NPR Series on Museums

Click here for information about a series NPR is doing on museums in the 21st century, including the challenges and opportunities that museums are facing. Should be interesting!

Call for Nominations: AAM EdCom Executive Board 2009

Call for Nominations: EdCom Executive Board 2009

The Standing Professional Committee on Education (EdCom) is looking for nominations to its Executive Board for the 2009-2011 term. This year, seven board positions – four officers and three member-at-large—will expire with the completion of the 2009 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. The requirements for being an Executive Board member and a complete description of each officer's duties are described at www.edcom.org, under "About EdCom, Policy and Procedures." Elected officers begin their term in May 2009 following the AAM Annual Meeting.

The following positions are subject to election:

- Vice Chair, Programs, (incumbent-held seat)
- Vice Chair, Membership, (incumbent-held seat)
- Vice Chair, Communications, (vacant)
- Treasurer, (incumbent-held seat)
- Member-at-large (incumbent-held seat)
- Member-at-large (vacant)
- Member-at-large (vacant)

EdCom welcomes and encourages your involvement with the volunteer leadership of the nation's museum education community. We encourage self-nominations. Nominees may run to compete for vacancy or against incumbent. Please complete the following information and e-mail, fax or mail the form by *January 2nd *to:

Nathan Richie
Chair, EdCom Nomination Committee
American Association of Museums
Director of Exhibits and Programs
McCormick Freedom Museum
435 N. Michigan Ave, Suite 754
Chicago, IL 60611

312-222-3211
FAX: 312-222-3209
nrichie@freedommuseum.us



____ I am nominating myself

____ I am nomination someone else. The person who is submitting another
person's name should fill out the following:

Board Position: _______________________________________

Name/Title: _________________________________________


Institution: ___________________________________________


Name of Nominee: _____________________________________


Title/Position: _________________________________________


Institution: __________________________________________


Address: __________________________________________

______________________________________________________


Work Telephone: _________________ Fax: _______________


Home Telephone: ________________


e-mail address: _________________________


Please attach the resume for the person being nominated and a one-page response to the following question:

1) What experience, skills, and concerns would you bring to the National EdCom Board should you become an elected officer?

Wallace Foundation Awards $7.7M to Local Arts Groups

This article was found on the Seattle Times website (click here to go to the direct link), but I'm posting the article here as well.

Wallace Foundation Awards $7.7M to Local Arts Groups
By: Misha Berson

"A hefty new grant from the Wallace Foundation will expose many Seattle public schoolchildren to the wonders of Bach and Mozart, courtesy of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra. Another grant will let fans of international dance and theater watch innovative performers from around the world, through the Web site of Seattle's On the Boards.

The Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra and On the Boards are two of nine local cultural groups getting a major boost in their audience-development and outreach efforts, thanks to a $7.7 million grant program announced today by the Wallace Foundation, a New York-based arts and culture philanthropy. The local groups' grant amounts range from $500,000 to $750,000.

The effort is part of the nationwide Wallace Excellence Awards, which uses a "city-based" approach to broaden the audiences and visibility of visual- and performing-arts groups. Past city recipients include Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, with arts institutions in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., also receiving Wallace funds this year.

Many of the Seattle grantees will use the audience-development money, allotted over a four-year period, to devise interactive technology and media schemes targeted at children and young adults.

In addition, the Washington State Arts Commission will be awarded $1.6 million by Wallace to "coordinate a skill-development series of workshops and forums for leaders of arts organizations," said Kris Tucker, the commission's executive director. The state agency will redistribute some of its grant to smaller Puget Sound-area arts organizations.

On the Boards artistic director Lane Czaplinski said his organization's grant of $750,000 will support OtBTV, a pilot program offering full-length, high-definition experimental performances online, with the aim of increasing OTB's live audience.

"This is an opportunity to learn and explore the viability and ramifications of watching performance online," said Czaplinski. "We think it's going to be a powerful tool to communicate with young people who are used to processing their world this way."

At the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, a $500,000 grant will go toward fostering a more traditional, one-on-one approach to bringing music to culturally underserved Seattle children, said Dan Petersen, the orchestra's executive director.

"We're expanding our partnership with the Seattle Public Schools," Petersen said. The goal is to work with 6,000 to 10,000 new students, through performances and participatory programs, over the next four years.

"In elementary schools," he continued, "we can reach out to African-American and Latino populations, who are underrepresented in the orchestra world."

Other Seattle recipients of the Wallace Excellence Award grants:

• Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame: $585,000 to expand youth-driven programming.

• One Reel: $560,000 to bring young adults into contact with theater, music and circus arts.

• Pacific Northwest Ballet: $750,000 for Web-site redesign and expansion.

• Seattle Art Museum: $750,000 for social networking and "gateway" activities, among other things.

• SIFF (formerly Cinema Seattle): $750,000 for an interactive community-outreach project.

• Seattle Opera: $750,000 to use new technology to make opera more accessible for young patrons.

• Seattle Repertory Theatre: $750,000 for new three-play packages aimed at under-40 professionals and schoolteachers."

Riding Out the Storm: A Message from the AAM President

The economic forecasts for 2009 do not give much optimism for the year ahead. It looks like we will face ongoing turbulence in the financial markets, budget shortfalls for state and local governments and many more Americans struggling to make ends meet. On the museum side, navigating this uncertainty is equally as difficult. But you do not have to weather this storm alone.

To help you through these hard times, AAM has resources to help:

• On the Web: “Finding Calm in Crisis: A Museum Survival Guide.” AAM has assembled resources to help with financial projections and provide guidance on retrenchment, downsizing and coping with the tough economic times ahead. We will be updating it regularly with new information to help you keep up with the changing landscape.
• AAM Webinar: “Museums Rising to the Financial Challenge.” On March 18 and 19 this four-part webinar series will explore issues crucial to museums in these challenging times: retrenchment, fundraising, managing human resources and communications strategies.
  
• 2009 Annual Meeting: As the museum community gathers in Philadelphia, we will offer multiple sessions that tackle issues related to the current financial crisis.

There is also opportunity in the coming year. In 2009, a new Congress and a new Administration will begin working on a wide range of issues, including funding for museum programs and the reauthorization of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. There could not be a more critical time for us to make our case on Capitol Hill. With so much at stake, we need to effectively communicate the value of museums to our elected officials. I ask you to join me for Museums Advocacy Day from Feb. 23-24 when we will make our voices heard.

It is the passionate commitment of professionals like you that will see our nation’s museums through this current economic crisis. We know that we don’t have all the answers. Expect us to tap your creativity over the coming months as we face this challenge together.

Sincerely,
Ford W. Bell, DVM
AAM President