Tag Archive for: Conner Prairie

Kudos Affiliates! Summer 2025 Edition

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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 

Durham Museum (Omaha, NE) was awarded a $4,000 grant from Humanities Nebraska to help support an exhibit of Aksarben gowns. 

Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN)) was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Indiana Destination Development Corporation. The funding will redefine how visitors view and use the Museum Experience Center through immersive and interactive experiences. The project includes Wellspring, which combines artwork and a playscape; two permanent galleries; and a changing gallery. 

Peoria Riverfront Museum (Peoria, IL) received a $200,000 digital accelerator grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, to complete a redesign and overhaul of the museum’s website. 

AWARDS & RECOGNITION 

Science Museum Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, OK) received the Mayor’s Award for its sustainability features, including grounds’ pollinator areas, composting program, water reuse system, recycling efforts and more. Oklahoma City Beautiful Distinguished Service Awards recognize businesses, organizations and individuals who have helped improve the beauty and environmental health of Oklahoma City.   

 The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium (Dubuque, IA) has been granted accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. 

Georgia Jipp: Blizzard Pilot, published by the South Dakota State Historical Society (Pierre, SD), has won the prestigious 2025 Spur Award for Best Western Children’s Picture Book, presented by the Western Writers of America. The Western Writers of America annually presents the Spur Awards to recognize distinguished writing about the American West. Georgia Jipp: Blizzard Pilot, written by Laura Beth Dean and illustrated by Jeanne Bowman, tells the true story of Georgia Hoyt Jipp and the courageous missions she flew to deliver aid during the historic winter storms of 1949. 

LEADERSHIP 

Ellen Noël Art Museum (Odessa, TX) named Nicole Herden as its new Executive Director. Herden is an accomplished museum executive with over 20 years of experience in leadership, curatorial practice, and institutional transformation. 

Kudos Affiliates! Spring 2025 Edition

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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!! Year End 2024

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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

National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium (Dubuque, IA) has received a $20,000 Cultural Leadership Partners Program Operating Support Grant. This grant will support the River Museum’s ongoing efforts to advance inclusion for visitors and staff. With support from the Cultural Leadership Partners program, the River Museum is now a KultureCity Sensory Inclusive Certified Facility. Features include sensory bags, free to check out at the box office, filled with tools to reduce stimuli and help navigate the museum for those with sensory-processing needs. Funding will also support sensory days programming that provides a sensory-friendly environment including dimmed lighting, limited ambient sounds, and no distracting exhibit motions during these public events.

Kenosha Public Museums Foundation (Kenosha, WI) received an annual grant from The Green Bay Packers Foundation to support the Weaving Cultural and Environmental Narratives: Honoring Native Women and Protecting Our Waters exhibition.

The Indiana Youth Institute awarded $20,000 to Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN) to focus on gaps/needs in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging and/or trauma-informed workplaces and are working to improve workplace conditions for youth workers.

History Colorado (Denver, CO) received a $164,000 grant from the Historic Preservation Fund. This funding will be matched by History Colorado to update geothermal heating systems and make various buildings at Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center more energy efficient.

The Indiana Historical Society (Indianapolis, IN) is the recipient of a $48,653 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., which will directly fund a planning framework for the United States’ 250th anniversary in Indiana. The grant will help Indiana’s commemoration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence by enabling the IHS to develop an interpretive framework and resource list that connects Indiana history to the nation’s founding principles. The framework will be made available to interested historical, cultural and community organizations to aid in local planning and programming efforts related to the United States’ semi-quincentennial in 2026.

The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission approved 28 Historical & Archival Records Care grants totaling $152,571 to support crucial efforts to preserve Pennsylvania’s invaluable historical records and make them accessible to residents across the Commonwealth, including Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA) – $4,994, and Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor – $4,500 (Easton, PA)

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Dr. Takashi Hoshizaki, a founding member of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation (Powell, WY), received the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation during a ceremony at the Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA). Dr. Hoshizaki was recognized for his contributions to U.S.-Japanese relations, his leadership in creating the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation and for his career in the space program.

The American Alliance of Museums announced 25 reaccreditation awards made at the October 2024 meeting of the Accreditation Commission. The following Affiliates received re-accreditation:

The Association of Science and Technology Centers honored eight member organizations, including two Affiliates, with the Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Organizational Award:

  • Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Denver, CO) was honored for The Institute for Science & Policy, which is part community engagement and part think tank. The Institute enables the museum to tackle “wicked problems”—those which can be difficult to define, complex, and with no clear solutions—in a way that centers community perspectives. Tackling such issues as water scarcity, energy transition, climate change, and misinformation, the Institute has leveraged the museum’s strong reputation as a trusted convener to engage a broad group of stakeholders includes journalists and policymakers.
  • The Wild Center (Tupper Lake, NY) for the development of their Youth Climate Program into a replicable program that is having a real impact on global climate discussions and on the youth who participate. The Wild Center has helped facilitate over 200 climate summits in nine countries and in much of the United States. These conference-style events kickstart youth-led projects by focusing on the knowledge and skills needed for effective climate change leadership. They have helped youth from around the world to build confidence and competence as climate leaders, empowered them to develop Climate Action Plans for their schools, and connected them with local government to create more climate-resilient communities—all while centering and involving the youth in all aspects of planning and implementation.

LEADERSHIP

Whatcom Museum (Bellingham, WA) Executive Director Patricia Leach announced she will retire March 31, 2025. She has been at the helm of the museum for the past 17 years and has enjoyed a 42-year career at the executive director level.

The Board of Trustees of The Rockwell Museum (Corning, NY) announced the appointment of Erin M. Coe as the new executive director, effective January 1, 2025. With decades of experience as a museum leader, curator, educator and arts advocate, Coe brings a wealth of expertise and vision to The Rockwell as it advances its position as a destination and community resource for American art and culture.

Kudos Affiliates!! Dog Days of Summer 2024

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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

Union Station, Kansas City, Inc. (Kansas City, MO) officials announced a grant award on behalf of the Missouri Humanities to support Disney100: The Exhibition speaker series. Topics and presenters featured in the special speaker series will cover fascinating Disney history, animation, design, illustration and more.

The City of Fishers will distribute a $55,000 grant to Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN) through the city’s nonprofit grant program to support educational outreach activities.

The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium (Dubuque, IA) received a $5,000 grant from Alliant Energy to support the River Discovery Center phase one gallery renovations in the William Woodward Mississippi River Center, including five new exhibits, a refreshed interpretation grounded in environmental history, the integration of living and historic collections, and introduction new species. In addition, the Museum received grant support from Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area for a summer intern to assist with the organization’s Watershed Conservation Action through Advocacy, Research and Engagement program. The summer conservation intern will work on a team to develop, deliver, and evaluate new conservation education programs aimed to elevate visitor understanding of—and promote stewardship of—the Upper Mississippi River Watershed.

The Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum (Ashland, NE) received a $20,000 grant from Peter Kiewit Foundation. The contribution will boost the museum’s efforts to advance STEM education, focusing on immersive experiences in space and aviation. The museum said the funds will be used for cutting-edge technology, including VR Oculus sets and Pilot Pro Simulators, enabling students to engage in ground school, flight training and other hands-on STEM experiences.

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum (Baltimore, MD) announced a $500,000 grant from Bank of America to support plans to restore the South Car Works building in the museum. The restoration plan will reconfigure the museum’s layout, with the entrance to be at the South Car Works building, create community-accessible spaces, an amphitheater, and a street-facing cafe, among other changes.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services announced the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (San Juan, PR) was one of the FY24 recipients of its American Latino Museum Internship and Fellowship Initiative, awarding the museum $343,521. The Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR), in partnership with the University of Sagrado Corazon and the University of Puerto Rico, will develop a workplace-based learning and practice immersive experience, featuring the design and implementation of internships that will grow student professional skills in museum studies and the arts, provide work experience in the creative sector, and expand the way students add depth and can incentivize their skills as employable cultural workers. Project funds will support paid mentors for students, a Lunch Box Speaker Series and an Annual Internship Alumni Portfolio. The resulting outcomes will include the production of the MAPR 25th Anniversary Celebration in conjunction with the production of the exhibition Puerto Rico Plural.

The New Hanover County Community Foundation has awarded a $2,140 grant to Cape Fear Museum (Wilmington, NC) to fund an 1898 field trip collaboration with the Bellamy Mansion.

Dr. Anne B. Kerr, President of Florida Southern College, announced a historic gift to the Polk Museum of Art (Lakeland, FL) through a generous donation from the Nicholas and Ashley Barnett Foundation at GiveWell. In tribute to Florida Southern College and Museum Trustee Ashley Gibson Barnett’s deep commitment to the arts, the museum will be renamed The Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art at Florida Southern College, effective July 13, 2024. This gift also establishes an endowment to support world-class exhibitions, operations, community art and educational programs, expanding the Museum’s engagement, accessibility, and influence.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services announced the FY24 recipients of its Museum Grants for African American History and Culture including these Affiliate initiatives:

  • The National Jazz Museum in Harlem (New York, NY) ($99,655) – to create educational videos and provide artist-led educational workshops for students. Educational resources will focus on introducing jazz and improvisation to grade 1-3 students and multimedia workshops for fourth and fifth-grade students. Staff will work with a team of educational consultants to create and post online videos for teachers to show their classes before visiting the museum to prepare students for their visit as well as videos for after students visit the museum to stimulate classroom discussions and reinforce concepts learned at the museum. The main beneficiaries of the project will be Title I New York City public school students.
  • The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati, OH) ($500,000) – to create a new permanent exhibition examining the historical roots of social justice movements in the United States, from time of the Underground Railroad to the present day. To develop the exhibition, staff will engage three panels of historians, scholars, artists, activists, and community stakeholders over three years. Coinciding with the opening of the exhibition, an accompanying one-day symposium will feature guest scholar speakers.
  • The DuSable Black History Museum & Education Center (Chicago, IL) ($100,000) – to create a digital catalog and finding aid for its collection of over 1,000 boxes of materials related to the history of civic engagement of African Americans in Chicago. For the project, staff will move materials out of storage and rehouse materials in a climate-controlled environment. An archivist consultant will process and catalog archived materials as well as train staff on the maintenance of digital systems. As a result of the project, staff will have increased access to the collection for use in programming and exhibitions, as well as providing increased access for partner academic institutions and the public.

The Nissan Foundation distributed $1.2 million in grants to 44 nonprofits that promote cultural understanding and appreciation of diversity. The recipients are located near Nissan facilities in Southern California, Middle Tennessee, Central Mississippi, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Southeast Michigan, New York City, North Central New Jersey, and Atlanta. Each funded program aligns with the Nissan Foundation’s mission of building community by valuing cultural diversity and promoting the many benefits that diversity brings to society including:

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

The American Association for State and Local History announced the Awards of Excellence recognizing excellence for projects (including civic engagement, special projects, educational programs, exhibits, publications, etc.) and featuring the following Affiliates:

LEADERSHIP

The Putnam Museum and Science Center (Davenport, IA) appointed Cindy Diehl Yang to be the new President and CEO. Cindy is replacing Rachael Mullins, who has served as President and CEO since 2019 and retired earlier this year. Cindy began her role right after the Fourth of July holiday.

Miriam Machado has been appointed Interim Director at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University (Miami, FL). Miriam has held the position of Director of Education at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum for over 15 years.

Kudos Affiliates!! Spring 2024

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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

History Colorado (Denver, CO) has been awarded a $58,798 Underrepresented Community Grant from the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service. The funding will be used by the State Historic Preservation Office to survey 25 properties associated with the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado and designate three of these properties to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Hubbell-Waterman Foundation has granted $140,000 to the Putnam Museum and Science Center (Davenport, IA) as part of a multi-year grant for capital construction to advance its vision of a growing, thriving, inclusive community through investments in innovation and accessibility.

The Colorado Department of Local Affairs awarded the Pinhead Institute (Telluride, CO) $30,000 to assist historically marginalized communities statewide through educational programs.

Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN) received $5,000 from Indiana Landmarks to support efforts, including architectural assessments and repairs at historic structures, workshops, and digital walking tours promoting preservation and heritage. 

Denver bankers, Donald and Susan Sturm, have donated $20 million to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (Denver, CO). The gift will be used for the renovation of the museum’s theater, its east wing, and its outdoor spaces as part of an effort to expand the museum’s ability to develop new education and community programs.

Union Station, Kansas City, Inc. (Kansas City, MO) received a grant for $20,000 from Bayer Fund. This 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 as well as non-profit community groups that serve individuals from historically underrepresented communities.

Plimoth Patuxet Museums (Plymouth, MA) was awarded $10,000 from Americana Corner’s Preserving America Grant Program. The awarded funds will be used for the acquisition of reproduction items and materials needed to update the 17th-Century English Village’s palisade.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

The following Affiliates (Category & Place) were recognized in the final 2024 USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards:

B

Best Free Museum

No. 3: Saint Louis Science Center (St. Louis, MO)

Best History Museum

No. 1: Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA)

No. 2: National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati, OH)

No. 3: Cincinnati History Museum (Cincinnati, OH)

No. 4: Mississippi Civil Rights Museum (Jackson, MS)

No. 8: National Museum of the Pacific War (Fredericksburg, TX)

Best Music Museum

No. 8: Birthplace of Country Music Museum (Bristol, VA)

No. 9: Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ)

Best Open Air Museum

No. 1: Plimoth Patuxet Museums (Plymouth, MA)

No. 2: Mystic Seaport Museum (Mystic, CT)

No. 8: Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN)

No. 9: Hagley Museum and Library (Wilmington, DE)

Best Science Museum

No. 1: The Wild Center (Tupper Lake, NY)

No. 3: Michigan Science Center (Detroit, MI)

No. 4: Tellus Science Museum (Cartersville, GA)

No. 5: Saint Louis Science Center (St. Louis, MO)

L

Kudos Affiliates!! December 2023

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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

High Desert Museum (Bend, OR) is one of 28 Oregon arts organizations receiving a $10,000 grant through the Oregon Arts Commission Arts Learning Program to strengthen arts education for K-12 students. The grant will support Kids Curate, a yearlong, bilingual education program that provides more than 50 hours of engaging and sequential arts learning experiences to 50 underserved students at Bear Creek Elementary School in Bend.

Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing, MI) is the benefactor of a $2 million gift from the Forest Akers Trust. The investment will be used to construct and equip two spaces within the museum— an Immersive Lab and an Exhibit Lab. These new labs will empower university students to take a hands-on approach to exhibition creation and visitor engagement with the museum’s extensive collection of more than 1 million objects.

University of Nebraska State Museum (Lincoln, NE) received a $2 million gift from the Hubbard Family Foundation to establish the inaugural Dr. Michael and Jane Voorhies Endowed Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology position. Dr. Voorhies is a professor emeritus in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and curator emeritus at the state museum. The gift honors the Voorhies’ work discovering, researching, and helping establish the Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park. Ashley Poust, a paleontologist and a postdoctoral researcher at the San Diego Natural History Museum, has been named the inaugural curator.

The Fishers City Council approved a resolution granting Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN) $80,000 to serve the Fishers community, following a recommendation from the Fishers Nonprofit Committee.

Through its new Geosciences Open Science Ecosystem program, the National Science Foundation is funding 12 new projects to support sustainable and networked open science activities including Project Pythia and Pangeo: Building an Inclusive Geoscience Community Through Accessible, Reusable, and Reproducible Workflows. Led by the University at Albany, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (Boulder, CO), and Code for Science and Society/2i2c, this project will advance the development and use of Pythia Cookbooks, which are web-based interactive computing platforms embedded in open, cloud-based computational environments for executing common geoscience workflows.

The National Endowment for the Humanities announced $41.3 million in grants to support vital humanities education, research, preservation, and public programs featuring these Affiliate projects: 

  • Anchorage Museum (Anchorage, AK) ($100,000) to conduct comprehensive energy and carbon audits and cover consultant costs associated with development of a climate smart sustainability plan for the museum. 
  • Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA) ($190,000) to develop two five-day workshops for 72 secondary school teachers on Japanese American history and community history through Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo neighborhood. 
  • Plimoth Patuxet Museums (Plymouth, MA) ($3,642) to purchase a digital, automatic monitoring system to record consecutive temperatures and relative humidity. 
  • Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing, MI)  
    • ($10,000) to purchase storage furniture to house portions of the Apparel, Textiles and Design teaching collection in museum-quality cabinetry. 
    • ($9,983) to improve the storage of 6,500 excavated and cataloged objects by replacing shelving and implementing radio frequency identification tagging technology for the digital tracking and retrieval of the collection. 
  • Dennos Museum Center (Traverse City, MI) ($10,000) to install 1,400 square feet of window tint film to reduce visible light levels in the museum’s promenade wing, a gallery space for light-sensitive objects such as photographs, works on paper, and organic materials. 
  • Mississippi Department of Archives and History (Jackson, MS) ($187,059) to create two, one-week Freedom Summer: 60 Years Later workshops for 72 K-12 educators on using a site-based approach to studying the civil rights movement in Mississippi. 
  • Center for Jewish History (New York, NY) ($350,000) to reconstruct the Center for Jewish History’s collection storage building to improve preservation of irreplaceable collections and reduce energy costs and carbon emissions. 
  • City Lore, Inc. (New York, NY) ($175,000) to develop a two-week Understanding Puerto Rican Migration and Community Building through the Arts and Humanities residential institute for 30 K-12 educators on the migration experience of New York City’s Puerto Rican communities expressed through the arts. 
  • Ohio History Connection (Columbus, OH) ($319,511) to digitize 100,000 pages of Ohio newspapers published prior to 1963, as part of the state’s sixth round of participation in the National Digital Newspaper Program. This phase would focus on three themes: community building, democracy, and transportation. 

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

T

Barco presented their fourth annual Blooloop 50 Museum Influencer List for 2023.The list highlights 50 key individuals whose innovation and creativity have been integral to developing today’s museums including:

The Southeast Museums Conference awarded the Greensboro History Museum (Greensboro, NC) two Gold Awards and one Silver Award for excellence in the use of technology. The competition encourages innovation, effective design, accessibility, creativity and pride of work, as well as recognition of institutional identity. The Gears of Democracy introductory video won Gold Awards for both its production and multi-screen installation in the NC Democracy: Eleven Elections exhibition. The stereoscopic video produced for the museum’s Gerrymander Madness received a Silver Award. NC Democracy: Eleven Elections has also been recognized with a 2023 Award of Excellence from the American Association of State & Local History. The exhibition explores choices and change across 11 state elections between 1776 and 2010, illustrating the twists and turns of who could participate, how voters cast their ballots, and what influenced decisions that continue to shape what democracy means today.

Kristan Uhlenbrock, director of The Institute for Science & Policy, a project of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (Denver, CO), was named one of the recipients of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications. The award presented by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in partnership with Schmidt Futures recognized Uhlenbrock’s podcast series using interviews to explore the complex mix of climate change, science, politics, policy, economics, culture, and humanity to tackle one of the biggest problems facing the Western U.S.– water scarcity. In addition, the Institute earned a $100,000 grant from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to explore creating a science policy fellowship program that would give state legislators direct access to doctoral-level scientific experts. The grant is part of the NCSL’s State Science Policy Fellowship Planning Grant Initiative and could help legislators make choices about issues like energy, air pollution, climate, water, public health, and technology.

The American Alliance of Museums announced Samuel W. Black, Director of the African American Program, Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA) and Marise McDermott, President and CEO, Witte Museum (San Antonio, TX) have been named members of its Excellence in DEAI Steering Committee.

LEADERSHIP

Misha Galperin, Ph.D., president & chief executive officer, Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia, PA), announced she will be stepping down from her role at the museum. Misha will stay on and work with the Board to onboard a successor and effect a smooth transition.