In these tough economic times, it’s nice to see some bright spots.  
Congratulations to all these Affiliates who’ve received grants and awards recently.  Well done!

Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art has been awarded a $25,800 grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) to support ongoing education and exhibition programming.

The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar has received a $3,000 grant from the Preservation Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation to assist with a condition assessment of historic structures on the Center’s 8.3-acre property. 

Birthplace of Country Music has received approval of $1.7 million by the Special Projects and Innovation Committee of the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission for the development of the new museum.

 

The Institute of Museum and Library Services announced the recipients for the Museums for America grant program including the following Affiliate organizations and their projects:

The National World War II Museum received $150,000 to help finance live performances at the museum including music and entertainment from the World War II era and modern pieces inspired by the war.

B & O Railroad Museum received $110,000 for their “Whistlestop Gateway Project” to develop an interpretive program and a regular rail link to the west end of the museum’s 40-acre campus.

Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center received $137,373 to develop a 4,000-square-foot immersive and interactive exhibit on space exploration from the 1970s into the future.

Michigan State University Museum received $136,323 to complete critical database and technological enhancements for its natural history and cultural collections including imaging more than 10,000 ethnographic objects to the Web.

Durham Museum was awarded $122,850 to digitize and preserve its photo archive collection, which consists of approximately 500,000 images reflecting the history of Omaha, Nebraska.

Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation’s Atomic Testing Museum was awarded $34,933 to conduct a planning project based on establishing a best practices approach to the day-to-day business of the organization that will enhance the capacity of the organization to better serve the southern Nevada cultural and educational community.

Historic Bethlehem Partnership received $57,650 to inventory, pack, and move the collections of the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Art to a new Collections Resource Center.

Heinz History Center was awarded $90,859 for the Life in Western Pennsylvania: A Digital History Resource project to address the critical need for assessment tools for planning digital history sites and measuring the impact of online resources to increase the use of archival collections.

Culture and Heritage Commission of York County received $148,875 to transform the Museum’s static natural history dioramas and exhibits into active, inquiry-based learning experiences by using real specimens and scientific investigation and to create a curriculum-based program for middle school students that meets state curriculum standards.

Wing Luke Memorial Foundation was awarded $150,000 to support Art Beyond Downtown, an initiative to engage new visitors, create opportunities for them to learn about art, culture, and history related to Asian Pacific Americans, and to encourage them to return to the museum and its neighborhood.