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July 2007 Museums for America Grant Announcement

Wyoming

Alabama

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute - Birmingham, AL
Award Amount: $148,224; Matching Amount:$151,403
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Priscilla Cooper
Vice President of Institutional Programs
(205) 328-9696 ext. 233; pcooper@bcri.org

Project Title: "Youth Leadership Initiatives"
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute will use its grant to support two youth development initiatives that will encourage lifelong learning by involving young people and their families in positive learning experiences with cultural resources. The grant will support (1) continuation of the nationally recognized Birmingham Cultural Alliance Partnership after-school program at Banks Middle School and (2) expansion of the Multicultural Youth Career Advancement Program summer leadership initiative into the year-round Legacy Leadership Program.

Alaska

Alaska SeaLife Center - Seward, AK
Award Amount: $149,900; Matching Amount:$150,081
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Ms. Dana Sitzler
Education Director
(907) 224-6890; dana_sitzler@alaskasealife.org

Project Title: "The Sea Train: Connecting Families to Alaska's Unique Educational Resources"
Award funding will support the Sea Train, a partnership between the Alaska SeaLife Center, a marine research facility an public aquarium in Seward, AK, the Anchorage School District, which serves roughly half the state’s population, and the Alaska Railroad Corporation, which connects Anchorage and Seward with 125 miles of historic and senic railroad tracks. The Sea Train will transport over 4,400 fifth grade students, parents, and teachers to the Alaska SeaLife Center for educational visits. During the trip, Alaska Railroad cars will serve as unique learning classrooms during a day of science-based field learning. This program has been successfully tested and will expand to build and measure sustainability.

Arizona

Lake Havasu City Historical Society & Museum of History - Lake Havasu City, AZ
Award Amount: $14,228; Matching Amount:$16,054
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ruth Brydon
Curator
(928) 854-4938; lhmuseum@redrivernet.com

Project Title: "Environmental Awareness Through Understanding Natural History"
The Lake Havasu City Historical Society/Museum will use its grant to design, fabricate and install an exhibit of the natural history of the area as part of an effort to promote lifelong learning for the members of the community and its visitors.

Heard Museum - Phoenix, AZ
Award Amount: $149,018; Matching Amount:$348,698
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Mr. Frank Goodyear
Director
(602) 252-8840; fgoodyear@heard.org

Project Title: "Heard Museum Interactive Web Site"
The Heard Museum will use its grant to develop an interactive Web site to offer the general public unprecedented access to the treasures of American Indian arts and cultures. The Web site will feature state-of-the-art technology to allow the visitor a virtual experience of the many galleries, events, and educational programs for which the Heard Museum is internationally famous. The components of the interactive Web site will include (1) a virtual education center; (2) a virtual library and archives; (3), virtual exhibitions and tours; and (4) the Indigenous Center for Creative Research, which will support and promote the works of progressive and experimental indigenous art.

Tucson Children's Museum - Tucson, AZ
Award Amount: $73,675; Matching Amount:$80,615
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Mr. Tad Beckwith
Director of Exhibits and Programs
(520) 792-9985; tbeckwith@tucsonchildrensmuseum.org

Project Title: "Wellness Education Programming"
The Tucson Children's Museum will use its grant to develop interactive, engaging, and culturally appropriate wellness programming based on its new "Wellness World" exhibit and designed to reach targeted audiences of children and families at high risk of health programs related to obesity through community outreach and collaboration.

Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona - Tucson, AZ
Award Amount: $87,869; Matching Amount:$87,870
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Ms. Lisa Falk
Director of Education
(520) 626-2973; falk@email.arizona.edu

Project Title: "Culture Craft Saturday - Serving At-Risk Populations"
Arizona State Museum will work with Tucson Pima Public Library to develop eight Culture Craft Saturday and one Summer Solstice Celebration interactive cultural arts family programs. These programs feature Native American and Mexican tradition bearers and cultural educators as well as museum curators. Additional specialized programs will be offered for three "social service" units and one charter school serving largely low-income Hispanic and Native American troubled youth, some seniors, and their families, who will also attend the programs. Audience research will be conducted about the affect of these programs on assumptions and attitudes about museums and libraries. Grant funds will be used to hire a program coordinator and cover programming costs.

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum - Tucson, AZ
Award Amount: $149,999; Matching Amount:$321,397
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Dr. Mark Dimmitt
Director of Natural History
(520) 883-3008; mdimmitt@desertmuseum.org

Project Title: "Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Digital Library"
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM) will add the newly acquired Kerstitch Collection of Sea of Cortez marine life images to its digital collection and expand the terrestrial collection produced in an earlier phase of this project. Working in parthership with the University of Arizona Library, the museum will add species narratives and descriptions of species attributes, and will enhance the user interface and search functionalities for audiences at various levels. This grant will help the museum implement a metadata harvesting protocol and high-resolution image downloading mechanisms.

Arkansas

Rogers Historical Museum - Rogers, AR
Award Amount: $18,178; Matching Amount:$26,298
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Dr. Gaye Bland
Museum Director
(479) 621-1154; gbland@rogersark.org

Project Title: "The Life Atomic"
The Rogers Historical Museum will create an exhibition and related programs on growing up during the early years of the atomic age. The exhibition will be designed so that the panels and “fallout shelter” props can be used as a traveling loan exhibit after its debut at the Rogers Historical Museum.

California

Chico Creek Nature Center - Chico, CA
Award Amount: $98,814; Matching Amount:$98,814
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Mr. Tom Haithcock
Executive Director
(530) 891-4671; naturecenter@chico.com

Project Title: "Bidwell Park Interpretive Exhibit"
Chico Creek Nature Center will create a permanent exhibit integrating the natural and cultural history of the park where the nature center is located.

Children's Museum at La Habra - La Habra, CA
Award Amount: $148,021; Matching Amount:$148,021
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Ms. Charlotte Fausett
Arts Education Coordinator
(562) 905-9793; charolttef@lahabracity.com

Project Title: "Young at Art"
Young at Art is a standards-based arts education program for kindergarten through second grade students and teachers that features visual arts, music, and drama activities in classrooms and at the museum. The Children's Museum and the La Habra City School District will partner to provide instruction integrated into the school and professional arts development workshops for the teachers. Through opportunities for doing, viewing, and thinking and talking about music, theater/performing arts, and visual arts, Young at Art reaches students who currently receive no formal arts instruction at all four elementary schools in the City of La Habra. The project anticipates reaching 2,983 students, 101 teachers, 5,000 parents, and 10,000 community members over two years.

Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust - Los Angeles, CA
Award Amount: $86,983; Matching Amount:$104,423
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Rachel Lithgow
Executive Director
(323) 651-3704; rachel@lamoth.org

Project Title: "Archive Project"
The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust will hire an archivist to thoroughly assess its achive and complete the first inventory of thousands of artifacts and documents overing the period of 1933-1945. The archives will be searchable by all record groups, titles, collection titles, personal and georgraphic names and publications.

Monterey Bay Aquarium - Monterey, CA
Award Amount: $149,947; Matching Amount:$199,477
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Rita Bell
Education Programs Manager
(831) 648-4845; rbell@mbayaq.org

Project Title: "Watsonville Area Teens Conserving Habitats (WATCH)"
The Monterey Bay Aquarium, in partnership with Pajaro Valley High School (PVHS) and Pajaro Valley Unified District, conducts the Watsonville Area Teen Conserving Habitats (WATCH) program. Working closely with more than 40 PVHS teachers and administrators, aquarium staff offer a community-based service-learning program that includes experimental out-of-school activities for Watsonville/Pajaro Valley high school students to complement their school curriculum, build leadership and job skills, and provide opportunities for conservation action. The project will expand on this pilot program to involve the entire high school, strengthening the impact of the program.

Computer History Museum - Mountain View, CA
Award Amount: $144,359; Matching Amount:$161,646
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Allison Akbay
Registrar
(650) 810-1022; akbay@computerhistory.org

Project Title: "Collections Cataloging and Reconciliation Project"
The goal of the Computer History Museum Collection Cataloging and Reconciliation Project is to inventory, catalog, and photograph 20,000 pieces of computer hardware and ephemera. The catalog information will be used to develop new object-based exhibitions and plan collections growth.

Peralta Hacienda Historical Park - Oakland, CA
Award Amount: $149,249; Matching Amount:$149,380
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Holly Alonso
Executive Director
(510) 532-9142; hollyalonso@earthlink.net

Project Title: "Landscape of Stories Coordinated Program Plan Implementation"
The six-acre Peralta Hacienda Historical Park is on the site of the former headquarters of the 45,000-acre Peralta rancho in Fruitvale, on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. Its history spans the mission, rancho, and Gold Rush periods, making it an ideal learning environment. The Coordinated Program Plan includes the Fourth Grade School Field Trips Program for classes studying the state-mandated California history curriculum; the Community Docent Program, in which elders—many from Asia, Latin America, or the American South—tell their stories as tour guides; and the Community Leaders Stewardship Program, in which youth who live near the park learn about history and other cultures as they grow, cook, and share produce.

Oakland Museum of California - Oakland, CA
Award Amount: $149,343; Matching Amount:$721,265
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Barbara Henry
Chief Curator of Education
(510) 238-3820; bhenry@museumca.org

Project Title: "Family Art Explorations"
The Oakland Museum will greatly expand interpretive resources for families and community audiences in the Gallery of California Art, including development of an Art Discovery Center, interactive exhibits, print materials, and family programs to (1) foster skills for diverse audiences to interpret art in a variety of ways, (2) increase observation skills for experiencing art from multiple perspectives, (3) enhance awareness of how art is made and the creative impulse in California, and (4) develop an understanding of how art reflects the human experience in our state's diverse social history and natural environment. The project is part of a $9.2 million expansion, renovation, reinstallation, and reinterpretation that will provide new experiences for broad public audiences.

Museum of History and Art, Ontario - Ontario, CA
Award Amount: $90,730; Matching Amount:$90,904
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Theresa Hanley
Museum Director
(909) 983-3198; thanley@ci.ontario.ca.us

Project Title: "Improving Management and Intellectual Control of the collectsions at the Museum of History and Art, Ontario"
The Museum of History and Art, Ontario, has begun to implement improvements to the care and management of its collections of artifacts, archives, and art related to the history of Ontario and the surrounding communities in inland Southern California. This project will complete the registration of the museum’s collection of 25,000 objects, improving intellectual control and enabling the museum to make better use of the collection for exhibitions and other public programs, as well as to identify future care, management, and conservation projects.

Armory Center for the Arts - Pasadena, CA
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$527,974
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Mr. Scott Ward
Executive Director
(626) 792-5101 ext. 114; sward@armoryarts.org

Project Title: "Art High"
The Art High Initiative will use its grant to expand the armory's programs for teens (ages 13 to 18) in Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley, creating an Arts Hub for young people in the community; increasing the number of classes for teens; providing mentoring and independent study opportunities; mounting public exhibitions of student work throughout the year; creating a student Open Studio area for free-form discussions, collaboration, and brainstorming; assisting teens in creating a quality portfolio of their work for entrance into college and professional art programs; and offering paid apprenticeships for teens at the Armory Center for the Arts.

City of Roseville - Roseville, CA
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$225,969
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Paula Finley
Development Manager
(916) 774-5248; pfinley@roseville.ca.us

Project Title: "Sustaining Maidu Cultural Heritage"
In response to changing demographics and community requests for augmentation of cultural learning opportunities in Placer County, the City of Roseville will use its grant to provide museum exhibits at its Maidu Interpretive Center that will stimulate lifelong learning in visitors of all ages. The exhibits will teach new skills, offer new perspectives, and encourage involvement in family and traditional cultural heritage of the area.

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco - San Francisco, CA
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$990,425
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Ms. Renee Baldocchi
Manager of Public Programs
(415) 750-7634; rbaldocchi@famsf.org

Project Title: "Cultural Encounters"
This grant will support Cultural Encounters, a year-round series of public programs designed to reinforce the museums' role as a community cultural resource. Through an electric mix of daytime and evening programs, Cultural Encounters aims to attract new and diverse audiences to the museums.

National Japanese American Historical Society - San Francisco, CA
Award Amount: $24,999; Matching Amount:$25,001
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Ms. Rosalyn Tonai
Executive Director
(415) 921-5007 ext. 000; rosalyn@njahs.org

Project Title: "Pacific War and Peace"
The National Japanese America Historical Society will use award funding to support the planning of a special exhibition and a series of public programs telling the story of Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service in World War II and the Allied occupation of Japan.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - San Fransisco, CA
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$161,693
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Dana Mitroff
Senior Web Manager
(415) 357-2871; dmitroff@SFMOMA.org

Project Title: ""Explore Modern Art""
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) will develop, disseminate, and evaluate Explore Modern Art, an online learning environment that seamlessly integrates and expands the institution’s multimedia interpretive, content, online collections database and calendar of public programs. The goal is to create an interactive educational space designed to encourage chance discovery, which in turn will stimulate greater engagement with modern and contemporary art and with SFMOMA. Explore Modern Art will be the centerpiece of a completely new sfmoma.org Web site, and will be fully integrated within a four-phase Web redesign project mandated by the museum’s strategic plan to take place in advance of SFMOMA’s 75th anniversary in 2010.

City of Santa Ana Parks, Recreation & Community Center - Santa Ana, CA
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$162,806
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Suzanne Furjanic
Associate Park Planner
(714) 571-4241; sfurjanic@ci.santa-ana.ca.us

Project Title: "Santa Ana Zoo Master Graphics Program"
The City of Santa Ana Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency will use its grant toward the creation and implementation of a master graphics program at the Santa Ana Zoo. Grant funding will be used to contract a design group to evaluate and submit a complete report of illustrated recommendations and blueprints for bilingual, educational interpretive signage throughout the zoo, and to complete fabrication and installation of all signage.

Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, University of California -
Award Amount: $30,633; Matching Amount:$30,633
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Jennifer Thorsch
Director, Cheadle Center for Biodiversity
(805) 893-2401; thorsch@lifesci.ucsb.edu

Project Title: "Cheadle Center Botanical Archives"
The Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER) at the University of California, Santa Barbara is engaged in graduate and undergraduate education, biodiversity research, habitat restoration, and public outreach. CCBER owns and curates regionally focused biological collections, as well as a library of more than 2,300 volumes. It owns nine botanical archival collections covering such areas as plant anatomy, oak systematics, and plant ecology, as well as two other biological collections. Most of these collections have yet to be accessioned, housed, or described. In this project, CCBER will hire a part-time archivist to process the nine collections and create finding aids and cataloging records to make the papers, photographs, artifacts, and memorabilia in these collections more accessible.

University Art Museum of the University of California, Santa Barbara - Santa Barbara, CA
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$163,864
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Kathryn Kanjo-Jurist
Director, University Art Museum
(805) 893-4564; kkanjo@uam.ucsb.edu

Project Title: "Cataloguing and Digitization of University Art Museum Architectural Collections"
The University Art Museum of the University of California, Santa Barbara, will use its grant to catalog and digitize the architectural collections and the Irving J. Gill and Kem Weber collections.

California Indian Museum and Cultural Center - Santa Rosa, CA
Award Amount: $124,799; Matching Amount:$125,826
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Ms. Nicole Lim
Executive Director
(707) 579-3004; nikkimyers@aol.com

Project Title: "Ishi: A California Indian Story of Courage, Dignity, Hope and Survival"
The grant will support a project to galvanize California Indian participation in the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center by enabling the community to create an exhibit with educational resources and interactive activities on the legendary California Indian, Ishi, for a fourth grade audience. The exhibit will provide a lens of continuity for the public to understand the issues that surrounded Ishi's life and their effects on today’s cultures. Exhibit themes and messages will trace the trajectory of these issues, while aligning with the content standards of the California public school curriculum. The Native perspective will be highlighted through a series of interconnecting oral narratives comprising video and audio vignettes.

KidZone Museum - Truckee, CA
Award Amount: $143,085; Matching Amount:$145,506
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Mrs. Carol Meagher
Director
(530) 587-5437; director@kidzonemuseum.org

Project Title: "Building a Multicultural Audience"
KidZone Museum for Children will be supported by grant funds to implement Building a Multicultural Audience. The program’s goal is to reach more families in the rural areas surrounding their community, Latino families, and low-income families and welcome them as new visitors and members of the museum.

Connecticut

Real Art Ways - Hartford, CT
Award Amount: $139,871; Matching Amount:$140,323
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Mr. Will Wilkins
Executive Director
(860) 232-1006 ext. 100; wwilkins@realartways.org

Project Title: "Engaging Community"
Real Art Ways will use this grant to build its senior citizen audience through daytime programming, and to build audiences and connections in its neighborhoods through public art projects.

Litchfield Historical Society - Litchfield, CT
Award Amount: $74,700; Matching Amount:$80,152
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Catherine Fields
Director
(860) 567-4 ext. 501; cfields@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org

Project Title: "Collections Documentation & Move"
The Litchfield Historical Society will prepare and move museum and library collections into a new collections storage facility. The new building will double available storage and work areas, provide safe and secure storage for museum and library collections, and alleviate overcrowded conditions in the society’s headquarters building. The move will provide a unique opportunity to assess the collection and its documentation and, at the same time, identify collections for upcoming exhibitions and programs. The grant will support collections documentation, photography, condition assessments, and rehousing of artifacts. The funds will also allow the society to hire a temporary collections assistant to work on the project with the curator of collections and the curator of library and archives.

Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center - Manshantucket, CT
Award Amount: $148,210; Matching Amount:$167,011
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Kimberly Hatcher-White
Executive Director
(860) 396-7073; khatcherwhite@mptn-nsn.gov

Project Title: "The Reservation Period in Pequot History"
The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center will assess issues pertaining to its Reservation Period exhibit gallery and develop a comprehensive plan to transform it into a space that truly reflects the Tribal Nation’s unique heritage and experiences. This grant will underwrite the costs of bringing together experts from a cross-section of disciplines to develop a comprehensive, manageable work plan to restructure all aspects of the Reservation Period exhibit area. Outside consultants and museum staff will work closely with members of the Mashantucket Pequot tribal community, particularly the elders, to learn their stories, understand their priorities, and listen to their concerns about the exhibit.

New Britain Museum of American Art - New Britain, CT
Award Amount: $115,756; Matching Amount:$133,391
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Mr. James Kopp
Collections Manager
(860) 229-0257 ext. 16; koppj@nbmaa.org

Project Title: "Implementation of New Collections Management System and New Web Site"
The New Britain Museum of American Art will use its grant to expand the availability of educational art resources for educators, researchers, students, and the general public with the installation of a new searchable database of collection images, explanatory texts, and educational content available on its newly redesigned Web site.

Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University - New Haven, CT
Award Amount: $144,030; Matching Amount:$144,251
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Jane Pickering
Assistant Director for Public Programs
(203) 432-3798; jane.pickering@yale.edu

Project Title: "Evolutions: Yale Peabody Museum's After-School Program"
The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University will expand on Evolutions (EVOking Learning and Understanding Through Investigations Of the Natural Sciences). An audience research project, Engaging our Communities, identified youth out-of-school programs as being extremely important to a key museum audience—the New Haven community. Evolutions was developed in 2005 as one response to this need and will engage students in grades 8 through 12 from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the sciences in comprehensive museum-based curricula that combine hands-on projects, field trips, college preparation, career awareness, and transferable skills development. Summer internships in Yale laboratories will also be available. Participants will produce a traveling museum exhibit and podcasts.

Stamford Museum and Nature Center - Stamford, CT
Award Amount: $146,570; Matching Amount:$173,845
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Mr. William Kies
Interim Contact Person
(203) 322-1646 ext. 268; wkies@stamfordmuseum.org

Project Title: "Visitor & Family Orientation Program"
The Stamford Museum and Nature Center will fund an initiative with three components: (1) development of the Overbrook Nature Center as an orientation center; (2) creation of interpretive signage throughout Heckscher Farm for educational and engaging family tours; and (3) developing wayfinding signage to improve the visitor experience and the ease of use of the 118-acre property.

District of Columbia

National Museum of Women in the Arts - Washington, DC
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$254,933
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Sharon Wasserman
Director of the Library and Research Center
(202) 266-2806; swasserman@nmwa.org

Project Title: "Clara: Database of Women Artists: Phase II"
The National Museum of Women in the Arts will continue its support of Clara: Database of Women Artists. Created, housed, and maintained in the museum’s Library and Research Center, this unique database contains authoritative biographic information on 18,000 women artists of all periods and nationalities. In Phase II, the museum will develop Clara Interactive, an educational Web site targeted at educators and students in grades 4–12, to introduce them to the work of women artists. Clara Interactive will feature a selection of digitized archival materials from the museum’s collections of artists’ papers and from its Archives on Women Artists, a collection of research files on the 18,000 artists in the database.

Phillips Collection - Washington, DC
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$243,111
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Darci Vanderhoff

(202) 387-2151 ext. 237; dvanderhoff@phillipscollection.org

Project Title: "The Phillips Collection Library Automation Project"
The Phillips Collection will convert its paper-based library catalog to an integrated library automation system to provide greater public access to its unique holdings of printed resources documenting the museum’s permanent collection, the evolution of The Phillips Collection as the first museum of modern art in America, and the history of art collecting in America in the first half of the 20th century. This project is part of a larger initiative to make all the museum’s primary resources, the permanent collection, and the library’s holdings accessible and searchable to the public via The Phillips Collection Web site.

Florida

Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida - Gainesville, FL
Award Amount: $133,054; Matching Amount:$134,105
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Jamie Creola
Education Director
(352) 846-2000 ext. 263; jcreola@flmnh.ufl.edu

Project Title: "Florida Museum of Natural History - Teacher Enrichment Program"
The Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida will be used for a teacher enrichment program that provides teachers with the scientific knowledge and techniques, classroom materials, and online resources to supplement and enhance student learning in the classroom, as well as in gallery experiences that tie museum exhibits to the curriculum and enhance school field trips.

Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society - Key West, FL
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$856,068
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Dr. Madeleine Burnside
Executive Director
(305) 294-2633 ext. 11; mburnside@melfisher.org

Project Title: "Sunken Empire: Galleons of Spain's Golden Age"
The Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society will design and implement a new exhibition, “Sunken Empire: Galleons of Spain’s Golden Age.” “Sunken Empire” sustains the heritage of a largely forgotten period in the history of the United States, the period between 1492 and 1776. The exhibition examines the Spanish colonial empire that rose and fell in the same period to reveal the direct effects on American culture, including populations, languages, and laws. The exhibition will tour nine major cities in the United States, opening in 2008 at the Historical Association of Southern Florida in Miami. The exhibition is artifact-based and features unique objects from the 1622 Tierre Firme Fleet, which sank in the waters surrounding Key West in September 1622.

Brevard Zoo - Melbourne, FL
Award Amount: $147,910; Matching Amount:$616,345
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Mr. Christopher DeLorey
Director of Education
(321) 254-9453 ext. 214; cdelorey@brevardzoo.org

Project Title: "Indian River Lagoon Adventure"
The Brevard Zoo will renovate its children’s zoo exhibit, “Paws-On: the Animal Exploration Zone” to be more accessible to families and address the developmental needs of children ages two to ten. The exhibit will provide an engaging, comfortable, safe space for families to interact and be active throughout the year, learn about Florida habitats and the natural world through hands-on play; provide opportunities for inquiry-based learning at the zoo and on the web site and facilitate family experiences in natural settings beyond the zoo.

Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science - Tallahassee, FL
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$159,875
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Cynthia Hollis

(850) 513-0700 ext. 241; chollis@thebrogan.org

Project Title: "OPEN COLLECTIONS: A Lifelong Learning Project"
Through formal evaluations of resident needs, the State of Florida Department of Cultural Affairs has defined eight of the nine counties served by the Mary Brogan Museum as among "the most culturally underserved" in the state. The purpose of OPEN COLLECTIONS: A Lifelong Learning Project is to make the museum accessible to these underserved communities by providing online access to our collections and corresponding educational materials, thereby allowing educators, students, academic researchers, scholars, senior citizens, and communities in rural counties to interact with the museum's collections on an unprecedented level. This project will also serve as a replicable model for digitizing current and future museum collections.

Norton Museum of Art - West Palm Beach, FL
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$317,814
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Mr. Larry Rosensweig
Director
(561) 832-5196 ext. 1138; rosensweigl@norton.org

Project Title: "Welcoming Initiative"
The Norton Museum of Art's Welcoming Initiative will expand its programs to serve a larger portion of their community. The initiative will be accomplished through technology and programming. Project activities include (1) upgrading the theater equipment to provide more opportunities for programming and community partnerships; (2) enhancing the Norton's Web site to provide more information and greater interactive capabilities; and (3) providing bilingual materials, staff diversity training, extended hours, and increased community input. To strengthen its connections with various segments of its community, the museum will engage in focus groups, surveys, and other evaluations, creating a framework for continuing dialogue between the museum and its broader communities.

Hawaii

Iolani Palace - Honolulu, HI
Award Amount: $18,640; Matching Amount:$18,642
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Mr. Stuart Ching
Curator
(808) 522-0834; curator@iolanipalace.org

Project Title: "Iolani Palace Furniture Cataloging and Evaluation Project"
The Iolani Palace will use its sustaining cultural heritage grant to support the cataloging and evaluation of the museum’s furniture collections. The overall project goals are to increase data available in the collections database to meet future research, education, and interpretation needs; and to evaluate furniture pieces for appropriateness to the mission of the institution.

Idaho

Boise Art Museum - Boise, ID
Award Amount: $82,379; Matching Amount:$90,101
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Melanie Fales
Curator of Education
(208) 345-8 ext. 330x18; Melanie@boiseartmuseum.org

Project Title: "ArtReach"
Boise Art Museum will expand ArtReach, its educational outreach program targeting rural students who have limited access to art education and the art museum. Six museum educators will travel to classrooms outside of urban Ada County to conduct a 90-minute art lesson using digital images of artworks from the museum’s permanent collection and provide supplies for a hands-on art project. ArtReach, including all supplies, is provided free of charge. Grant funding will support the expansion of ArtReach to serve 7,800 rural Idaho students and 260 educators. Funds will assist with the cost of supplies, instructor stipends, evaluation, and marketing for the ArtReach program.

Illinois

Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago - Chicago, IL
Award Amount: $111,791; Matching Amount:$112,028
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Natasha Egan
Associate Director
(312) 344-7107; negan@colum.edu

Project Title: "Museum of Contemporary Photography Online Collections Database"
The Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago will create an online database of the museum’s collection of more than 8,500 images for access by the general public, the faculty and students of Columbia College Chicago, and other art professionals. The project will also include the conversion of the museum’s limited collection database program to an upgraded version containing publishing software to assist in placing the collection online.

National Museum of Mexican Art - Chicago, IL
Award Amount: $74,000; Matching Amount:$505,766
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Mr. Carlos Tortolero
President
(312) 738-1503 ext. 102; carlost@mfacmchicago.org

Project Title: "Modern Master North and South of the Border"
The Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum will prepare and present “Modern Masters North and South of the Border” (January 9–May 18, 2009). The exhibition will track the exchanges between masters of the Mexican School—such as Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros—and modern U.S. masters such as Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock. The exhibition will also investigate the influences of Mexican art movements, collectives, and workshops on their corollaries in the United States, especially the exchanges between Mexican muralists and the muralists of the WPA, and between the Taller de Gráfica Popular (Popular Graphic Art Workshop) and African-American muralists of the Harlem Renaissance and Chicago Renaissance.

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum - Chicago, IL
Award Amount: $55,286; Matching Amount:$55,978
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Ms. Lisa Lee
Director, Jane Addams Hull-House
(312) 413-5358; lisalee@uic.edu

Project Title: "Reinvigorating the Hull-House as a center for community engagement"
The grant will support three series of public programs that inspire civic discourse and civic engagement. These programs will reinvigorate and restore the Hull-House Museum as a center for community engagement.

Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens - Chicago, IL
Award Amount: $129,967; Matching Amount:$166,287
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Elizabeth Lonsdorf
Director, The Lester E. Fisher Center
(312) 742-7354; elonsdorf@lpzoo.org

Project Title: "Using Quantitative Studies of Animal Behavior To Teach The Value of Science and the Scientific Method"
As part of its award-winning Regenstein Center for African Apes (RCAA) and the Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo has developed a participatory "citizen science" program in which participants ages 12 and up can work with zoo researchers to collect quantitative behavioral data on chimpanzees in the auxiliary holding area. Participants will learn directly from zoo researchers how the zoo bases many critical aspects of animal care and management on rigorous scientific research. Participants will learn about the science of animal behavior and how quantitative data collection can produce different results than "just watching," and after collecting their data compare it to the data collected by the researcher.

Chicago Academy of Sciences - Chicago, IL
Award Amount: $103,046; Matching Amount:$143,936
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Mr. Steven Sullivan
Collections Manager
(773) 755-5100 ext. 2042; ssullivan@naturemuseum.org

Project Title: "Inventorying and Databasing of Natural History Collections"
The Chicago Academy of Sciences and its Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum will use this grant to undertake databasing and inventory activities for eight of its natural history collections.

Lake County Discovery Museum - Libertyville, IL
Award Amount: $45,000; Matching Amount:$46,234
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Mr. Andrew Osborne
Visitor Services Manager
(847) 968-3383; aosborne@co.lake.il.us

Project Title: "Bonner Heritage Farm Phase III Exhibits"
Lake County Forest Preserves will use its grant to support schematic designs for interior renovation and interpretation of the “Great Barn” at the Bonner Heritage Farm, which will provide visitors with a fuller picture and understanding of the entire farm property, a unique historic site that was operated as a family dairy farm for over 150 years..

Burpee Museum of Natural History - Rockford, IL
Award Amount: $52,340; Matching Amount:$97,290
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Mr. Lewis Crampton
President
(815) 965-3433 ext. 1009; lew.crampton@burpee.org

Project Title: "PALEO-CSI"
Paleo-CSI is a museum educational program to share the science and stories behind Homer, a high-impact dinosaur specimen discovered by a recent Burpee Museum expedition to the Montana Badlands. Paleo-CSI will foster lifetime learning, make the museum’s collections more accessible, and build interest in the museum.

Indiana

Virgil “Gus” Grissom Memorial Center - Indianapolis, IN
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$150,000
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Chris Baas
Landscape Architect
(317) 232-4157; cbaas@dnr.in.gov

Project Title: "Grissom Memorial"
The Virgil “Gus” Grissom Memorial Center will use grant funds to design and install new exhibits, enhancing its’ ability to interpret and communicate Grissom’s life story and contributions to science and space flight, and to preserve and protect its collection.

Children's Museum of Indianapolis - Indianapolis, IN
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$1,597,910
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Jennifer Pace-Robinson
Vice President of Experience Development
(317) 334-3834; Jennifer@ChildrensMuseum.org

Project Title: "Global Perspectives"
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis (TCM) will create an immersive exhibit experience, “Global Perspectives.” Anticipated to open in 2008, “Global Perspectives” will help children and families discover needs and concerns that are shared by people and cultures around the world. The 10,000-square-foot exhibit will include six primary areas: a cultural immersion experience that will feature a new culture every two or three years, and five surrounding exhibit areas—Language and Communications, Living Spaces, Celebrations, Market Place, and Environment. The exhibit will feature objects from TCM’s 50,000-piece Caplan Collection of Folk, Fantasy, and Play and from its world collection. “Global Perspectives” will reach up to 20 million children and their families over the next 20 years.

Iowa

Family Museum of Arts and Science - Bettendorf, IA
Award Amount: $35,469; Matching Amount:$119,983
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Mr. Tom Stanger
Exhibits Manager
(563) 344-4154; tstanger@bettendorf.org

Project Title: "The Garden - a bi-lingual setting in which to play... and learn... together"
The Family Museum of Art and Science in the City of Bettendorf will use its grant for the physical and content redesign of an existing exhibition catering to learners age four and younger. The new design will include the introduction and use of bilingual (English-Spanish) labels, family learning guides, and preschool educator guides.

Hartman Reserve Nature Center - Cedar Falls, IA
Award Amount: $23,937; Matching Amount:$23,937
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Mr. Edward Gruenwald
Nature Center Director
(319) 277-2187; egruenwald@gmail.com

Project Title: "Threatened Species Restoration"
The Hartman Reserve Nature Center will conduct a project to reintroduce and protect threatened native species, one amphibian, and three plant species, within the nature center. The project will use volunteer labor, and integrate educational and interpretive opportunites into the process.

African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa - Cedar Rapids, IA
Award Amount: $67,520; Matching Amount:$68,115
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Joseph Nolte
Director of Statewide Operations
(319) 862-2101; joenolte@blackiowa.org

Project Title: "Adult Voices, Children's Eyes: Iowa African American Oral History Project"
The African American Heritage Foundation will train youth groups across Iowa to conduct oral histories in their communities. These histories will record important history at risk and spark a passion for heritage among African American youth. The histories will be transcribed, and both the original format and transcriptions will be preserved in the museum collection. The museum will use the information gleaned from the project in traveling exhibits and changing exhibits in its gallery; for a searchable Web database; and for educational programming. The project goals include collecting at least 240 oral histories and promoting an understanding and appreciation of African American history among African American children and children in general.

Kentucky

Louisville Science Center - Louisville, KY
Award Amount: $149,775; Matching Amount:$150,000
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Theresa Mattei
Director of Exhibits and Program Planning
(502) 560-7155; theresa.mattei@louisvilleky.gov

Project Title: "Just Add Water"
The Louisville Science Center (LSC) will reinvent and fabricate “Splash!”—a science-based play exhibit in KidZone, the LSC’s special hands-on exhibit space for young children. As a lifelong learning center at the heart of the LSC’s new comprehensive educational project called “Just Add Water,” the new “Splash!” will allow visitors of all ages to participate in a dynamic, engaging science experience that piques interest in the many properties of water and empowers parents, grandparents, and other caregivers to become involved in the education of young children.

Kentucky Folk Art Center at Morehead State University - Morehead, KY
Award Amount: $18,710; Matching Amount:$35,584
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Mr. Matt Collinsworth
Director
(606) 783-2204; m.collinsworth@moreheadstate.edu

Project Title: "Kentucky Folk Art Center Museum Education Program"
The Kentucky Folk Art Center at Morehead State University will use its grant to expand education outreach for its exhibit “Kentucky Folk Art and Traditional Music” by purchasing Apple iPods and creating traveling exhibits for schools to include images, video and sound files from the museums collection. There will be training for teachers to use the technology and printed curriculum guides that tie the exhibit to statewide learning standards.

Maine

Peary MacMillan Arctic Museum - Brunswick, ME
Award Amount: $109,238; Matching Amount:$120,120
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Susan Kaplan
Director, Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum
(207) 725-3289; skaplan@bowdoin.edu

Project Title: "Northward Over the Great Ice: Robert E. Peary's Arctic Endeavors"
The Peary MacMillan Arctic Museum on the campus of Bowdoin College will create an exhibit to commemorate hundredth anniversary of the day that the American explorer Robert E. Peary became the first person to reach the North Pole. “Northward Over the Great Ice” is an artifact-based interpretive exhibit placeing Peary’s lifelong efforts, and those of his Western and Inughuit crews, in environmental, technological, social, and cultural context. The exhibit will provide the public increased access to the museum’s collections and new, groundbreaking research, appealing to a broad audience. The grant funds will help develop some of the interpretive and outreach components of the exhibition.

Portland Museum of Art - Portland, ME
Award Amount: $142,720; Matching Amount:$144,518
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Dana Baldwin
Director of Education
(207) 775-6148 ext. 3225; dbaldwin@portlandmuseum.org

Project Title: "Visitor Experience Project - Phase II"
The Portland Museum of Art will improve visitor access by making significant improvements to exterior signage, implementing a wayfinding system, providing seating, and adding in-gallery interpretive tools that focus on the permanent collection.

General Henry Knox Museum - Thomaston, ME
Award Amount: $79,234; Matching Amount:$79,666
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Ellen Dyer
Curator/Education Director
(207) 354-0180; archivist@generalknowmuseum.org

Project Title: "A Place in Time: Teachng Maine Heritage with Place-Basxed Education"
“A Place in Time: Teaching Maine Heritage through Place-Based Education” is a multicounty collaboration that builds on multipartnered place-based education initiatives to forge connections between educators and community resources, giving teachers historical knowledge and tools for the classroom. The museum will establish a Center for the Study of Early American History for teachers, create and sustain the Midcoast Maine collaboration among historical organizations and educators, and collaboratively develop and assess place-based educational curricula and tools that meet state learning standards.

Yarmouth Historical Society - Yarmouth, ME
Award Amount: $34,671; Matching Amount:$34,961
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Ms. Marilyn Hinkley
Director/Curator
(207) 846-6259; yarmouthhistoricalsociety@verizon.net

Project Title: "Building Community in the Community"
This grant will allow the Yarmouth Historical Society to hire a professional museum educator to meet with community and school representatives to discuss educational needs and interests. Three established presentations will be researched, revised, reformatted, and documented; a new volunteer docent program will be created; and plans for future programming and interactive exhibition activities will be formulated for use in a new, expanded museum facility and in the community.

Maryland

Museum for Contemporary Arts, Inc. - Baltimore, MD
Award Amount: $48,221; Matching Amount:$58,221
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Ms. Irene Hofmann
Executive Director
(410) 783-5720; ihofmann@contemporary.org

Project Title: "Community Engaged Artists' Residencies"
The grant will support two community-engaged artist residencies, each bringing a nationally significant contemporary artist to Baltimore to collaborate with members of our community in the production of new artworks that address issues of urban history and identity. Los Angeles-based artist Kiana Ford will engage in a new project that will produce one of her signature audio walking tours that reveal the local history and charter of a city, its residents, and their unique stories. Chicago-based photographer Dawoud Bey will conduct a summer teen workshop with a group of at-risk youth, resulting in an exhibition of his portrait photographs that challenge stereotypical images of African American and other historically marginalized groups.

Flag House & Star-Spangled Banner Museum - Baltimore, MD
Award Amount: $101,743; Matching Amount:$101,965
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Stacey Shelnut-Hendrick
Executive Director
(410) 837-1793; director@flaghouse.org

Project Title: "The Flag House Family & Community Initiative"
Funds will support the Flag House Family and Community Initiative, which is designed to increase understanding of current and potential audiences, expand family offerings, increase activities for neighborhood youth/families, and raise the museum's visibility with target audiences, in particular families and African Americans.

Jewish Museum of Maryland - Baltimore, MD
Award Amount: $148,000; Matching Amount:$230,918
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Karen Falk
Curator
(410) 732-6400; kfalk@jewishmuseummd.org

Project Title: "Lloyd Street Synagogue Speaks: Reinterpreting a Community Landmark"
Lloyd Street Synagogue (LSS) is the third-oldest synagogue in the United States. It has been home to three different immigrant congregations, both Jewish and Christian. Recent research has uncovered important stories about this landmark. This project by the Jewish Museum of Maryland will reinterpret the synagogue in a multicultural perspective.

Baltimore Museum of Industry - Baltimore, MD
Award Amount: $143,750; Matching Amount:$235,410
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Roland Woodward
Executive Director
(410) 727-4808 ext. 101; rwoodward@thebmi.org

Project Title: "Baltimore Museum of Industry Visitor Orientation Area and Exhibition"
The Baltimore Museum of Industry will create an orientation experience to help visitors understand the historical context and overarching themes that unify the museum’s exhibit galleries. The space will also be used to assist visitors in planning how they will explore the museum.

Massachusetts

Discovery Museums - Acton, MA
Award Amount: $64,407; Matching Amount:$64,407
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Denise LeBlanc
Education Director
(978) 264-4200 ext. 20; dleblanc@discoverymuseums.org

Project Title: "Discovery KWEST -- Kids Who Explore Science Together"
Discovery KWEST is a two-year after-school science enrichment program for children in grades 4 through 8 at the Boys and Girls Clubs of MetroWest. It is primarily aimed at underserved groups. During the school year, the Discovery Museums hold 24 weekly club meetings, sponsor four museum fieldtrips, and host a family night.

Historic New England - Boston, MA
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$566,075
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Amy Clark
Education Program Coordinator
(617) 227-3957 ext. 272; apeters@historicnewengland.org

Project Title: "Shaping the Future by Defining the Past"
In 2005, Historic New England marked 20 years of sharing history with children throughout the Northeast. Hands-on activities and a wealth of primary sources reinforce and enrich student learning during in-school and out-of-school hours. This project will strengthen the organization to serve the public more effectively, increasing the number of students served by the program’s existing and planned activities. Programs at Otis House will be sustained and made accessible to additional underserved communities of Chelsea and Comerville. Access to new Pierce House programs will be offered to additional Dorchester, Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain groups. New programs will be developed with partnering teachers at the Quince House in Quincy for greater Boston schools.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Boston, MA
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$303,762
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Barbara Martin
Associate Director for Public Learning
(617) 369-3307; bmartin@mfa.org

Project Title: "Visitor Research for Learning Galleries"
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) will use its grant to support visitor research to prepare for the creation of four learning galleries in its new Art of the Americas wing, scheduled to open in 2010. These interactive spaces will allow visitors to explore a variety of themes related to the American collection in greater depth, enhancing their experience in the museum. Visitor research will help ensure that the galleries are accessible to the widest possible audience and will meet visitors’ needs. Beginning in the fall of 2007, the MFA will perform intensive evaluation of prototypes and draft materials, relying heavily on hands-on testing, focus groups, staff observations, and participant feedback.

Boston Children's Museum - Boston, MA
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$214,392
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Mr. John Riordan
Vice President, Visitor Services
(617) 426-6500 ext. 469; riordan@bostonchildrensmuseum.org

Project Title: "GoKids in Boston Neighborhoods"
The Boston Children's Museum (BCM) will use its grant to support GoKids in Boston Neighborhoods, a program that will focus on children's health and fitness. In collaboration with public health experts and public housing tenants, BCM will develop culturally sensitive programs for families and outreach strategies for the museum's new health and fitness exhibit and programs. They will design and conduct programs in four public housing developments and at the museum that will provide low-income and minority families, who suffer disproportionately high rates of childhood obesity and overweight, with information and practical, culturally sensitive ways to address this epidemic; and develop and implement strategies for engaging more families from Boston's public housing developments with the museum.

Harvard University Art Museums - Cambridge, MA
Award Amount: $137,565; Matching Amount:$137,566
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Susan von Salis
Associate Curator of Archives
(617) 384-7983; susan_vonsalis@harvard.edu

Project Title: "A Prcess of Discovery: Revealing Treasures in the Harvard University Art Museums' Archive"
The Harvard University Art Museum (HUAM) will identify, describe, analyze, and catalog its archival collections. The HUAM archives contain an estimated 1,500,000 documents and capture historical information, records of significant events, and the perspectives and opinions of key cultural figures of the 20th century that pertain to art history, art collecting, museum theory and practice, and social history. Under the direction of the associate curator of archives, this project will support HUAM’s efforts to expand its services to students and scholars while fulfilling several strategic goals: (1) improving access to the art collections; (2) diversifying the museum’s audience base; (3) informing the functioning and capacities of HUAM’s study centers; and (4) enriching the curriculum and the Art Museum Director Training Program.

Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center - Gloucester, MA
Award Amount: $23,882; Matching Amount:$34,538
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Harriet Webster
Executive Director
(978) 281-0470; hwebster@gloucestermaritimecenter.org

Project Title: "Interpretive Signage and Companion Interactive Exhibits"
The Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center will design and fabricate indoor and outdoor interpretive signs and six interactive exhibits that together will provide insight into the history of the fishing industry and allied trades, including shipbuilding and maintenance.

Heritage Plantation of Sandwich - Sandwich, MA
Award Amount: $72,305; Matching Amount:$100,263
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Jennifer Madden
Director of Collections
(508) 888-3300 ext. 156; jmadden@heritagemuseums.org

Project Title: "Heritage Art Collections Inventory and Assessment Project"
The Heritage Plantation of Sandwich will process approximately 3,750 objects of the museum's art collections as part of a comprehensive, long-term collections inventory and assessment project that will improve collections stewardship and support the museum's long-range plan including education and exhibition initiatives.

Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College - Wellesley, MA
Award Amount: $64,936; Matching Amount:$104,217
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Mr. James Olson
Coordinator of Information Technologies
(781) 283-3234; jolson@wellesley.edu

Project Title: "2007 IMLS Museums for America Collections Digitization Project"
The Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College is digitizing its collection of approximately 10,000 objects. The grant will be used over a two-year period for direct digital capture and metadata creation for 2,500 objects in the public domain.

Michigan

University of Michigan Art Museum - Ann Arbor, MI
Award Amount: $149,060; Matching Amount:$149,148
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Dr. James Steward
Director
(734) 764-0395; jsteward@umich.edu

Project Title: "UMMA Interpretive Project"
The University Art Museum at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, will develop layered multimedia interpretive strategies that offer visitors diverse points of entry to outstanding original works of art. Grant funding will support critical research and writing, project management, and evaluation activities to enable the 2009 reopening of the facility.

Kingman Museum - Battle Creek, MI
Award Amount: $60,184; Matching Amount:$131,098
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Ms. Sara Briggs
Executive Director
(269) 965-5117; sbriggs@kingmanmuseum.org

Project Title: "MFA 2007 Collections Project"
The Kingman Museum will transfer its collection information from a card-based format to an electronic format using PastPerfect collections management software, and will catalog the collections so they are more accessible for exhibition, interpretation, and presentation of educational programs. The museum’s part-time collections manager will become full time, and the museum will hire an intern and a part-time data entry person. Volunteers and staff will peruse old Kingman Museum newsletter and annual reports, journal entries, and miscellaneous files to gather information on particular collections and objects. Information on the collection cards will be checked and packages assembled for data entry. Accession files will be created.

Ontonagon County Historical Society - Ontonagon, MI
Award Amount: $50,627; Matching Amount:$68,386
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Mr. Bruce Johanson
Chairman, Board of Directors
(906) 884-6165; johanson@up.net

Project Title: "SHIP and a Scholarship: Local History for Teens"
The Ontonagon County Historical Society will offer a Summer History Internship Program (SHIP) for teens to supplement the history curriculum in the county’s two high schools. Students will receive a crash course in local history with professional and amateur historians and then work as docents at the Historical Society Museum and the historic lighthouse. The interns will document their activities for the society’s archives. The society will also establish an annual history scholarship that recognizes a student who will major in history or a closely related subject in college. A consultant will assist the society with program evaluation.

Minnesota

Walker Art Center - Minneapolis, MN
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$169,000
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Sarah Schultz
Director of Education
(612) 375-7621; sarah.schultz@walkerart.org

Project Title: "Raising Creative Kids Initiative"
The Walker Art Center is consolidating and expanding on its program for families under the name Raising Creative Kids project, a multitiered initiative designed to deepen child, parent, and family engagement with the Walker Art Center. By engaging children early on as arts learners, Raising Creative Kids will help to create lifelong learners who will continue to return to the Walker as teenagers and adults. Project activities include Free First Saturdays, classes, guides for families, programs for caregivers, WAC packs to make the galleries more accessible for families, and interactive tours and exhibits for more social learning.

Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, MN
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$686,844
Grant Category: Sustaining Cultural Heritage

Contact: Dr. Lyndel King
Director
(612) 625-9494; kingx001@umn.edu

Project Title: "Digitization of the Weisman Art Museum Permanent Collection"
The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at the University of Minnesota will use the grant to expand the use of and access to the museum’s collection by making digital images available online to University faculty and students and to the general public. The two main components of the project are (1) to create digital images of the collection (more than 18,500 objects), and (2) to update the collections database.MA-01-07-0387

Tamarack Nature Center - White Bear Township, MN
Award Amount: $118,017; Matching Amount:$120,357
Grant Category: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement

Contact: Ms. Marcie Oltman
Outdoor Education Supervisor
(651) 407-5350; marcie.oltman@co.ramsey.mn.us

Project Title: "Destination of Discovery"
Tamarack Nature Center (TNC) is approaching the middle stage of a multiyear umbrella project entitled Destination for Discover. The central purpose of this project is to redirect TNC away from the passive role of a traditional center for natural and environmental education toward becoming an active, vital center of community engagement that uses the arts, humanities, and sciences to connect people to nature. TNC will use this grant to fund Destination for Discovery’s second phase, which includes program design, schematic/final design, and preparation and design of a capital campaign.

Mississippi

Lauren Rogers Museum of Art - Laurel, MS
Award Amount: $58,691; Matching Amount:$58,691
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Mr. Mark Brown
Vice President
(601) 649-6374; mbrown@lrma.org

Project Title: "ArtReach"
The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art is the cultural hub of a seven-county region in Southeast Mississippi, and the ArtReach program builds on the museum’s award-winning education program. ArtReach includes a full-time outreach coordinator, an artist-in-residence program for schools and community groups, classes and experiences for underserved segments of the population, enhancement of the school tour program to include activities and lesson plans that correlate with the Mississippi Department of Education framework, an emerging artist program for secondary school students, and community participation in the creation of public murals. By using the museum’s strong collections and exhibitions to create quality art experiences, ArtReach opens doors and piques interest in lifelong participation in the arts.

Missouri

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - Kansas City, MO
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount:$445,485
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Mr. Kyle Christiansen
Specialist, Applications and Web Systems
(816) 751-1311; kdchristiansen@nelson-atkins.org

Project Title: "Website Enhancement"
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is taking steps to bring its website up to the same high level as its collections and programs, by adding more collection information, new interactive features on art and conservation, education materials, podcasting of museum programming, and an interactive museum timeline.

Montana

Yellowstone Art Museum - Billings, MT
Award Amount: $117,825; Matching Amount:$286,022
Grant Category: Supporting Lifelong Learning

Contact: Ms. Linda Ewert
Curator of Education
(406) 256-6804; lewert@artmuseum.org

Project Title: "Art Education Expansion Effort"
The Yellowstone Art Museum will stabilize its successful art education program