Tag Archive for: Affiliates

Repurposing the Museum: Using Digital Tools to Re-engage Young People

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On Tuesday, June 11, we’re kicking-off our 2013 Affiliations National Conference with an inspiring keynote address from Stephen Brown, President and Executive Producer at Mobile Digital Arts and General Manager of the New Learning Institute.   

Student using mobile technology in an exhibit.

Photo courtesy Smithsonian EdLab.

Conference attendees will hear Brown discuss the ways museums can be repurposed by young people with the new digital tools at their disposal. He’ll focus on museums and informal learning spaces, and the ways that they are connected to youth interests both inside and outside of school. He’ll also approach the idea of how exhibits can be jumping off points for civic engagement, interest-based learning, and the way these activities are enhances through the use of digital tools (mobile devices and apps, social networks, and media production).  

Make sure to mark your calendar to join us at the 2013 Affiliations National Conference! 

steve_brown2About Stephen Brown
Stephen Brown is President and Executive Producer at Mobile Digital Arts (MDA) and General Manager of the New Learning Institute. MDA was formed to improve young people’s access to digital arts programs and computers; to support teachers and community leaders eager to integrate digital arts within their classrooms; and to develop and share youth-based programs that make thoughtful, innovative use of the latest digital technologies. MDA uses film and video production to showcase and advocate for innovative educational practices, digital media programs, and 21st-century approaches to learning. Pearson Foundation’s New Learning Institute funds and develops engaging, personalized, project-based programming for young people and professional development for educators emphasizing the use of digital media.   

Brown produced Reborn, New Orleans Schools, a feature documentary about the school reform movement after Hurricane Katrina; A 21st Century Education, a series of twelve short films about innovation in education; and Digital Media and Learning, twelve short films profiling the work of leading researchers, educators and thinkers on the impact that digital media is having on young learners. Brown is also producing an on-going series of films with the the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) about the world’s best performing educational systems. 

Digital Media, New Learners of the 21st Century, produced by Mobile Digital Arts, aired nationally on PBS in February 2011.  

Brown is currently producing Is School Enough?, a one-hour program for PBS about the ways that young people are participating in their communities, both on- and offline.  

Formerly, Brown was a business development manager, product planner and MSN producer at Microsoft. He has been a publisher of adult educational programs at Learning Network and a producer for WOMAD, a music and dance festival founded by Peter Gabriel. 

The Smithsonian Affiliations National Conference is for current Affiliates only. If you are interested in becoming an Affiliate, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee, 202.633.5304, for more information. Click here for 2013 Conference hotel information, agenda and registration.

Young Historians, Living Histories

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Asian American LEAD students participate in the Asian Pacific American Center's (APAC) summer outreach program. Photo Credit: Sandra Vuong, APAC.

Asian American LEAD students participate in the Asian Pacific American Center’s (APAC) summer outreach program. Photo Credit: Sandra Vuong, APAC.

 

Young Historians, Living Histories is a collaborative educational program that draws on the exhibition, I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story, from the Smithsonian’s Asian Pacific American Center (APAC).

Smithsonian Affiliations and APAC have partnered in a grant collaboration and have been awarded funds from the Smithsonian Office of the Assistant Secretary for Education and Access’s Youth Access Grant program to work with nine Affiliates across the country that are positioned to engage underserved youth in select Asian Pacific American communities.

The one year multi-media educational program will provide qualifying partners with one week of professional development training. The training will prepare facilitators to implement a workshop (or series of workshops) that teaches underserved Asian Pacific American (APA) youth methods of oral history documentation, research and writing skills, along with video documentary and editing skills. The goal of the program is to encourage budding historians to explore, contextualize, and deepen their understanding of APA history and culture while learning new technologies and contributing to a dialogue in their local communities. Workshop participants will gain the skills to produce multimedia online banners to be shared across a network of websites (including the Smithsonian) around the project.

Asian American LEAD students participate in the Asian Pacific American Center's (APAC) summer outreach program. Photo Credit: Sandra Vuong, APAC.

Asian American LEAD students participate in the Asian Pacific American Center’s (APAC) summer outreach program. Photo Credit: Sandra Vuong, APAC.

Selected Affiliates will be awarded $2,500 for implementation of Young Historians, Living Histories Program.

If your organization is interested in participating in this initiative, please review the following criteria for selection:
– Serve an Asian Pacific American community
– Experience in conducting and documenting oral histories
– Maintain or have the potential to develop partnerships with local community centers, after school programs and/or middle and high schools to engage youth in the multimedia project
– Capacity to organize workshops (May – November 2013) and train participants in the production of online banners

For more information on the program, join us for a Teleconference to discuss implementing the Young Historians, Living Histories program.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

Dial In: 1-877-860-3058                               Participant Pass code: 607773

Talk to the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s (SAPAC) Gina Inocencio, the Center for Asian American Media’s (CAAM) and Smithsonian Affiliations representatives Christina DiMeglio Lopez and Caroline Mah.

affiliates in the news! February-March 2013

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Ten Thousand Springs Pavilion

Richard Parker, left, Bill Ferguson, right, reconstruct pieces made of red sandalwood to create The Ten Thousand Springs Pavilion on display at the International Museum of Art & Science. photo by Joel Martinez/jmartinez@themontor.com

International Museum of Art and Science (McAllen, Texas)
IMAS hosting traveling exhibit channeling 600-year-old Chinese pavilion 

Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Heinz History Center exhibit examines ‘1968: The Year that Rocked America’ 

Riverside Metropolitan Museum (Riverside, Calif.)
RIVERSIDE: Smithsonian scientist to visit museum 

Carolinas Aviation Museum (Charlotte, N.C.)
NC museum will receive Smithsonian designation
Carolinas Aviation Museum joins forces with Smithsonian 

Smithsonian scientist Rusty Russell shows off a specimen he collected in the desert at the 2009 Citizen Science Week. During the week from Feb. 12 through 16, school groups will get the opportunity to work with Russell at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum.

Smithsonian scientist Rusty Russell shows off a specimen he collected in the desert at the 2009 Citizen Science Week. During the week from Feb. 12 through 16, school groups will get the opportunity to work with Russell at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum.

Wing Luke Museum of the Asian American Pacific Experience (Seattle, Wash.)
Wing Luke now partner with park service
Seattle’s Wing Luke museum now part of Nat’l Park Service
Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum now part of National Park Service

Naples Museum of Art (Naples, Fla.)
Hirshhorn ‘Mouse House’ now at home in Naples
Naples Museum of Art pleased to make a permanent home for ‘The Mouse House’

 Agua Caliente Cultural Museum (Palm Springs, Calif.)
Monday Newsmaker: Promoting understanding of Native American culture

Affiliates in the news! January-February 2013

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Each month we’re highlighting Affiliate-Smithsonian collaborations making headlines. Congrats to these Affiliates making news this month! If you have a clipping you’d like to have considered for the Affiliate blog, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee.

BCMA-VI-SmithsonianBirthplace of Country Music Alliance (Bristol, Tenn.)
Astrophotography students to exhibit work, share enthusiasm about VI and BCM-hosted program

American Textile History Museum (Lowell, Mass.)
Ex-astronaut fits the bill at Lowell textile museum 

South Dakota State Historical Society (Pierre, S.D.)
South Dakota State Historical Society, Smithsonian announce agreement
Smithsonian Affiliation program strengthens ties to South Dakota
South Dakota State Historical Society and museum to be affiliated with Smithsonian Institution
South Dakota State Historical Society Museum becomes affiliate of Smithsonian Institution
South Dakota state museum becomes affiliate of Smithsonian
Museum of South Dakota State Historical Society announces new status as Smithsonian Institution Affiliate 

National World War II Museum (New Orleans, La.)
Congressional Gold Medal goes on national tour

introducing the mobile app clinic

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Nancy Proctor, Head of Mobile Strategy & Initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution and the staff of Smithsonian Affiliations invite you to participate in a Mobile Clinic, a new opportunity as a benefit of your Affiliation that will introduce you to developing mobile tour apps.  On Wednesday, February 27 (3-5 pm EST), Nancy will present two open source platforms that Affiliates and Smithsonian staff can use: one for crowdsourcing, and the other for creating museum tours. We’ll also talk about data feeds and APIs that give greater access to Smithsonian collections, exhibition, event and other data available that may be of interest. Join us and begin an online conversation about mobile possibilities.

Photo courtesy Smithsonian EdLab.

Photo courtesy Smithsonian EdLab.

What will we discuss?
In our first Mobile Clinic, we’d like to introduce Affiliates to the available open source platform that the Smithsonian uses for developing basic museum tour apps, the supported access that will be provided, and updates to these tools and platforms as we move forward. In addition, we’d like to begin the conversation on partnership opportunities on mobile projects that may be available. Most importantly, we’d like to hear directly from Affiliates about what resources you have and those you’d like to see available. 

How will we get together?
We’ll be using Vidyo. It’s a video conferencing application that installs a small component on the desktop which allows for active engagement via web camera and microphone.  Click here to access the Vidyo conference room with your webcam and mic. 

What if I don’t have a web cam or mic?
The Vidyo platform will allow us to provide those without a web cam or microphone with a unique URL to access the meeting. The URL will show a live stream of the event–you’ll see and hear everything–but you won’t be able to live chat. You can still participate and ask questions though! While viewing the web stream, you can email your questions to affiliates@si.edu where we’ll be monitoring them as they come in to share with the online group. Click here to access the webcast.

nmai_ny_app

The National Museum of the American Indian’s new app for the exhibit “C. Maxx Stevens House of Memory.”

Is there an example of a mobile tour created with this tool?
Yes! Check out the free app from the National Museum of the American Indian in New York.

We hope the Mobile Clinic will be useful to you. We certainly look forward to hearing about Affiliate projects using mobile technology and how we might create a community of practice to discuss our ongoing challenges and successes.

Kudos Affiliates! for December 2012

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Congratulations to Affiliates for a great year, and may 2013 be just as prosperous! 

Three Affiliates received MetLife grants to support programming around SITES exhibitions: 

  • Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center (Mashantucket, CT) received $4,990 to fund construction of an outdoor skateboard park which will be used during the public opening and summer kick-off events for the exhibition Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America.  The grant will also support an honorarium for skate-boarder, Walt Pourier, who will lead a skate deck workshop, art projects, and skating skills demonstration, as well as act as the artist-in-residence at the summer kick-off event. 
  • Sonoma County Museum (Santa Rosa, CA) received $4,700 to fund the honoraria and marketing for an event featuring a local story-telling group whose performance will involve narratives connected to the theme of military mail, particularly focusing on the ways it has connected service men and women to the public during war time. The grant will also support materials and marketing for a free family day. Additionally, funding will assist with the cost of materials and marketing for an augmented tour program which will be a series of docent-led tours for school children. All programming relate to themes of the exhibition Mail Call. 
  • American Textile History Museum (Lowell, MA) received $5,000 to fund speaker fees and promotion for lecturers such as astronaut, Daniel Barry, space suit designer, Dava Newman, and Apollo 13 Mission Control engineer, David Reed.  The grant will also support craft and activity materials for a free family day, as well as the construction of and materials for hands-on interactives at activity stations. All programming relate to themes of the exhibition Suited for Space.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his wife, Gene  donated $5 million to the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas, TX).  Their donation funded the Perot Museum’s atrium, the naturally lit entrance area that spans almost 14 stories high. The area will be named the Gene and Jerry Jones Dallas Cowboys Atrium. 

The Ohio Historical Society (Columbus, OH) received $30,000 from the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area to help repair damage to the Bimeler Museum in Zoar, which was badly damaged by a flood in 2005. 

Challenger Space Center (Peoria, AZ) has been selected to receive a STEM grant for $94,013 from the APS Foundation. The grant will support the Center’s new Statewide STEM Mobile Outreach program, which will bring hands-on learning activities to schools in rural areas around the state beginning in 2013.