San Juan, 1.29.16.

Smithsonian Institution and Affiliate Collections Come Together for “Super Indian” at the Denver Art Museum

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Special thanks for this guest post to: Eric Berkemeyer, Curatorial Assistant of Native Arts, Denver Art Museum

This October the Denver Art Museum opened Super Indian: Fritz Scholder, 1967-1980 which explores how Fritz Scholder used color and composition to create the powerful and innovative works of his Indian series. The exhibition features more than 40 monumental paintings and lithographs, including works loaned from Smithsonian Institution and Affiliate museums. With the support of these institutions the Denver Art Museum was able to realize an exhibition that fully engages with Scholder’s work from the period of 1967 to 1980; highlighting major themes and artistic approaches within the series.

rhino2

Fritz Scholder, “Indian and Rhinoceros,” 1968, Oil paint on canvas, 68 × 120 in. Collection of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, 268066.000 Photographer: Walter Larrimore, NMAI, © Estate of Fritz Scholder.

From the National Museum of the American Indian comes two works that draw attention to Scholder’s Pop art sensibilities with their bright color, scale, and use of popular, everyday imagery. These paintings, Indian and Rhinoceros (1968) and Walking to the Next Bar (1974), also exhibit his interest in social issues such as the conflicted relationship between American Indians and the Federal government and alcoholism respectively.

Also on view is Indian in Contemporary Chair (1970) from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. With the figure’s gritty, expressionistic rendering, its inclusion contributes to the interpretation of English artist Francis Bacon’s influence on Scholder’s style and composition. Furthermore, the contrast of an Indian subject within a contemporary setting serves to challenge viewers’ assumptions of the place of American Indians in the present day, another theme that runs throughout the exhibition.

Fritz Scholder, Indian at a Gallup Bus Depot, 1969, Oil paint on canvas, 40 × 30 in. Booth Western Art Museum permanent collection, Cartersville, GA, 2013.011.001 Photo courtesy Louis Tonsmeire, Jr., © Estate of Fritz Scholder.

Fritz Scholder, “Indian at a Gallup Bus Depot,” 1969, Oil paint on canvas, 40 × 30 in. Booth Western Art Museum permanent collection, Cartersville, GA, 2013.011.001. Photo courtesy Louis Tonsmeire, Jr., © Estate of Fritz Scholder.

In addition to the fourteen works from the Denver Art Museum, works from two other Smithsonian Affiliates are also featured in the exhibition. From the Booth Western Art Museum is Indian at a Gallup Bus Depot (1969) depicting what Scholder called an “Indian cowboy” in front of an arcade machine, highlighting Scholder’s Pop art sensibility as well as the influence of his teacher Wayne Thiebaud. And, from the Heard Museum comes Indian Dying in Nebraska (1972) adding to the exhibitions exploration of dark and mysterious subjects.

With generous institutional support such as this, visitors to the exhibition are better able to explore the rich work of Fritz Scholder. The exhibition continues at the Denver Art Museum until January 17, 2016. It will then travel to the Phoenix Art Museum February 16, 2016 to June 5, 2016 and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, KS June 23, 2016 to September 18, 2016.

Affiliates in the news- Thanksgiving edition!

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Congrats to these Affiliates making news!  If you have a clipping highlighting a collaboration with the Smithsonian or with a fellow Affiliate you’d like to have considered for the Affiliate blog, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee.

Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West (Scottsdale, AZ)
Video: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West now a Smithsonian Affiliate
The video features the presentation of the official certificate of affiliation from Richard Kurin, the Smithsonian’s Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture along with remarks from David N. Smith, Scottsdale’s vice mayor, Jim Bruner, chairman of the museum board, and Barbara Barrett, board member of the Smithsonian Institution.

Coastal Discovery Museum (Hilton Head, SC)
Coastal Discovery Museum becomes Smithsonian Affiliate — a new partnership that could help grow programs, improve visitor experience
“But I think more than increasing the number of visitors, (the affiliation) will increase the quality of the experience that people have when they come to the museum,” Garniewicz said

Coastal Discovery Museum named a Smithsonian affiliate
“The Coastal Discovery Museum’s recognition as a Smithsonian Affiliate will allow us to grow significantly in several areas related to our mission,” said Rex Garniewicz, director of the museum. “We are always seeking to improve our visitors’ understanding of how coastal wetlands will respond to a changing planet, and the Smithsonian’s Global Change Research Wetland is a great partner for improving our presentation of this science to the public.”

Tellus Science Museum (Cartersville, GA)
Tellus Science Museum’s Cartersville meteorite receives Smithsonian recognition
A four billion year-old meteorite which plunged into a house in metro Atlanta was officially recognized and named by the international Meteoritical Society with the assistance of the Smithsonian Institution during a ceremony on Wednesday at the Tellus Science Museum. 

The Rockwell Museum (Corning, NY)
Rockwell Museum becomes Smithsonian affiliate
It’s going to open up new things for the Rockwell and community; it will give people a reason to come back again and again,” Rockwell Museum Executive Director Kristin Swain said.

New Smithsonian partnership among highlights of Rockwell Museum’s 40th anniversary
Having the ability to access the Smithsonian’s collections, as well as those of the other 200 affiliates, will be an important element of creating that broader context, officials said.

Rockwell Museum Becomes Smithsonian Partner: The Rockwell is the first Smithsonian Affiliate in upstate New York
You won’t have to travel to Washington, D.C. to see some of the amazing artifacts in the Smithsonian institute- soon you’ll be able to see some of them right here in the Twin Tiers

The Rockwell Museum Joins Forces With The Smithsonian
The Rockwell Museum now has 139 million more artifacts, artworks, and living collections at its fingertips. That’s because it has become a Smithsonian Affiliate 

Schiele Museum of Natural History (Gastonia, North Carolina)
On the way: largest snake ever
This gives us access to different artifacts and things that couldn’t be done without the Smithsonian’s resources,” McGinnis said

National Atomic Testing Museum (Las Vegas, Nevada)
New museum executive director selected
Hall replaces Jim Braun, who served as director for six months after former Executive Director Allan Palmer retired last year. In his last position as the head of a museum, Hall was executive director of the Roswell Museum and Art Center in New Mexico.

San Diego Air & Space Museum (San Diego, California)
NBC 7 SAN DIEGO AND NBCUNIVERSAL FOUNDATION AWARD $100,000 TO THREE LOCAL NONPROFITS IN SAN DIEGO AREA
The San Diego Air & Space Museum adheres preserves, interprets, educates and shares its rich aviation and space resources. BEAMPro cutting edge programs inspire an interest in science, technology, engineering, math and innovation with schools that lack transportation funding. (They were awarded $25K)

Montana State University paleontologist Jack Horner visits a field research site in July 2013 near Livingston. Photo credit- Kelly Gorham/MSU

Montana State University paleontologist Jack Horner visits a field research site in July 2013 near Livingston. Photo credit- Kelly Gorham/MSU

Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, Montana)
Famed paleontologist Jack Horner to retire from MSU
World-famous dinosaur scientist Jack Horner, whose discoveries about how dinosaurs lived changed paleontology, will retire next year from Montana State University and the Museum of the Rockies after 33 years. He said he intends to work with the Burke Museum in Seattle at the University of Washington, which is building a new museum 

Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO) [Exhibition includes a painting from the Smithsonian American Art Museum]
Denver Art Museum’s Wyeth show looks a little weird to Jamie
Strange to see your life flash before your eyes, he said, never knowing what curators will choose when they prepare a look back at his career. This one, titled “Wyeth: Andrew and Jamie in the Studio,” mixes, mingles and compares the paintings of the famous father and son artists. 

Denver Art Museum Strengthens Commitment to Native American Work
Early last month, the Denver Art Museum raised the curtain on “Super Indian: Fritz Scholder, 1967-1980,” an exhibition featuring about 40 colorful, rarely seen artworks by a controversial figure who died in 2005. 

Universidad del Turabo (Gurabo, Puerto Rico) and North Carolina Museum of History (Raleigh, NC)
UNC profs discuss Puerto Rican culture, literature in Smithsonian sessions
Scholars from the Smithsonian Institution and the Universidad del Turabo in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, discussed Puerto Rican culture and literature Thursday in a session available online at museums across the country, including the N.C. Museum of History. 

Scholars from the Smithsonian Institution and the Universidad del Turabo in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, discussed Puerto Rican culture and literature Thursday in a session available online at museums across the country, including the N.C. Museum of History.

Scholars from the Smithsonian Institution and the Universidad del Turabo in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, discussed Puerto Rican culture and literature Thursday in a session available online at museums across the country, including the N.C. Museum of History.

El Turabo y el Smithsonian discuten la diáspora puertorriqueña
“Este simposio es el resultado de la colaboración entre el Smithsonian Latino Center, las instituciones afiliadas al Smithsonian Affiliations y el doctor Félix Huertas, decano de Educación General de la Universidad del Turabo. 

Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ)
A rare performance combining members of the world’s two leading Tex-Mex bands
GRAMMY winners Los Texmaniacs have been crisscrossing the world with music that incorporates rock and roll and jazz while honoring the roots of conjunto Tejano. They recently appeared at Austin City Limits with Flaco Jiménez and Dwight Yoakam. Max Baca, the founder of the band, has been a frequent guest with Los Lobos and won another GRAMMY Award a year ago for Flaco & Max: Legends & Legacies, his duo album on Smithsonian Folkways with Jiménez.

Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
Smithsonian Awarded Carnegie Grant To Advance Digital Learning Practices
Teacher training at the pilot sites will be conducted by SCLDA, the Senator John Heinz History Center and Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which serves the county’s 42 suburban school districts and Pittsburgh Public Schools, and is made possible by a Grable Foundation grant.

People on the move:
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture (Baltimore, MD)
Reginald F. Lewis Museum appoints new chief curator
Charles E. Bethea, who grew up in Bladensburg, becomes one of the most public faces of the Baltimore museum. He’ll apply his quarter century of experience working for museums and cultural organizations in his new role as the Lewis’ chief curator and director of collections and exhibitions