Tag Archive for: american jazz museum

June 2015 kudos to Affiliates

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Congrats to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments!

FUNDING

surfacing July 10-12, 2015!

surfacing July 10-12, 2015!

The Wisconsin Department of Tourism has given the Wisconsin Maritime Museum (Manitowoc, WI) a $39,500 grant for their first annual submarine festival, Sub Fest. The festival will be July 10-12.  During the festival, visitors will see a Naval Art Collection, film showings, and interactive exhibits. Sub Fest was created to celebrate the community’s ship building history and educate others about the area’s lasting legacy.

Union Station Kansas City Inc. (Kansas City, MO) announced a $360,000 gift from the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation toward a $7.5 million expansion and improvement project. The initiative aims to modernize the streetscape around the station, add a bridge to connect cars and pedestrians to a parking garage and expand the Science City attraction inside Union Station.

The National Park Service announced the recipients of the National Maritime Heritage Grants including the following Affiliates:

– Mystic Seaport Museum (Mystic, CT)  The Seaport received $199,806 to restore the 1908 steamboat Sabino, one of two surviving excursion steamers in the US and the only one on the East Coast.
– USS Constitution Museum (Boston, MA)  The Museum received $50,000 to create a multi-media experience to welcome and introduce audiences to the history and significance of the USS Constitution.
– Oklahoma Historical Society (Oklahoma City, OK)  The Society received $25,000 for the Discovery and Excavation of the Steamboat Heroine, an exhibit and education program on western steamboat travel and the history, discovery, and excavation of a western river steamboat.

The National Endowment of the Arts has awarded their Art Works and State and Regional Partnerships grant awards to the following Affiliate projects:

– Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing, MI) received $30,000 to support the Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeships and Heritage Awards Program.  The Arts Apprenticeship Program will support master artists in their instruction of apprentices in various traditional arts. The Heritage Awards Program will provide public recognition of the master artists and demonstrations/performances by the artist and apprentice teams at the Great Lakes Folk Festival.  A gallery in the MSU Museum and a website will provide information about the artists and traditions celebrated and perpetuated through these programs.
– American Jazz Museum (Kansas City, MO) received $20,000 to support the 18th & Vine Jazz and Blues Festival. The one-day indoor and outdoor festival will feature ticketed performances by jazz and blues artists on multiple stages. Musical offerings are supplemented by educational programming including jazz storytelling, a workshop, and lectures. Additional accompanying project activities may include performance opportunities for local youth jazz ensembles and a public master class with the festival’s artist-in-residence.

a new exhibition in South Carolina, supported in part by the NEA

a new exhibition in South Carolina, supported in part by the NEA

– Children’s Museum of the Upstate (Greenville, SC) received $15,000 to support a residency by Japanese anime artist Makoto Shinkai to coincide with the museum’s hosting of the exhibition Hello from Japan. The residency activities will include students from the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and will incorporate art-making workshops, lectures, and an anime film festival. The residency and the exhibition, organized by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, will promote education about Japan’s anime tradition through direct engagement and learning.

The Hubbard Museum of the American West (Ruidoso Downs, NM) will present two touch screen interactive exhibits thanks to a $7,500 Hubbard Foundation grant. The award will be used to enhance the wagon exhibits and offer more detailed information to visitors.

 

ACHIEVEMENTS and RECOGNITION

Dr. Dennis A. Casey, educator at the Virginia Museum of Natural History (Martinsville, VA) was elected District VIII Director of the National Science Teachers Association.

The State of Connecticut named Mystic Seaport (Mystic,  CT) President Steve White the 2015 Tourism Leader of the Year. The award honors an individual who has made a singular contribution to the advancement of the tourism industry in Connecticut.

 

LEADERSHIP

Kate Vengrove has been named interim director of Hunt Hill Farm Trust (New Milford, CT).

Amy Hollander has been named the new executive director at the National Museum of Industrial History (Bethlehem, PA).

kudos Affiliates! August 2014

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Great news from Affiliateland!  Bravo to all!

FUNDING

The National Civil War Museum (Harrisburg, PA) received a $5,000 donation from the Hall Foundation to support educational programming. The Hall Foundation is the title sponsor of the new exhibit “In the Hands of the Enemy: The Captivity, Exchange & Parole of Prisoners of War,” that highlights the brutal conditions of prisoner of war camps, Confederate and Union. The exhibit will have rare artifacts from the National Civil War Museum’s collection on display, and information panels will address and explain the conditions of the camps and daily prisoner life.

The Hawai`i State Legislature approved $500,000 in State Grant-in-Aid funding toward the new Island Heritage Gallery exhibit at the Lyman Museum (Hilo, HI).  The new exhibit will explore a historical timeline of the many people, cultures, events, and ideas that left their mark on Hawai`i Island and contributed to the rich, diverse mosaic of modern Hawai`i.

The Hall Family Foundation has donated $4 million to help fund capital improvement projects at Union Station Kansas City (Kansas City, MO). The funding will be used to make improvements to Science City as well as the development of a pedestrian bridge and a new lower-level entrance.

Two Affiliates recently received Museum Grants for African American History and Culture (AAHC) from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS):

– Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture (Baltimore, MD) Award Amount: $69,674

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture will hire a curatorial graduate student intern, create a postdoctoral fellowship in African American history, and establish a professional development fund that will allow staff at all levels to take advantage of training programs relevant to their work as museum professionals.

– American Jazz Museum (Kansas City, MO) Award Amount: $133,050

The American Jazz Museum will hire a registrar to enhance the accessibility of the museum’s collections and create four semester-long paid internship positions focusing on collections and education.

The Ellen Noël Art Museum (Odessa, TX) received a grant from the Junior League of Odessa for the “Little Free Library”, a decorative receptacle and will be filled with books for children and young adults to “take a book, leave a book.”  In addition, the Ellen Noel Art Museum has received a $20,000 grant from National Endowment for the Arts for their innovative research in the 3D printing lab meant to assist the visually impaired.

GAR Foundation distributed awards to teams of Ohio educators through its annual Educator Initiative Grant program. The awards support teacher-initiated, classroom-based projects and methods that demonstrate gains in student achievement and include the following affiliates:

  • National Inventors Hall of Fame (Akron, OH) STEM Middle School, $9,500, for “STEM E5d.”
  • Akron Public Schools, National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM High School, $4,999, for “Survivability of an Impossible Situation.”
  • Western Reserve Historical Society (Cleveland, OH) $10,000 for Hale Farm & Village’s Adopt-a-School Program at Leggett Elementary.
  • Western Reserve Historical Society, $5,000 for Hale Farm & Village’s Wetmore Barn Preservation.

Plimoth Plantation (Plymouth, MA) announced that the Massachusetts budget for 2015 includes $2 million funding for the restoration of Mayflower II, a replica of the original ship that brought the Pilgrims to Massachusetts.

The African American Museum in Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA) received a $50,000 award from John S. and James L. Knight Foundation  to enhance two current art exhibits: the photography of “Distant Echoes: Black Farmers in America,” and the sculpture of “Syd Carpenter: More Places of Our Own.” The Knight-supported programming, dubbed “Beyond Sustenance,” will encompass interactive storytelling, art-making, community dining, and workshops centered on African-American traditions in farming, cooking and more.

Mystic Seaport and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center (Mystic, Mashantucket, CT) received a $30,095 grant from Connecticut Humanities to support a project called Connecticut Indian Whalers: Work, Community, and Life at Sea.  The project features digital, exhibit and program offerings designed to raise school and public awareness about the men of color from Connecticut who labored on 19th century whaling ships, in particular Native American men whose work experience was strongly intertwined with their social and kinship networks.

Staten Island City Council allocated $3.7 million to Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden for building renovations.

ACHIEVEMENTS & RECOGNITION

The Institute of Museum and Library Services announced that North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (Raleigh, NC) was one of 10 recipients of the 2014 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. The National Medal is the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries for service to the community.

Charlene Donchez Mowers, executive director of Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites (Bethlehem, PA), received the Strategic Partner Award from the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce.  Historic Bethlehem has recently been designated a National Historic Landmark site.

The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) proudly announced the winners of the 69th annual Leadership in History Awards, the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history. Below are the Affiliate recipients for the 2014 Awards:

  • History Colorado (Denver, CO) for the exhibition Living West
  • Kentucky Historical Society (Frankfort, KY) for the HistoryMobile exhibit Torn Within and Threatened Without: Kentuckians in the Civil War Era
  • Stearns History Museum (St. Cloud, MN) for John W. Decker and his years of exceptional service and dedication
  • North Carolina Museum of History (Raleigh, NC) for the exhibition Watergate: Political Scandal and the Presidency
  • Ohio History Connection (Columbus, OH) for the Ohio Village Time Share Program
  • Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA) for The Civil War in Pennsylvania: The African American Experience publication
  • U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (Carlisle, PA) for the exhibition A Great Civil War: Battles that Defined a Nation, 1863
  • The Civil War Museum (Kenosha, WI) for the multimedia experience Seeing the Elephant

Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN) has been chosen by FlipKey Vacation Rental as one of its “Top Family Attractions Worth Traveling For.”

The Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point state park (Pioneer, LA) have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. This prestigious designation is a global recognition of the site’s outstanding universal value.

PA Museums announced that the Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA) received the President’s Award for its national award-winning exhibit From Slavery to Freedom.


LEADERSHIP

The Board of the Western Reserve Historical Society announced that Kelly Falcone-Hall has been selected to be the new CEO. Falcone-Hall had been serving as interim CEO during the selection process.

 

kudos Affiliates! for May 2014

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Congratulations Affiliates on your spring accomplishments!

FUNDINGbcm

Birthplace of Country Music Museum (Bristol, TN) announced a $100,000 gift by Bank of Tennessee as part of the museum’s “Name Your Seat” fundraising campaign.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a partnership with Mystic Seaport (Mystic, CT) to support the upcoming journey of the Charles W. Morgan, which will sail the New England coast this summer to promote conservation strategies. NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries will work with the museum to develop science and outreach activities around the voyage.

Russell Ebeid, a Michigan businessman and philanthropist has made a $2-million bequest to the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI) to endow the museum’s community archive. Ebeid’s gift will support oral histories, photographs, artifacts, books, newspapers and ephemera that highlight Arab-American contributions and places their immigrant experience within the larger context of American history.

The National Endowment for the Arts announced it’s awarding of $74.85 million in grants for the second half of the fiscal year for a wide variety of projects, from the avant-garde to traditional folk art including the following Affiliate projects:

  • Heard Museum (Phoenix, AZ)  – $10,000

To support Free Summer Sundays, a multidisciplinary program featuring Native American visual and performing artists. Economically disadvantaged residents will receive free admission to the museum on Sundays.

  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, IL)  – $10,000

To support the publication and promotion of the journal “Ninth Letter,” as well as a chapbook and issues on a forthcoming iPad app. Each digital edition is centered around a theme; past themes include Midwestern literature, women’s writing, and international literature in translation.

To support the 18th & Vine Jazz and Blues Festival, a one-day indoor and outdoor festival that will include Ramsey Lewis, Geri Allen and Arturo Sandoval.

 

ACHIEVEMENTS and RECOGNITION

Rendering of the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science in downtown Miami

Rendering of the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science in downtown Miami

The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science (Miami, FL) received a Britweek Business Innovation Award for Innovation in Sustainability by the British Consulate-General, Florida and UK Trade and Investment for the new museum, to open in 2015.

The American Alliance of Museums has announced that the National Canal Museum (Easton, PA) was one of four museums that earned re-accreditation at the February meeting of the Accreditation Commission.

The Hershey Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau presented the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum (Hershey, PA) with the Platinum Award for “Excellence in Programming”.

 

LEADERSHIP

The Board of Directors of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas, TX) appointed Colleen Walker as the Museum’s Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2014.

Janis Rowe was named Associate Director of Hubbard Museum of the American West (Ruidoso Downs, NM).

coming up in Affiliateland in February 2014

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It may be chilly across the country, but the temperature is not stopping Affiliates from offering great programming in February!

NATIONWIDEnational_youth_summit
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, 12 Affiliates will join the National Museum of American History to hold a National Youth Summit, linking high school students across the U.S. in an engaging program on the history and legacy of the 1964 youth-led effort for voting rights and education, 2.5.

Participating Affiliates include:
African American Museum & National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, PA
American Jazz Museum, Kansas City, MO
Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, MI
History Colorado  Center, Denver, CO
Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio, TX
Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati, OH
Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, OH
North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh, NC

NEBRASKA
The Durham Museum opens The 1968 Exhibit featuring three Apollo 8 artifacts from the National Air and Space Museum, in Omaha, 2.8.

snakeThe University of Nebraska State Museum opens the Titanoboa: Monster Snake exhibition (SITES) in Lincoln, 2.22.
IOWA
The Putnam Museum opens Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942-1964 (SITES) in Davenport, 2.15.

“American Sabor” at the American Jazz Museum

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Special thanks to Monica Reardon, Smithsonian Affiliations summer intern, for authoring the Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day Live! blog series.

Located at the crossroads of 18th & Vine, the Jazz District of Kansas City, Missouri, the American Jazz Museum showcases the sights and sounds of jazz through interactive exhibits, films, programs, and performances.  Since 1997, the museum has focused on the preservation, exhibition and advancement of the story and spirit of jazz. The museum became a Smithsonian Affiliate in 2000.

Coinciding with Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day Live!, the museum is displaying American Sabor:  Latinos in U.S. Popular Music, organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.  American Sabor presents the musical contributions of U.S. Latinos from the 1940s to the present with a focus on the social history and individual creativity that produced stars like Tito Puente, Ritchie Valens, Celia Cruz, Carlos Santana and Selena.  Various programs and activities will be featured with the exhibition, such as conversations, performances, and workshops.  The exhibition will be at the Museum from August 1, 2013 to October 27, 2013. Read a special guest post on the American Sabor Blog.

Is the Smithsonian in your neighborhood? Find out which other Affiliates are participating in #MuseumDayLive on September 28, 2013, here.

Recent press from American Sabor at the American Jazz Museum:
Ford Motor Company : Kansas City Council Commemorates Ford Fund for Bringing American Sabor Exhibit to American Jazz Museum

coming up in affiliateland, July-August 2013

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Spend your summer at a Smithsonian Affiliate! Check out these events in your neighborhood in July and August.

MAINE
Kevin Gover, National Museum of the American Indian and Harold Closter, Smithsonian Affiliations, attended the public announcement of the Abbe Museum as a new Smithsonian Affiliate in Bar Harbor, 07.05.

Gabrielle Tayac (Piscataway), National Museum of the American Indian curator of the IndiVisible exhibit will give a public lecture on the similar histories of African-Native Americans and Acadian/Wabanaki relations at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, 7.10. 

FLORIDA
Lindsay Bartholomew, science curator at the Miami Science Museum, presented as part of the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access online webinar, Do It Yourself Astrophotography:  Applications for the Classroom and Beyond, along with Mary Dussault, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, in Washington, D.C, 07.10.

MARYLAND
The B&O Railroad Museum collaborated with the Smithsonian Science Education Center for a Science Education Academy for Teachers workshop, in Baltimore, 07.10.

Warren Perry, National Portrait Gallery curator, will guest jury the exhibition Humor Me! at Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center, in Solomons, 08.07.

COLORADO
National Outreach Manager Aaron Glavas will be speaking at the public announcement of the Telluride Historical Museum as a new Smithsonian Affiliate in Telluride, 7.29.

IDAHO
The Idaho Museum of Natural History will host the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) exhibit Native Words, Native Warriors in Pocatello, 07.20.

MISSOURI
The American Jazz Museum will host SITES’ American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music, in Kansas City, 08.01.

MASSACHUSETTS
The USS Constitution Museum will host a teacher workshop featuring a lecture by Sidney Hart, Senior Historian from the National Portrait Gallery, in Boston, 07.26 and 08.09.

NATIONWIDE
Ten Affiliates are hosting student interns as part of the Smithsonian Latino Center’s Young Ambassadors Program, through 08.02–Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Musical Instrument Museum, California Science Center, Museum of Latin American Art, Chabot Space and Science Center, Miami Science Museum, Museum of Flight, and the International Museum of Art and Science.

Four Affiliates are participating in a Smithsonian EdLab teacher workshop, Connecting Classrooms, throughout July and August –the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre; the International Museum of Art and Science in McAllen, Texas; the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in San Juan; and Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum in Arizona.

LAST CHANCE! See these exhibitions in your community before they close!

CONNECTICUT
The SITES’ exhibit Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America closes at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center, in Mashantucket, 07.21.

TEXAS
Within the Emperor’s Garden: The Ten Thousand Springs Pavilion exhibit closes at the International Museum of Art and Science, in McAllen, 08.18.

MAINE
SITES’ exhibit IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas closes at the Abbe Museum, in Bar Harbor, 08.04.