Tag Archive for: California Science Center

Kudos Affiliates! Spring 2025 Edition

Kudos to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments! Do you have kudos to share? Please send potential entries to Aaron Glavas, GlavasC@si.edu.

FUNDING 

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science (Denver, CO) received a $20 million gift from the Sturm Family Foundation to launch a new East Wing Project to rejuvenate their historic theater, lobby and plaza. 

Nebraska Tourism awarded a $10,710 grant to the Durham Museum (Omaha, NE) as part of the application cycle of the Community Impact and Visit Nebraska Marketing Grant programs. The funding will be used for the Image Library, Website & Advertising Expansion project. 

Union Station, Kansas City, Inc. (Kansas City, MO) received a grant of $20,000 from Bayer Fund. The grant will be used towards building a better future by helping provide scholarships for local students to visit both Science City and the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium. The program is for students in grades K-12 at public or charter schools in the Kansas City metro area, including Jackson, Johnson, Wyandotte, and Clay counties as well as non-profit community groups that serve individuals from historically underrepresented communities. 

Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN) received a $2.5 million grant through Lilly Endowment’s Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative. The grant will support the Lenape Connection & Kinship on the White River project, which aims to amplify the voices of the Lenape people, honoring their cultural heritage, history and traditions. 

The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium (Dubuque, IA) was awarded an Inspire Iowa Cultural Tourism Grant award of $50,000 in support of the summer 2025 traveling exhibit, Ice Dinosaurs: The Lost World of the Alaskan Arctic. Funding will support this new traveling exhibit, in addition to educational programming and a correlated regional marketing campaign designed to attract significant tourism to the River Museum and the region. 

AWARDS & RECOGNITION 

Newsweek USA Today’s Readers’ Choice Awards were recently announced and featured Affiliates in the following categories: 

Best Free Museum 

  • California Science Center (Los Angeles, CA) 

Best History Museum 

Best Museum Ship 

Best Music Museum 

Best Open-Air Museum 

Best Planetarium 

Best Science Museum 

Booth Western Art Museum (Cartersville, GA) and Tellus Science Museum (Cartersville, GA), were recognized for their contributions to the museum industry at the annual Georgia Association of Museums conference. The awards highlight both museums’ dedication to innovation, accessibility, and education. 

  • Booth Western Art Museum received a multimedia award for its bilingual digital tour. The museum developed a low-cost, web-based tour that delivers an engaging, bilingual experience and provides greater accessibility for the region’s Spanish-speaking community, which makes up over 13% of the local population. 
  • Tellus Science Museum’s annual summer internship program was honored with Georgia Association of Museums’ Student Project Award for developing a new Solar System Traveling Trunk program. The portable educational resource aligns with Georgia’s state science curriculum and provides interactive lessons for students suitable for a wide range of grade levels. 

The travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler recently published a list of the 51 best museums in the United States, which included the following Affiliates: 

LEADERSHIP 

Michelle Larson, CEO of the Adler Planetarium (Chicago, IL), announced she is stepping down to become president of Clarkson University in upstate New York.  The planetarium’s chief financial officer, Audris Wong, has been tapped as interim CEO while the board of trustees undertakes the process of hiring a permanent replacement for Larson. 

Nicole Harvey, a longtime employee of the Oklahoma Historical Society, has been named the next director of the Oklahoma History Center Museum (Oklahoma City, OK) after serving as interim director. 

Plimoth Patuxet Museums (Plymouth, MA) announced Executive Director, Ellie Donovan, is retiring from the Museum this year. Donovan has held several positions at the Museum, serving as Executive Director for the last 16 years. The trustees of the museum added Deputy Director of Research and Public Engagement, Tom Begley, will assume the role of Executive Director following Donovan’s departure. 

Kudos Affiliates!! May 2023

Kudos to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments! Do you have kudos to share? Please send potential entries to Aaron Glavas, GlavasC@si.edu. 

FUNDING  

MakerUSA, in collaboration with the Pinhead Institute (Telluride, CO), has received a $100,000 grant to fund a program manager to design and operate “maker” programming regionally. The grant will cover the costs of a program manager, as well as an $8,000 sub-grant that will go directly to Pinhead to develop programming. 

The Arvest Foundation announced a $2,500 contribution to the Oklahoma Historical Society (Oklahoma City, OK) to support digitization and preservation of oral interviews of veterans who served in WWII and beyond. The interviews were conducted and recorded in the 1980s through the 1990s using technology that is deteriorating. 

The California Natural Resources Agency announced more than $19.7 million in funding awarded by the California Cultural and Historical Endowment to support 63 museum projects including: 

New Mexico’s Governor approved $100,000 in capital funding to provide, improve, and enhance exhibits and programs at the New Mexico Museum of Space History (Alamogordo, NM). 

AWARDS & RECOGNITION 

Neville Crenshaw, manager of special exhibitions and featured experiences at the Saint Louis Science Center (Saint Louis, MO), and the Center’s team were awarded the Mission Moment 2022 award from MindsEye, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving people of all ages with visual disabilities in the St. Louis region. The award recognized the work from the team to make 2022’s HOCKEY: Faster Than Ever special exhibition more accessible for guests who are blind or partially sighted. 

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) announced the reaccreditation awards for 2023, which included three Smithsonian Affiliates: 

Aquarium of the Bay (San Francisco, CA) received reaccreditation for 2023 through 2028 by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). 

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced 30 finalists, including three Affiliates, for the 2023 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. The National Medal is the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries that demonstrate excellence in service to their communities. 

A collaboration between Nebraska Public Media Labs and the University of Nebraska State Museum (Lincoln, NE), Expedition Nebraska: A Virtual Natural History Experience has been honored for Metaverse, Immersive and Virtual Experiences in the 27th Annual Webby Awards. The project allows visitors to virtually travel back in time to prehistoric Nebraska and experience how it has changed over millennia. The Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, is the leading international awards organization honoring excellence on the internet. 

Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA) received the S.K. Stevens Award from the Pennsylvania Museums Association for its work on the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES) exhibition American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith.

The National Art Education Association has named Miriam Machado, director of education at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum (Miami, FL) as the recipient of the 2023 National Museum Education Art Educator Award. This prestigious award, determined through a peer review of nominations, recognizes the exemplary contributions, service, and achievements of one outstanding NAEA member annually at the National level within their division.

LEADERSHIP 

Pamela D.C. Junior, director of the Two Mississippi Museums (Jackson, MS) announced her plans to retire. She has led the Two Mississippi Museums, which consists of the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, since 2019. Junior’s retirement is effective June 30. 

Kenosha Public Museums’ (Kenosha, WI) director Leslie Brother has resigned. Peggy Gregorski has been named interim director while a national search is conducted.

Coming Up in Affiliateland in June 2015

Even though we’ll see many Affiliates in DC for the Affiliations National Conference, some will be home leading this great roster of events.

MASSACHUSETTS
Dr. Libby Haight O’Connell (Chief Historian, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility, History Channel and A+E Networks, and Alumnus of the Board of the National Museum of American History) presents The American Plate: A Culinary History in 100 Bites, a time-traveling dinner program at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, 6.4.

Attendees at the Jewel City Jamboree in Huntington, WV will hear Smithsonian Folkways recordings.

Attendees at the Jewel City Jamboree in Huntington, WV will hear Smithsonian Folkways recordings.

WEST VIRGINIA
The Heritage Farm Museum and Village will live stream Smithsonian Folkways recordings during its Jewel City Jamboree in Huntington, 6.6.

FLORIDA
The Wolfsonian at Florida International University opens SITES’ Women, Art, and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise exhibition in Miami, 6.12.

The Tampa Bay History Center opens SITES’ Patios, Pools, & the Invention of the American Backyard exhibition in Tampa, 6.20.

PENNSYLVANIA
A team of textile conservators from the National Museum of the American Indian will be touring and consulting with the U.S.  Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, 6.16-18.

CALIFORNIA
The Museums of Sonoma County opens SITES’ I Want the Wide American Earth exhibition in Santa Rosa, 6.20.

NATIONWIDE
Twelve Affiliates will welcome interns from the Smithsonian Latino Center’s Young Ambassadors Program from June 29-July 31.  Thank you to the Adler Planetarium (Chicago, IL); California Science Center (Los Angeles,  CA); Chabot Space and Science Center (Oakland, CA); Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (Fort Worth, TX); History Colorado (Denver, CO); Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (San Juan, PR); Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach, CA); Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ); Museum of Flight (Seattle, WA); and the Witte Museum (San Antonio, TX).

 

kudos Affiliates! April 2014

Affiliates are bursting into spring with impressive awards and recognition. 

FUNDINGP

The National Civil War Museum (Harrisburg, PA) has received a $30,000 grant from the Kunkle-Rutherford Foundation to pay for upgrades to the museum’s galleries audio system.

The George Gund Foundation awarded a $150,000 grant to the Western Reserve Historical Society (Cleveland, OH) for the restoration and installation of the Euclid Beach Carousel at its University Circle facility.

Thanks to a $2,000 grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the Wisconsin Maritime Museum (Manitowoc, WI) will create four new guides on the Manitowoc River, focusing on a different facet of the river and its heritage.


RECOGNITION

Drumming at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix.

Drumming at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix.

Two Affiliates – California Science Center (Los Angeles) and Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ) – made the list of USA Today’s 20 Best Museums for Families across the USA.

As part of a marketing campaign planned for this spring, the Nebraska Tourism Commission surveyed Nebraskans and non-Nebraskans alike on what Nebraska attractions and events are the most iconic. The Strategic Air & Space Museum (Ashland, NE) came in at #7 and was the only state museum in the top-10.

Peter Aucella, assistant superintendent of Lowell National Historical Park (Lowell, MA) is the 2014 recipient of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Lowell’s Thomas G. Kelakos Community Spirit Award, which recognizes people who give back to the community.

The Abbe Museum (Bar Harbor, ME) received the 2014 Maine Office of Tourism Leadership and Growth Award.

The Army Heritage Center Foundation (Carlisle, PA) announced that its education director, Jeff Hawks, will receive the Adler Friend of Education Award from the Pennsylvania State Education Association for his work as state coordinator for National History Day in Pennsylvania.

Students celebrate National History Day in Pennsylvania

Students celebrate National History Day in Pennsylvania

The Building Museums Symposium selected the Museum of History and Industry (Seattle, WA) as one of two museums to be awarded the 2014 Building Museums “Buildy” Award in recognition of their exemplary accomplishment in leading their institution through the challenging process of creating new museum space. The museum converted an historic Naval Armory building into museum space, while retaining the architectural integrity of the historic landmark.

The Antique Automobile Club of America Museum (AACAM in Hershey, PA) was recently awarded five NAMMY awards, bestowed by the National Association of Automobile Museums (NAAM) at their annual conference in California last week.  AACAM took home first place awards for Events & Public Promotion, Collateral Materials, and Interpretative Exhibits; and third place awards for Newsletters and Magazines, and Websites.  Mark Lizewskie, Executive Director of the AACAM, was also elected to the NAAM Board of Directors.

 

Congratulations to all!

 

 

Coming Up in Affiliateland, April 2014

Spring has sprung and Affiliate collaborations are in full bloom in April! 

FLORIDA
American Art Museum curator E. Carmen Ramos gives a talk on What is Latino About American Art? at the Frost Art Museum. The talk coincides with the opening of the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibition, Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, in Miami, 4.2.

PUERTO RICO
National Postal Museum educator Kim Harrell leads a workshop on designing educational materials at the Museo y Centro de Estudios Humanísticos in Gurabo, 4.5.

WASHINGTON
The Museum of History and Industry participates in the National Museum of American History’s Let’s Do History, a program which supports teachers in using museum objects in their classrooms in Seattle, 4.7.

MARYLAND
The College Park Aviation Museum welcomes volunteers from the National Postal Museum for a behind-the-scenes tour in College Park, 4.8.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Staff from California Science Center (Los Angeles) and the Museum of Flight (Seattle) will join National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Hulslander and NASA educator, Jennifer Kennedy at a session during the Mutual Concerns of Air and Space Museums conference to discuss collaborative possibilities related to space shuttle history, 4.14.

trexMONTANA
The Wankel Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil specimen travels to the National Museum of Natural History from the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, 4.15.

TEXAS
National Museum of American History curator Dwight Blocker Bowers gives a talk on “That’s Entertainment!” at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in Fort Worth, 4.17.

NEBRASKA
National Museum of Natural History Director Kirk Johnson gives a lecture on From Fossils to Freeways and Shovel-tuskers to Cornhuskers: Nebraska’s contribution to the great story of life on Earth at the University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln, 4.23.

VIRGINIA
The Virginia Museum of Natural History opens SITES’ Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants exhibition in Martinsville, 4.26.

NEW YORK
Loren Schoenberg, Artistic Director of New York City Affiliate, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, will give a talk on Painting Jazz at the Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages in Stony Brook, 4.27.

 

Latino Young Ambassadors + Affiliates = next generation of leaders

The Smithsonian Latino Center’s Young Ambassadors Program (YAP) is a national program for graduating high school seniors aimed at fostering the next generation of Latino leaders in the arts, sciences, and humanities via the Smithsonian Institution and its partners. YAP is a college preparatory and leadership program encouraging participants to explore various academic and career opportunities through the lens of the Latino experience.

young-ambassadors-program-sealStudents are selected to travel to Washington, D.C. for a week-long seminar at the Smithsonian, followed by a four-week  internship in museums and other cultural institutions in 17 cities across the United States and Puerto Rico, including 10 Affiliates.

Do you know a Latino teen who aspires to be a leader in the arts, sciences or humanities? 

Who? Graduating high school seniors with a commitment to the arts, sciences, or humanities as it pertains to Latino communities

What? Week-long, all-expenses paid training and leadership seminar and a four-week internship with a $2,000 program stipend

Where?  Washington D.C. and internships in 17 cities across the U.S. and Puerto Rico

When? June 22-August 1, 2014

Why? Opportunity to explore various career paths, embrace your own cultural heritage, and gain practical and leadership skills and intellectual growth

Application deadline: April 7, 2014

YAPFor more information, to view the promotional video, and to apply visit: https://latino.si.edu/programs/youngambassadors.htm

With questions: Email SLCEducation@si.edu

 

 

And thanks to the 2014 YAP Affiliate partners!
Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ)
California Science Center (Los Angeles, CA)
Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach, CA)
Chabot Space and Science Center (Oakland, CA)
Miami Science Museum (Miami, FL)
Adler Planetarium (Chicago, IL)
Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (San Juan, PR)
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (Fort Worth, TX)
International Museum of Art and Science (McAllen, TX)
The Museum of Flight (Seattle, WA)