2024, An Affiliate Recap
It was an exciting year for collaboration and inspiration in so many communities! With the help of our Smithsonian Affiliates (find the Affiliate directory here), we brought the Smithsonian to communities across the country for an incredible year of collaboration, learning, and inspiration. Our Smithsonian Affiliates help connect Smithsonian initiatives with their local communities to help address many of the challenges we face. Our Affiliates are doing important and necessary work every day, and collaborating with the Smithsonian amplifies this incredible work. Here are a few highlights of Smithsonian-Affiliate engagements from 2024.
2024, An Affiliate Recap by Smithsonian Affiliations
National Youth Summits and the Youth Leadership Team
Since 2011, the National Museum of American History has collaborated with Smithsonian Affiliates to engage teens nationwide in the National Youth Summit program. Affiliate organizations serve as Regional Summits using content from the American History Museum and their own resources to engage local middle and high school students in discussions grounded in history and connected to current issues. In September 2024, a group of nine diverse Smithsonian Affiliates participated in the 2024 Summit exploring Elections & Politics.
Four Affiliates—Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI), The Rockwell Museum (Corning, NY), International Museum of Art and Science (McAllen, TX), and Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA)—were part of a pilot Youth Leadership Team. This project, funded by a Smithsonian Together We Thrive grant, aimed to enhance teen advocacy and agency in the Summits. The goal was to center youth voices in the planning and development of Summit programming. Twelve teenagers were recruited to discuss democracy, social justice and national issues faced by teens today. Throughout the planning, students met with Smithsonian and Affiliate staff virtually and traveled to Washington, D.C., in August to meet with Smithsonian experts and fellow team members.
Since 2011, the National Museum of American History has collaborated with Smithsonian Affiliates to engage teens nationwide in the National Youth Summit program. Affiliate organizations serve as Regional Summits using content from the American History Museum and their own resources to engage local middle and high school students in discussions grounded in history and connected to current issues. In September 2024, a group of nine diverse Smithsonian Affiliates participated in the 2024 Summit exploring Elections & Politics.
African American Craft Initiative
Three Affiliates —City Lore (New York, NY), Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing, MI), and Orange County Regional History Museum (Orlando, FL)—were selected to participate in the African American Craft Initiative. The project from the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage aims to expand the visibility of underrepresented elder African American artisans and safeguard their stories. The project is meant to build relationships among artists, elders, and youth within their local communities.
The Affiliate Learning Hub
In 2024 we launched the Learning Hub, which includes individual Learning Excursions that help Affiliate leadership and their teams think about their work today and into the future. These Excursions inspire Affiliates to continually think about ways they can work together and with the Smithsonian.
Affiliate staff can take a deeper dive into these Excursions:
- Essentials: For new and existing Affiliates to take a deeper dive into community engagement, collaboration and relationship building, and more
- Affiliate Stories: Modules to enhance your collaborative efforts, build leadership skills, and showcase your impact.
- Tools for Action: Download reflection guides and toolkits to facilitate ongoing learning and skill development.
See Me at the Smithsonian Professional Development Training
In 2024, Access Smithsonian offered a hybrid professional development training series for the creation and implementation of programming for adults living with dementia and their care partners. Twenty-eight Smithsonian Affiliates were selected to participate. The training presented Affiliate staff with tools and strategies for adapting the See Me at the Smithsonian model at their organizations.
See Me at the Smithsonian has made it possible for people with dementia and their care partners to continue to enjoy Smithsonian museums, engage with the Smithsonian’s most beloved objects, sustain lifelong learning, and connect with and contribute to a larger community.
Affiliate Directors’ Summit
In November, the Smithsonian Affiliations team hosted its first in-person gathering for Affiliates since 2019. The Affiliate Directors’ Summit brought together 41 Affiliate leaders in Washington, D.C., to network with and learn from each other and Smithsonian leadership. Participants identified actionable strategies for new or enhanced collaborations that extend and deepen our collective impact. Prior to the in-person gathering, Affiliate leadership joined a special virtual meeting with Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G Bunch III.
In all, Affiliates were involved in more than 800 engagements with the Smithsonian during 2024. Thank you to the entire Smithsonian Affiliations team for your continued excellence in facilitating Affiliate-Smithsonian relationships and guiding so many collaborations from idea to implementation. We wish our Affiliate and Smithsonian colleagues a wonderful holiday season and look forward to 2025 collaborations!
Thinking about how you can collaborate in 2025? Contact your National Outreach Manager or email Affiliates@si.edu and let’s brainstorm!
