Tag Archive for: Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico

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.

Coming Up in Affiliateland in April 2021

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Happy Earth Month everyone!

A museum visitor looks at a display of various people of color.

“The Bias Inside Us” features Spanish photographer Angélica Dass’ Humanae project, which reflects on the color of skin that challenges the concept of race. Photo by Science Museum of Minnesota.

IOWA
The Bias Inside Us exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service opens at the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, 4.17.

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rican Affiliates, the Museo de Arte and Museo y Centro de Estudios Humanísticos, offer a workshop on The Conservation of Caribbean Culture: Training Future Conservators of Cultural Patrimony, 4.19-23.

MASSACHUSETTS
Teen filmmakers in the McAuliffe Center’s STEM mentorship program will present their ideas for addressing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as part of Framingham State University’s Science on State Street Fair: Planet Earth Edition, 4.20.

The Springfield Museums will feature Dr. Joyce Bedi, historian at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the National Museum of American History, for a talk on Who Invented the Environment?, in Springfield, 4.22.

A scientist examines a skull.

Dr. Kari Bruwelheide measuring a cranium. Image Credit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution.

OHIO
Dr. Kari Bruwelheide, forensic anthropologist at the National Museum of Natural History, will lead a virtual workshop for teachers as part of the Rethinking Jamestown professional development activities organized by the Springfield Museum of Art, in Springfield, 4.21-22.

NEW YORK
The Rockwell Museum will host a virtual dialogue with guest curator Emily Zilber and curator-in-charge Nora Atkinson about the Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020 exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery as part of the Museum’s Environments Examined Spring 2021 lecture series, in Corning, 4.29.

Kudos Affiliates!! November 2020

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

FUNDING

Mystic Seaport Museum (Mystic, CT) received a $1,572 grant from Connecticut Humanities to hold a free online lecture series related to its new exhibition, Sailor Made: Folk Art of the Sea.

Whale's Tooth

Whale’s tooth with carving in color – “Battle of Lake Erie Perry’s Victory”. Com. Oliver H. Perry N.S.M. One of a pair; other 1941.412. Brought home by Capt. Butts aboard bark BRAMIN. Sailed from New Bedford, 1847. Attributed to Nathaniel Sylvester Finney.

Framingham State University (Framingham, MA) received a $7,500 grant from the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) issued by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. The funds will be used for producing podcasts and videos engaging students in civic issues, creating a student photo exhibit exploring current political issues, lectures and panel discussions on the state of democracy in America, and racial healing training.

The Dubuque Museum of Art (Dubuque, IA) is one of 11 community organizations to receive a grant from Mediacom Communications. The $5,000 grant will be used to host a series of free Saturday events, featuring performing and visual arts programs.

Cardinals Care will distribute over $160,000 in grant money to 82 area nonprofit groups including the Saint Louis Science Center (Saint Louis, MO). The grants will be used to fund tangible items, one-time capital expenses, and special supplies or purchases that directly benefit local children.

The Ford Foundation named 20 organizations “America’s Cultural Treasures” and will award funding to each. Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI), Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA), Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (Santurce, Puerto Rico), and Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience (Seattle, WA) are among the recipients. This year’s grants are the first part of a two-part commitment to help fund Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous arts organizations that have had financial challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The national grants will range from $1 million to $6 million and cover portions of each group’s operating budget. Each group also will receive up to $100,000 for organizational capacity building in areas like digital strategies.

Durham Museum (Omaha, NE) received a grant as part of the Union Pacific Railroad’s Community Ties Giving Program to address needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic including general operating support.

LEADERSHIP

Gary Stoppelman, newly hired Executive Director of the Dubuque Museum of Art
Credit: Dubuque Museum of Art

The Dubuque Museum of Art (Dubuque, IA) welcomes Gary Stoppelman as its next Executive Director. During his 25-year career, Stoppelman has worked for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and he led the re-branding project for the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Kudos Affiliates!! March 2020

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

FUNDING

Springfield Museum of Art (Springfield, OH) received a $500,000 pledge from Speedway LLC to open its Art Invites capital campaign. The museum is now reaching out to the public to help bring in the final $1.2 million needed to fulfill the campaign goal. The funds raised will be used to tear down the oldest parts of the museum building, while increasing the educational space, which will double in size.

Mars Wrigley announced that the Forrest E. Mars, Jr. Chocolate History Research Grant is being awarded to five institutions across the U.S. and Canada in the areas of research and chocolate programming, including George Washington’s Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, VA). The grant will be used to create professional development workshops and field trips designed to reach 40 teachers and 600 students in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). A unit entitled Chocolate and Trade: The Americas will be developed in collaboration with DCPS to support and enhance the current 6th grade social studies curriculum. Students will learn about the history of chocolate.

Citizens Bank of Kansas will provide scholarships to eight students to experience hands-on STEAM learning at a camp offered by the Cosmosphere (Hutchinson, KS). Scholarship winners will attend the Cosmosphere’s Mars Academy Camp, a four-day, three-night camp where students will focus on building a habitat for another world, understand and overcome the challenges of gathering resources necessary for life, and practice skills like operating robots and drones. The camp activities culminate in a team mission to orbit Earth. In addition, The MAAM Foundation is offering scholarships to qualifying students to attend the 2020 Cosmo Camps. These multi-day resident camps are focused on STEM-based educational experiences with a focus on aviation, aerospace, and space activities.

Framingham State University (Framingham. MA) was awarded $26,667 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as part of the fiscal year 2020 Partnerships Matching Funds Program to improve trails in Ashland. The money will be used to replace a drainage pipe, regrade pathways and improve storm water runoff treatment.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded $750,000 over two-years to the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI) for its landmark Artists + Residents program. Artists + Residents enlists national and international artists whose work centers on the complexities of Arab and Arab American representation and expression. Funds from the grant will be used to support residencies with a wide range of focuses and mediums and will include everything from artist talks and workshops to large-scale productions and exhibitions.

AWARDS & STAFF RECOGNITION

Robert C. Clark, President and CEO of Historic Annapolis, was awarded a 2020 Maryland Preservation Award in the Category of Outstanding Individual Leadership. Photo courtesy Historic Annapolis.

Historic Annapolis (Annapolis, MD) announced that Robert C. Clark, its President and CEO, was awarded a 2020 Maryland Preservation Award in the Category of Outstanding Individual Leadership. The Maryland Preservation Award Program, now in its 45th year, recognizes outstanding efforts in historic preservation, including education, restoration, and revitalization projects, as well as organizational and individual leadership. Mr. Clark was recognized for his effort in elevating the profile and visibility of historic preservation and cultural heritage programs in Annapolis.

The Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA) received two awards at the annual Public Relations Society of America Pittsburgh Renaissance Awards.  Their submission for the successful #MoonBox campaign (implemented during the final month of Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission, an exhibition by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) won the first-place Renaissance Award for Best Social Media Campaign of 2019. They also won an Award of Merit (second place) for the entire Destination Moon exhibit integrated marketing campaign that helped draw more than 100,000 visitors to the History Center during the exhibit’s four-month run.

LEADERSHIP

Marta Mabel Pérez, has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (Santurce, Puerto Rico). Marta Mabel has been part of the MAPR’s team since 2005 when she founded, and managed for 12 years, the innovative Artist Assistance Program (PROA), a project of liaison with the artistic community in Puerto Rico. She recently served as the interim Executive Director for the museum.

The trustees of the Abbe Museum (Bar Harbor, ME) announced the selection of Christopher Newell as its new Executive Director and Senior Partner with Wabanaki Nations. Newell is a professional museum educator and a proud citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe. He has served since 2015 as Education Supervisor for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center (also a Smithsonian Affiliate) where his team created educational experiences.

what’s going on in Affiliateland, December 2015 – January 2016

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Affiliates finished the year off with a bang, and are charging into 2016, full steam ahead.  Happy holidays to all!

SI curator Mary Savig signs her book and talks with visitors to RIHS about artists' handmade holiday cards.

SI curator Mary Savig signs her book and talks with visitors to RIHS about artists’ handmade holiday cards.

RHODE ISLAND
Archives of American Art curator Mary Savig gave a lecture on handmade holiday cards by 20th century artists at the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence, 12.5.

NORTH CAROLINA
The Schiele Museum of Natural History & Lynn Planetarium opened SITES’ Titanoboa: Monster Snake exhibition in Gastonia, 12.5.

WYOMING
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West reopened its popular Journeying West: Distinctive Firearms from the Smithsonian exhibition with 50 artifacts on loan from the National Museum of American History, in Cody, 12.5.

SOUTH DAKOTA
The South Dakota State Historical Society hosted a public program around the presentation of the Smithsonian Channel’s Stories from the Vault: Let’s Eat show, in Pierre, 12.15.

CALIFORNIA
Cerritos Library opens SITES’ I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story exhibition in Cerritos, 1.3.16.

The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum opens IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas exhibition in Palm Springs, 1.19.16.

NEW MEXICO

The Post Diamond Tiara with matching brooches made in the mid-19th century will soon be on view in New Mexico.

The Post Diamond Tiara with matching brooches made in the mid-19th century will soon be on view in New Mexico.

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science will announce their affiliation with the opening of the Post Diamond Tiara exhibition featuring the object which is on loan from the National Museum of Natural History, in Albuquerque, 1.9.16.

COLORADO
Smithsonian Undersecretary Dr. Richard Kurin will give a public lecture on his book The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects at History Colorado in Denver, 1.11.16.

IOWA
Affiliations director Harold Closter will announce the Smithsonian’s new affiliation with the Dubuque Museum of Art in Dubuque, 1.12.16.

CONNECTICUT
Carlene Stephens, curator at the National Museum of American History, will present a talk on Connecting the World in Time as part of the Stars of the Smithsonian lecture series at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, 1.14.16.

FLORIDA
The Art of Video Games exhibition, organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, will open at the Frost Art Museum in Miami, 1.23.16.

PUERTO RICO
The Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico will host the traveling exhibition, Impressionism and the Caribbean featuring the self-portrait of painter Pío Casimiro Bacener on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in San Juan, 1.29.16.

Coming Up in Affiliateland in June 2015

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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).