The exhibition will be on view from December 27, 2024 through February 7, 2025

The Museum Association of New York (MANY) today announced the next stop for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service Museum on Main Street exhibition Voices and Votes: Democracy in America will be the Alice Austen House Museum on Staten Island. 

The exhibition will be at Eccleston Hall, the lower level of St John’s Episcopal Church, one block away from the Alice Austen House.

“One of the key themes of A New Agora for New York: Museums as Spaces for Democracy and the Voices and Votes exhibition is the struggle for civil rights, voting rights, and equal participation in our democracy,” said MANY Agora Project Fellow Ren Lee. “As a photographer who documented LGBTQ+ life in New York, Austen’s photographs give us an intimate picture of women’s lives during an era of struggle for greater freedoms and the right to vote. We’re excited to have the opportunity to partner with the Alice Austen House to explore these themes through Austen’s lens and see how she and her circle participated in these efforts for representation.”

Largely self-taught, Austen’s photography challenged the social norms of her era, exploring themes of gender and identity. She photographed herself and her friends in unconventional ways, often subverting traditional gender roles, which reflected a progressive perspective on social boundaries. 

“The Alice Austen House is looking forward to collaborating on this project,” said Executive Director Victoria Munro. “It allows us to develop complementary programming that celebrates Alice Austen's role in organizing and community building while also recognizing the contributions of other women, both from her time and throughout history, to the advancement of American democracy.”

The Alice Austen House’s Study Gallery will host Documenting Democracy: The Austen Home and Community, a response exhibition in conjunction with the Voices and Votes exhibition. This initiative will feature an electronic slideshow reflecting Alice Austen’s significant contributions to community organization and volunteerism. Additionally, the exhibition will integrate recent materials highlighting Austen’s legacy, drawing connections to the museum’s mission of exploring personal identity and contemporary storytelling. Visitors will have the opportunity to actively engage with the exhibition by recording their reflections. These contributions will form part of a growing oral history archive, documenting personal narratives and connections to the principles of democracy. This interactive component aims to foster a deeper understanding of the historical and personal significance of democratic engagement.

MANY is the statewide organizer for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service’s Museum on Main Street Program, which previously brought the “Water/Ways” exhibition to six New York museums in 2019. The Museum on Main Street program offers traveling exhibitions, educational resources, and programming across America to communities through local museums, historical societies, and other cultural venues.

Learn more about the New York State tour of the Voices and Votes exhibition:https://agoranewyork.org/ and preview the full schedule of programming and events happening at the Alice Austen House.

Voices and Votes is a Museum on Main Street (MoMS) exhibition developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. It’s based on an exhibition by the National Museum of American History. It has been made possible in New York State by the Museum Association of New York. Support for MoMS in New York State has been provided by the United States Congress.

“A New Agora for New York: Museums as Spaces for Democracy” humanities discussion programs are made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Additional funding from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation supports public events, community exhibitions, free public lectures, workshops for teachers, and community discussion programs.

About the Museum Association of New York

The Museum Association of New York is the only statewide museum service organization with more than 780 member museums, historical societies, zoos, botanical gardens, and aquariums. MANY helps shape a better future for museums and museum professionals by uplifting best practices and building organizational capacity through advocacy, training, and networking opportunities. Visitwww.nysmuseums.organd follow MANY on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn @nysmuseums

About the Alice Austen House Museum

The Alice Austen House Museum fosters creative expression, explores personal identity, and educates and inspires the public through the interpretation of the photographs, life and historic home of American photographer, Alice Austen (1866-1952). The Alice Austen House is a living breathing photographic resource, providing a platform for contemporary photographers to explore Austen’s legacy and make connections to the place she called home. The Alice Austen House and its surrounding waterfront park are a nationally designated site of LGBTQ+ history. The museum centers the 56 year relationship between Alice Austen and her life partner Gertrude Tate, providing an important window into pre Stonewall LGBTQ+ history and enriching our understanding of the important life and work of Alice Austen.

About St. John’s Episcopal Church

St. John’s Episcopal Church has been a pillar of faith, family, and friendship on Staten Island for over 175 years. Founded in 1843, the church has grown alongside the diverse communities it serves, welcoming individuals from all backgrounds, including the LGBTQ+ community. Known for its inclusive spirit and commitment to justice, St. John’s provides a sanctuary of acceptance and understanding, where everyone is invited to be their authentic selves.The church's current home on Bay Street was built in 1871 to accommodate a growing congregation. Over the years, St. John’s has embraced new waves of immigrants and worked to uphold its mission of love, hospitality, and equality, while also repenting for the sins of racism and white supremacy. Today, it is a vibrant, multigenerational community enriched by partnerships with organizations like the Boy Scouts of America, the United Staten Island Veterans Organization, Episcopal Charities, and Richmond Senior Services. Rooted in a deep belief in the transformative power of faith, St. John’s continues to celebrate diversity and foster meaningful connections that uplift its members and the wider community.

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Supporters, 

MANY is stronger today than ever before. MANY continues to support, build, and uplift our members and its Board of Directors and dedicated staff have guided us through the current leadership transition with clarity so that MANY's important service to the field has not wavered. The great work of our members, individuals, and organizations speak to the incredible work of MANY. Over the last couple of years, we have seen the reopening of the new Buffalo AKG Art Museum, the groundbreaking in Albany of the Underground Railroad Education Center’s new Interpretive Center, and the launch of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Museum on Main Street “Voices and Votes: Democracy in America” and “A New Agora for New York” humanities discussion series. We are so proud to be the designated partner for the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program, circulating Smithsonian-created exhibitions across New York State and facilitating capacity-building programming.  

"Voices and Votes" installation workshop at Preservation Long Island, March 2024

“Our community was excited and proud to host a Smithsonian exhibition, especially one as timely as “Voices and Votes: Democracy in America.” For Preservation Long Island, participation in the larger “A New Agora for New York” project helped strengthen our local partnerships, opened our doors to new audiences, and enhanced our capacity to create programs that center community voices and perspectives. We were challenged to rise to the occasion in a transformative way and we look forward to continuing to apply the new tools and skills we acquired through this experience to future Preservation Long Island projects!” –Lauren Brincat, Preservation Long Island

MANY’s work is not only focused on today but also on securing the future of museums through leadership development. That work is anchored in our Annual Conference. In 2024, over 400 museum professionals were able to gather in person, strengthen connections, learn together, and witness an eclipse. More than 1,500 people from more than 800 organizations in 20 countries and 46 states have joined us for webinars. All the educators, historians, curators, fundraisers, administrators, visitor service staff, executive directors, facility managers, board members, and volunteers we met with this year know they are not only working to inspire their visitors today and tomorrow but building their museums to serve generations to come. We were very excited to host another Museum Institute at Great Camp Sagamore last fall, bringing together twenty museum professionals from across New York State. Our Institute continues to provide transformative opportunities for museum professionals to come together and through facilitated discussions address critical issues affecting our field.

2023 Museum Institute attendees at Great Camp Sagamore in the Adirondacks

“The Museum Institute reinforced how much intersectionality there is between cultural organizations across disciplines, and how important it is to seek out those various perspectives to make your own work better,” –Museum Institute attendee

Our advocacy in Albany has led to a million dollars in appropriation to complete a comprehensive Museum Study. The work to secure this resource has been ongoing. We are excited to share the news that the work on The Museum Study has begun with the summer release of an RFP to identify the contractor. They will take a deep dive into the need of museums across the state, small to large, rural to urban, in every discipline, art, science, history and children museums throughout our state. The resulting data and report will help paint a picture that will show the full range and impact of New York’s museums and their most critical needs. Once that data is in hand, MANY will work to respond to those needs through direct service, collaboration, and advocacy.

2024 conference attendees experiencing the solar eclipse on the Empire State Plaza in front of the NYS Capitol Building in Albany.

“Thank you for being an articulate voice for the importance of museums in New York…MANY ensures that our museum community stays strong and united by showing innovation and persistence. I am grateful to MANY for being a beacon of positivity and purpose.” –MANY Member

All this work is vital and transformative for our members. We are fortunate to have funding partners who make our work possible. But more is needed to continue these efforts. We need your support to continue this important and impactful work and expand what we do. As we have shared in the past, we want to continue to create new ways to support museums and broaden our conversations to shape a shared vision for the future of museums in New York. 

So the work continues…

If you have visited a museum in New York State, attended our conference, virtual programs or meetups, called the office for assistance or used our website to find resources, we know you value the work we do. I hope you can help us now with a donation in any amount to sustain our work into 2025 and create opportunities for us to help you for years to come.

With thanks,

Sheila McDaniel, Interim Executive Director

Click here to donate

The exhibition will be on view at the Munson (left) from November 1 to December 13 and will coincide with Munson serving as a polling site. The Oneida History Center (right) will host a companion exhibit, “An Essential Feature of Democracy: Lucy Carlile Watson.”

The Museum Association of New York (MANY) announced the next stop for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service Museum on Main Street exhibition Voices and Votes: Democracy in America will be Munson Museum of Art in Utica, N.Y.

The exhibition coincides with Munson serving as a polling site for Utica’s Ward 5, District 7 and Ward 2, Districts 6 and 8. The museum anticipates hundreds of voters and visitors on Election Day.

“Voices and Votes stresses the personal experience of democracy,” said April Oswald, Munson Museum Education Director. “For example, at each venue, community members record their individual observations about what democracy means to them, animating real life events such as becoming a citizen and gaining the right to vote.”

“The Voices and Votes exhibition examines how voting rights have changed dramatically over our history as we confronted issues of race, class, wealth, and politics,” said MANY Deputy Director Megan Eves. “As Utica residents visit the Munson to exercise their right to vote, we hope they will explore this timely exhibition to learn and understand more about the democratic process and their role within it.”

Munson is partnering with Oneida County History Center to celebrate this exhibition in Utica. The History Center was founded in 1876 amid the excitement and anticipation for the U.S. Centennial and is dedicated to preserving and sharing Oneida County's history. The History Center has organized a companion exhibit, “An Essential Feature of Democracy: Lucy Carlile Watson.” Watson played an active role in bringing the women’s suffrage campaign to central New York. This exhibition showcases her life and the contributions of local women in achieving equality and enhancing the lives of those in their community. 

For additional programming as part of the “A New Agora for New York: Museums as Spaces for Democracy” series, the History Center will host a scholar lecture, “Women Voted on this Land Before Columbus,” with Sally Roesch Wagner, Ph.D., a Syracuse University professor and major scholar on the suffrage movement who has taught women’s studies for over five decades. Roesch Wagner’s lecture will discuss how sovereign women of the Haudenosaunee Peoples in upstate New York may have shown early settlers how societies with empowered women could succeed.

“The History Center is excited to collaborate with Munson and Dr. Roesch Wagner to showcase local contributions and influences on the women’s suffrage movement and civic engagement,” said History Center Executive Director Rebecca McLain. “It is an honor to work across disciplines with these talented individuals. We encourage the public to visit both sites and hope they are inspired to learn more about their local and national history.”

MANY is the statewide organizer for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service’s Museum on Main Street Program, which previously brought the “Water/Ways” exhibition to six New York museums in 2019. The Museum on Main Street program offers traveling exhibitions, educational resources, and programming across America to communities through local museums, historical societies, and other cultural venues. 

This project is supported through a Market New York grant awarded by Empire State Development and I LOVE NY, New York State’s Division of Tourism.

Learn more about the New York State tour of the Voices and Votes exhibition: https://agoranewyork.org/ and preview the full schedule of programming and events happening at the Munson Museum of Art and the Oneida County History Center.

 

# # #

Voices and Votes is a Museum on Main Street (MoMS) exhibition developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. It’s based on an exhibition by the National Museum of American History. It has been made possible in New York State by the Museum Association of New York. Support for MoMS in New York State has been provided by the United States Congress.

“A New Agora for New York: Museums as Spaces for Democracy” humanities discussion programs are made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Additional funding from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation supports public events, community exhibitions, free public lectures, workshops for teachers, and community discussion programs.

About the Museum Association of New York

The Museum Association of New York is the only statewide museum service organization with more than 780 member museums, historical societies, zoos, botanical gardens, and aquariums. MANY helps shape a better future for museums and museum professionals by uplifting best practices and building organizational capacity through advocacy, training, and networking opportunities. Visitwww.nysmuseums.organd follow MANY on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn @nysmuseums

About Munson

Munson is an internationally recognized fine arts organization in Utica, serving diverse audiences through the renowned Munson Museum of Art, live performances and events, community arts classes, and Pratt Munson College of Art and Design, the upstate extension campus of the prestigious Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Munson Museum of Art is at 310 Genesee St. in Utica. For more information, visitmunson.art.

About Oneida County History Center

Oneida County History Center (OCHC) is fueled by a passion for history, education, and community. Founded in 1876, its mission is to protect, preserve, and share the past of Oneida County and central New York. Free public programs, rotating exhibits, educational opportunities for all ages, and preservation of a vast archival and artifact collection are at the core of its mission. Oneida County History Center is at 1608 Genesee St. in Utica. Visitoneidcountyhistory.org for more information.

Eliza M. Benington is the Senior Director of Marketing and Engagement at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, where she has worked since 1990. She oversees the museum’s communications and marketing activities, publications, digital engagement, guest services, exhibitions, and programs.

She is Chair of the Art Museum Marketing Association Board and a Vice President and Marketing Committee Chair of the Museum Association of New York (MANY) Board.

A former member of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) board, Benington is past chair of the Public Relations and Marketing (PRAM) Professional Network of AAM.

She is an active member of Visit Rochester and is a past president of its active volunteer arm, the Visitor Industry Council. She is a recipient of the I Love New York Award for Cultural Tourism Promotion.

We spoke with Eliza to learn more about her career journey and what motivates her. 

MANY: What’s the first museum experience that you remember?

Eliza: My mom was from Boston, and I remember visiting the Boston Children’s Museum. I remember these very large objects, like a desk and a massive phone, that you climb on top of. I’m probably remembering them larger than they were because I was a child. This exhibit also had a big bowl-like mortar and pestle, focusing on maize and its use in many food products. It was a very hands-on experience, which is why I probably remember it, and it made such a lasting impression.

But when I think of the earliest museum experience that impacted me in the sense of a love for museums, I grew up in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian Museum of American History, there was a large house, which, as a child, I remember thinking of it just as a large doll house. You would climb up these steps to look into it. It was “The Dolls’ House,” donated by Faith Bradford, which depicted a romantic view of the life of a large and affluent American family in the early 1900s. It has 23 rooms and contains more than 800 miniature items. I loved looking in and seeing these miniature dioramas  I felt transported back in time. I could stare at it forever.  My dad built me a doll’s house, which influenced me to collect miniatures, and I remember visiting “The Dolls’ House” with my son because it’s still on view. 

Can you tell me what growing up in Washington, DC was like?

It certainly fed my love of museums, especially growing up around the Smithsonian museums. My mom would take my siblings and me to museums often, and we would visit them all, anytime there was a new exhibition. I remember when the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum was built and visiting it when it opened. Having museums intertwined with my childhood memories definitely impacted my career and is why I love museums. 

What experiences from previous jobs have been most helpful for your current role as the Senior Director of Marketing and Engagement at the George Eastman Museum?

I just celebrated 34 years at the Museum, so in some ways, I think I didn’t have many other museum jobs before my current role beyond the many different roles I’ve had at this museum and all the hats I’ve worn here over time. I worked in retail, which was a helpful experience in learning how to meet someone’s needs, develop customer service skills, and engage with the public. Then, right before I started at the Museum, I worked for an ad agency where I worked many different types of clients, including business-to-business public relations marketing. I appreciated this role because it was great to work on active problem-solving to understand each client's needs, what tools we use to help get the word out, etc. I used those skills when I started working at the Museum because our marketing department is a mini ad agency working on many different projects, from big picture things, our photograph or moving image collection or George Eastman’s Legacy Mansion Gardens. Each project we do reminds me of different projects within an agency, but here, we’re in-house. 

Because of this experience, I frequently tell museum people when they want to hire any marketing communications role to look to ad agencies. It’s a great resource for people, and I knew that I wanted to be intrinsically motivated in my job, so rather than having clients who were business-to-business, working at the Eastman Museum let me promote something I was passionate about: museums and photography. 

Over the past 34 years, my role has grown and changed, which I love. I started as the public relations manager and then expanded into marketing and visitor services, and now includes programming and education. It all works so well together, and it’s all very much part of the museum's public-facing part, providing the various programs but also connecting with the community, connecting with our audiences to help engage them, and all the different programs and offerings that we have.

What motivates you to do what you do? What do you get excited about? 

It’s sort of twofold. First, it’s the people I work with who keep me motivated. We have a great team with wonderful ideas and energy. I love working within a team.

Then, it’s the times when I’m interacting directly with visitors. If I could be in two places at once, I would want to be on the Museum floor all the time because you learn so much from the visitors, and you’re reminded that so much of what we’re doing is for the people walking through our doors. Whenever I can stop and chat with a visitor, I take it. 

What are some of your goals in your role?

The overarching goal is connecting with visitors. We never have the complete picture because it changes, but connecting with our visitors helps us understand our audiences, who we aren’t reaching, and how we can engage more with our local community. We’re a tourist destination with a high percentage of visitors from outside Rochester, though a our significant goal is connecting with our community. Right now we have a community outreach initiative that many staff members are involved with. We identify events in the community where we want to have a presence or, if we can, sponsor. It’s important to us to show up and support other community organizations and hopefully grow and create future partnership opportunities.

A number of those connections have helped us with projects in our new community gallery, Gallery Obscura, especially promoting youth photography and poetry. It’s really fulfilling to see projects like these come together. 

It's so important to expose students to career opportunities and we recently introduced an initiative where GEM employees present to middle school students in our programs about their own role at the museum in order to expose them to potential careers in the field.

Did your 18-year-old self imagine that you would be where you are today?

Absolutely not. Even when I saw the museum job posted, I thought I would need an art history background in order to work at a museum. I didn’t go to schools for museums, so I was unsure if I had the transferable skills from the ad agency in order to work within a museum. But every time I visited a museum, I would look for the photo exhibits, which was my passion. I saw it as an opportunity to work in an environment where I’m surrounded by history and art. 

We’re seeing more and more people coming from outside the museum field to take on museum marketing positions. It’s great to bring those varied perspectives. 

Can you describe a favorite day on the job?

In the broadest sense, my favorite day on the job is when we have large events because I can engage with so many people and work alongside our team. It’s times when I’m on the floor where something big is happening, and it’s exciting. I enjoyed our 50th anniversary where we had about 25,000 people through the museum as part of a celebration weekend. It was amazing energy.

Another memorable day was the one-year anniversary of 9/11. We had a series of exhibitions and held a candlelight vigil on the museum grounds, and about 2,000 people joined us. It was such a reminder that our community spaces can provide a space for people to come together. 

What is your superpower?

My superpower is that I am ridiculously positive. I think it’s a survival mechanism in some ways because it’s the attitude that we can figure it out, and it will all be ok. But I like the fact that I can bring that to the table. I think it’s good when you have a group of people around the table to have someone who’s the cheerleader.

Do you have any key mentors or someone who has deeply influenced you? Can you tell me about them?

I’ve been fortunate to have people that I could learn from. One was a public relations person manager at Kodak who took me under his wing and knew a lot about the Museum, was passionate about the Museum, and knew a lot about the photography world. He was a tremendous mentor early on in my career. Then I’ve had chairs of our marketing committee on our board who have been staunch advocates for marketing. It is important to know that you have those people in your corner, especially at the board level. 

Then, one of my supervisors, who was our Development Director, advocated for me to take on visitor services and then become senior staff. I learned a lot from her about how she managed people. She was a real champion for me.

Lastly, my ultimate mentor was my mom. She was a single working mom for most of my life and worked just shy of her 80th birthday. She would figure out how to fix things and had an incredible can-do attitude—the same attitude that I bring to the Museum. My mom had a tremendous influence on how I approached anything and gave me confidence that I could do anything.

Last year, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) received the most applications ever, making FY2024 the most competitive, especially in the Museums for America program category. In New York State, 43 museums were awarded $7,741,317 in IMLS grants in FY 2024.

This year, museums and related organizations across the United States have eight opportunities to apply for grants from the IMLS. 

Applications are due no later than November 15.

IMLS Grant Opportunities

21st Century Museum Professionals Program 

Grant Amount: $100,000 - $500,000

Grant Period: One to three years

Cost Share Requirement: You must provide funds from non-federal sources in an amount that is equal to or greater than the amount of your IMLS request.

The 21st Century Museum Professional grant program supports projects that offer professional development to the current museum workforce, train and recruit museum professionals, and identify and share effective practices in museum workforce education and training. 

IMLS recognizes the important role of strong local and regional networks in providing peer-to-peer learning, training, and mentoring opportunities for the museum workforce. Partnerships among museums, museum-serving organizations, and higher education institutions are vital to expanding career pathways for broad groups of museum professionals throughout a city, county, state, region, or the nation. The 21MP Program encourages applications from museum associations, museum studies programs at higher education institutions, and museums that serve as essential parts of the professional learning and training environment.

Inspire! Grants for Small Museums   

Grant Amount: $5,000 - $75,000

Grant Period: One to three years

Cost Share Requirement: If your total request for federal funding is between $5,000 and $25,000, then no cost share is required. If your request for federal funding is between $25,001 and $75,000, you must provide funds from non-federal sources in an amount that is equal to or greater than the amount of your IMLS request.

Inspire! Grants for Small Museums is a special initiative of the Museums for America program. It is designed to support small museums of all disciplines in a project-based efforts to serve the public through exhibitions, educational/interpretive programs, digital learning resources, policy development and institutional planning, technology enhancements, professional development, community outreach, audience development, and/or collections management, curation, care, and conservation. 

Inspire! Has three project categories:

1. Lifelong Learning supports projects that position museums as unique teaching organizations. The goal is to empower people of all ages and backgrounds through experiential and cross-disciplinary learning and discovery. 

Objectives: 

In FY23, The Children’s Museum of the East End was awarded $50,000 to expand Estrellas de Lectura/Reading Stars, a reading mentorship program that improves special emotional learning skills and restores and supports reading fluency in bilingual children that were disproportionately affected by learning loss as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project includes gathering information through community meetings, recruiting and training reading mentors, updating the curriculum, and promoting the program through community partners. Students entering grades Kindergarten through fourth will meet with their reading mentors twice a week in the fall, winter, and spring at the museum’s Bridgehampton and Riverside locations. As a result, students will see improvements in their English reading fluency and general vocabulary, increased self-confidence, and improved social-emotional learning skills.

2. Institutional Capacity builds the capacity of small museums to serve their communities by supporting institutional planning and policy development, supporting recruitment, training, and development of museum staff, and supporting technology enhancements. 

Objectives

In FY24, the Underground Railroad Education Center (UREC) in Albany, NY was awarded $33,453 to develop a Museum Studies Teen Program for junior and high school students. Utilizing this funding, the UREC will offer a comprehensive out-of-school program to prepare students from low-income and/or marginalized backgrounds for a career in the museum field. This funding will help support hiring a full-time Program Manager, initiate partnerships for mentorship, develop a curriculum with input from external consultants, and recruit program participants. The project will result in a ready-to-implement plan that can be shared with other small museums wishing to replicate the program and their institutions.

UREC hopes to increase organizational capacity, engage with community youth, and help to diversify the museum workforce, benefiting student participants and the museum field as a whole.

3. Collections Stewardship and Access supports the role of museums as trusted stewards of museum collections. This program category focuses on the desire to improve long term collection care. It funds conservation treatments, rehousing projects, cataloging, and increasing collection access via digitization.

Objectives

In FY23, the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY, was awarded $50,000 to increase staff capacity to digitize two of its collections about the history of the Matthews Boat Owners Association (approximately 30,000 documents)  and the Richardson Boat Owners Association (approximately 5,000 documents, photographs, and works on paper). Project staff is working to catalog materials from these collections and make the collections diitally accessible online with a searchable collections database to benefit maritime historians and the public. 

Museum Grants for African American History and Culture 

Grant Amount: $5,000 - $500,000

Grant Period: One to three years

Cost Share Requirement: If your total request for federal funding is between $5,000 and $100,000, then no cost share is required. If your request for federal funding is between $100,001 and $500,000, you must provide funds from non-federal sources in an amount that is equal to or greater than the amount of your IMLS request.

The Museum Grants for African American History and Culture (AAHC) program is designed to build the capacity of African American museums and support the growth and development of museum professionals at African American museums.

The AAHC program supports projects that nurture museum professionals, build institutional capacity, and increase access to museum and archival collections at African American museums and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

In FY23, the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor Commission was awarded $100,000 to build the capacity of five African American anchor institutions in Buffalo, NY to develop and expand public programs and exhibitions by creating a Visitor Experience Plan. Representatives from the Michigan Street Baptist Church, the Nash House Museum, the Historic Colored Musicians Club and Museum, and WUFO 1080 AM Black Radio History Collective will collaborate with visitor experience consultants to produce the plan. These anchor institutions preserve stories, collections, and structures on themes ranging from the Buffalo Anti-Slavery Movement, and the Niagara Movement, to the Civil Rights Movement, and the Jazz Age. The visitor experience plan will shape future interpretation, exhibitions, and public wayfinding in the corridor through a cohesive narrative that tells the entire Michigan Street Corridor story.

In FY24, the Lewis Latimer House Museum in Queens, NY, was awarded $195,000 to hire staff to improve collections management and create a digital exhibition from the museum’s collection. In partnership with Queens Public Library, museum staff will digitize the Latimer Family Papers. The museum will hire a Collections Digitization Manager to train and supervise paid interns on digital asset management practices for the project. The museum will also hire a digitization specialist to implement digitization software for collections. Staff will travel to conduct collections research, informing the creation of a digital exhibition of the museum’s permanent collection. The digital exhibition will be available on the museum’s website as a free public resource.

*NEW* Museum Grants for American Latino History and Culture 

Grant Amount: $5,000 - $500,000

Grant Period: One to three years

Cost Share Requirement: None

Museum Grants for American Latino History and Culture are designed to build the capacity of American Latino history and culture museums to serve their communities and broadly advance the growth and development of a professional workforce in American Latino institutions.

This is a new funding opportunity in FY25, and prospective applicants are encouraged to contact Senior Program Officer Gibran Villalobos at gvillalobos@imls.gov or click here to learn more.

Museums Empowered

Grant Amount: $5,000 - $250,000

Grant Period: One to three years

Cost Share Requirement: You must provide funds from non-federal sources in an amount that is equal to or greater than the amount of your IMLS request.

Museums Empowered (ME) is a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program. It supports projects that use the transformative power of professional development and training to generate systemic change within museums of all types and sizes.

IMLS recognizes the many challenges facing individual museums and the need to invest resources, time, and energy toward nurturing the professional development of staff and strengthening museum operations. The Museums Empowered grant program identifies four areas of museum operations to focus for professional development.

Digital Technology focused projects that will support the work of museum staff in using digital technology to enhance audience engagement, collections access, or general museum operations.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion focused projects that will increase cultural competency among museum staff and support the relevancy of museum programs through learning activities that strengthen their ability to connect with the communities they serve.

Evaluation focused projects that will enhance the ability of museum staff to understand a broad spectrum of evaluation methods and techniques and better use evaluation reports, data, and metrics to improve the design and delivery of programs.

Organizational Management focused projects that will help museum staff develop and implement effective practices in organizational management, human resources, and strategic planning in response to emerging internal or external priorities.

IMLS expects successful Museums Empowered projects to:

• Reflect a solid understanding of relevant theory and effective practices in professional development, organizational dynamics and change management.

• Engage staff, leadership, and volunteers in a series of training activities tied to directly to a key need or challenge.

• Generate systemic change or organizational growth that results in a more agile and sustainable museum.

In FY23, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in NYC was awarded $250,000 to create a new training program for supervisors of internship programs in the five New York City wildlife parks operated by WCS –the Bronx, Central Park, Prospect Park, and Queens Zoos, and the New York Aquarium. The professional development training program will focus on positive youth development, cultural competence, supervising young adults, and mentoring and career support to help the intern supervisors develop the necessary skills to succeed in this important role. 

Project activities include hosting listening sessions with current intern supervisors to understand their needs, gathering existing training resources, developing a training curriculum, delivering supervisor training, and conducting training follow-ups. The new training program will ensure the internship program is effective, inclusive, and supportive, transforming the zoo into a more welcoming place, resulting in a broader representation of youth participating in the internship program.

Museums for America 

Grant Amount: $5,000 - $250,000

Grant Period: Up to three years

Cost Share Requirement: You must provide funds from non-federal sources in an amount that is equal to or greater than the amount of your IMLS request.

The Museums for America program supports museums of all sizes and disciplines in strategic, project-based efforts to serve the public through exhibitions, educational/interpretive programs, digital learning resources, professional development, community debate and dialogue, audience-focused studies, and/or collections management, curation, care, and conservation. 

In FY24, the Museums for America grant program awarded 115 projects, the most of any grant award program, 21 of which were awarded to NYS museums.

Museums for America has three project categories:

1. Lifelong Learning

In FY24, the Museum of the City of NY was awarded $249,920 to create programs and classroom resources aligned with New York City’s “Civics for All” public school initiative. The museum will convene a paid teacher advisory group to work with a curriculum consultant to develop educational resources for students in grades six through eight. The advisory group will also provide feedback on two new “Civics for All”-themed field trips. In addition, the museum will host several professional development programs for New York City teachers focused on civic engagement themes. To support project activities, the museum will contract with a curriculum consultant, project evaluator, graphic designer, and translation services to translate curriculum materials into Spanish to reach a broader student population. The new “Civics for All”-aligned curricula and field trips will reach an estimated 10,000 New York City students and teachers.

2. Community Engagement

In FY24, Genesee Country Village & Museum was awarded $188,841 to strengthen interpretation related to the history of enslavement in 19th century New York State. The project will focus on the educational interpretation of four historic buildings on site: the Nathaniel Rochester House, Land Office, Livingston-Backus House, and Quaker Meeting House. Staff will work with interpretive and educational consultants to create content and evaluation plans and train staff on content delivery. Staff will also work with local community partners and local and national subject experts to create and review in-person interpretation, exhibit, audio tour, and school program content.

3. Collections Stewardship and Access

In FY24, the Staten Island Museum was awarded $248,057 to build a collaborative approach to the stewardship of the Native American and Indigenous collections in its care. Museum staff will work directly with Lenape representatives to catalog the Lenape archaeology collection and ensure appropriate handling, storage, and interpretation. The collection contains nearly 3,500 artifacts found on Staten Island and surrounding areas, part of the traditional homeland of the Lenape people. The museum will host advisory meetings with Lenape representatives to gain insight regarding the cultural and spiritual significance of the artifacts. The project will support the hiring of a part-time collections assistant and a museum fellow. This project will increase the care of the collection while allowing the museum to make the collection as accessible to the public as possible in a way that respects the heritage and significance of the artifacts.

National Leadership Grants for Museums 

Grant Amount: $50,000 - $750,000

Grant Period: One to three years

Cost Share Requirement: You must provide funds from non-federal sources in an amount that is equal to or greater than the amount of the request, unless otherwise indicated in the FY25 Notice of Funding Opportunity.

In FY24, four NYS-based organizations received a National Leadership Grant: Games for Change, Rochester Insitute of Technology, Visitor Studies Association, and Voices in Contemporary Art.

Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services 

Grant Amount: $5,000 - $250,000

Grant Period: Up to three years

Cost Share Requirement: None

The Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services (NANH) grant program is designed to support Indian Tribes and organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians in sustaining indigenous heritage, culture, and knowledge. The program supports projects such as educational services and programming, workforce professional development, organizational capacity building, community engagement, and collections stewardship.

To be eligible for an award under the NANH program, your organization must be either:

• a Federally Recognized Indian Tribe, or

• a Nonprofit Organization that Primarily Serves and Represents Native Hawaiians.

In FY24, the Oneida Indian Nation was awarded $248,212 to address recommendations from a recent preservation assessment by purchasing and installing museum-quality mobile shelving in the Nation’s newly renovated Archives Room. Project activities include purchasing the new shelving, rehousing and cataloging the collections and archival materials, moving the collection to a temporary location, installing the new shelving, and re-shelving the collections in the Archives Room. The project will improve the safety and security of the collection and support the nation’s efforts to reclaim, preserve, and sustain Oneida culture, heritage, and knowledge.

Learn more about IMLS Grant Programs: https://imls.gov/grants/grant-programs 

The National Park Service (NPS) today announced $25.7 million in Save America’s Treasures grants to fund 59 projects that will preserve nationally significant sites and historic collections in 26 states and the District of Columbia.

In New York State, eight institutions were awarded a total of $3,106,544.

“The Save America’s Treasures program began 25 years ago and continues to enable communities across the United States to preserve and conserve their nationally significant historic properties and collections,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “It’s fitting to celebrate this milestone anniversary through a wide range of projects that help to pass the full history of America and its people down to future generations.”

Since 1999, the Save America’s Treasures program has provided over $405 million from the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) to more than 1,400 projects to provide preservation and conservation work on nationally significant collections, artifacts, structures, and sites. Previous awards have gone toward restoring the Park Inn Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; the USS Intrepid, an Essex class carrier on display in Manhattan; and the Saturn V Launch Vehicle, a three-stage rocket designed for a lunar landing mission.

Today’s award of $25,705,000 will be matched by almost $50 million in private and public investment. NPS partners with the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services to award the grants.

Established in 1977, the HPF has provided more than $2 billion in historic preservation grants to states, Tribes, local governments, and non-profit organizations. Administered by NPS, HPF grant funds are appropriated by Congress annually to support a variety of historic preservation projects to help preserve the nation’s cultural and historic resources.

The HPF, which uses revenue from federal offshore oil and gas leases, supports a broad range of preservation projects without expending tax dollars. The intent behind the HPF is to mitigate the loss of nonrenewable resources through the preservation of other irreplaceable resources.

Applications for next year’s round of the Save America's Treasures Grant Program will open in the fall of 2024. $25.5 million in funding will be available.

Learn more.

American Jewish Historical Society, $165,288

The American Jewish Historical Society will use the funds to process records of the Anti-Defamation League’s Civil Rights Information Center and its Center on Extremism, which includes documents that illuminate ADL’s initiatives to expose and mitigate antisemitism, racism, and other forms of hate. The subseries of the collection is about 100 linear feet and includes correspondence, records of court cases and legislation, periodicals, reports, and research files. Selections will be digitized after processing and will be made available to researchers both on-site and online. The project will be matched with $181,998 in non-federal share.

Great Hudson Heritage Network, $269,038

The Greater Hudson Heritage Network will use funds to conserve objects from 10 small and mid-size museums in New York State. The objects include 35 items of historical significance and a wide range of materials, which, after a preliminary assessment, were selected as those items most in need of treatment. A panel of conservators will work on the objects over the course of 8-10 months and will also participate in a Community Engagement Conservation Workshop at each museum for staff and visitors to highlight unique challenges and new discoveries during the process of conserving these unique stories from New York State. The project will be matched with $269,359 in non-federal share.

Historic Hudson Valley, $630,300

Washington Irving’s Sunnyside, a National Historical Landmark, was the estate of author Washington Irving from 1835 until his death in1859. Sunnyside, known as America’s first “literary landmark,” preserves the ideals of the Romantic movement. Irving’s Cottage, one of the buildings on the property, experiences water penetration, moisture, and temperature fluctuations, deteriorating masonry and stucco, and harmful UV light. This grant project will create a site drainage system and redirect water collection as well as repair damage to lime-based and clay materials on the building envelope. This work will ensure important access to Sunnyside and continued engagement with Irving’s life and cultural legacy for future generations. The grantee is providing $640,365 of matching funds.

Livingston County Historical Society, $150,000

The Livingston County Historical Museum will improve the storage of approximately 30,000 artifacts relating to Indigenous people and habitants of the post-colonial Finger Lakes Region. Project activities will include purchasing and installing new collections storage and environmental controls, security, and fire prevention measures. Building upon a detailed assessment of storage needs conducted by an interdisciplinary team, project staff will engage experts to ensure that the equipment will properly store collections and mitigate further damage. The rehoused material will facilitate the creation of future exhibits and allow staff to rotate and rest objects from the collection. The grantee will provide $150,000 in matching funds.

NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, $88,670

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission will use the funds to make a portion of their archaeological collections accessible to the public through processing documents and photographing artifacts. The collections include two significant archaeological excavations in Lower Manhattan excavated in the late 1970s and early 1980s: the Stadt Huys Block Site, the first major urban excavation in New York City, and 7 Hanover Square, associated with highly significant 17th century households. There are 20,595 documents that will be processed, digitized, and data made available through the LPC’s online archaeological repository, and 8,400 artifacts that will be photographed; two digital exhibits will also be created to showcase the data for public and researcher access. The project will be matched with $96,312 in non-federal share.

St. Bartholomew's Conservancy, Inc., $749,840

The Stanford White Triple Portal is the main entrance to the St. Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue. The Triple Portal, boasting three sets of spectacular bas-relief cast bronze doors and carved stone iconographic sculpture by renowned artists of the early 20th century, was the defining feature for the design and construction of the new St. Bartholomew’s Church building in 1918, heralded by architect Bertram G. Goodhue as “perhaps the most beautiful thing of its kind in America.” Over time the building has experienced deterioration from pollution and age. The SAT grant will focus on the preservation of the Cipollino marble columns, iconographic sculpture, the bronze doors and the limestone steps that comprise the Stanford White Triple Portal. The grantee is providing $2,957,505 of matching funds.

Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, $303,408

The Staten Island Museum will inventory and rehouse approximately 185 linear feet of archival material in preparation to move the collections into a new climate-controlled storage space. The collections include the papers of renowned scientists including Nathaniel Lord Britton, John J. Crooke, and Mathilde Weingartner. The archives also include archaeological descriptions of Lenape sites on Staten Island. This project will support the purchase of archival supplies, as well as a part-time project archivist and museum fellow, who will carry-out the collection inventory and rehousing activities. Additionally, the museum will work with a contractor to conserve and digitize 11 journals of William T. Davis, a prominent naturalist, entomologist, and historian. The project will result in improved preservation of the collection, enhanced intellectual control, and the creation of new finding aids that will increase accessibility of the collection for staff and researchers. The grantee will provide $303,408 in matching funds.

The Paley Center for Media, $750,000

The Paley Center for Media will use the funds to digitize and catalog approximately 2,500 items within their African American Collection. The collection holds rare and at-risk television media and historic programs featuring figures such as Nat King Cole, Bayard Rustin, Bernard Shaw, Toni Morrison, from Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, and Oprah Winfrey. The Paley Center for Media will work with multiple vendors to digitize the collection. Once digitized, these materials will be used by the Paley education staff for its K-12 media education program and for the museum's public exhibits. The project will be matched with $750,000 in non-federal share.

The exhibition will be on view from September 6 to October 18 at the Robert H. Jackson Center (photo) in Jamestown, NY coinciding with the center's Constitution Days.

We're pleased to announce the next stop for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service Museum on Main Street exhibition "Voices and Votes: Democracy in America" will be the Robert H. Jackson Center (RHJC) in Jamestown. 

The center will use the Smithsonian exhibition to amplify New York State and Chautauqua County’s role in the development of American Democracy as the nation approaches its semiquincentennial.

“Voices and Votes is a wonderful way to celebrate Jamestown’s rich history and the RHJC’s mission while creating an opportunity to work with our partners to bring a Smithsonian exhibit to the area,” said RHJC President Kristan McMahon. “This opportunity perfectly aligns with our mission to educate our communities on issues of justice and civic participation, and the RHJC is the perfect venue to host this exhibit. Jamestown was the home of the American Voting Machine Company, and we’re looking forward to working with the Fenton History RHJC, Chautauqua County Historical Society, Chautauqua Institution, and other community partners to tell the story of our region as a seat of the democratic process.”

The exhibition will be on view from September 6 to October 18.

Dedicated to promoting the legacy of former US Attorney General under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, US Supreme Court Justice, and Chief US Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, the RHJC serves as a museum, educational institution, and forum for discussions on legal and ethical issues focusing on advancing the principles of justice, law, and human rights. Jackson is remembered as one of the most articulate justices in the history of the Supreme Court, known for his ability to explain complex legal principles in clear, accessible language. His work at Nuremberg established important precedents in international criminal law. 

“The residents of Jamestown have a history of active participation in American Democracy,” said Agora Project Fellow Ren Lee. “From the legacy of Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson to the Jamestown-based companies that revolutionized the voting process with automatic voting machines, the RHJC has a unique opportunity to share stories of civic engagement. We’re excited to hear those stories from the past and learn how the RHJC continues Jackson’s influence and encourages active participation in democracy today.”

The exhibition coincides with the RHJC’s Constitution Days on September 17 and 18. It will feature a presentation by Dr. Karen Korematsu, who will speak about her father’s landmark US Supreme Court Case and the importance of civic participation.

Additional programming as part of the “A New Agora for New York: Museums as Spaces for Democracy” that will run during the exhibition includes a responsive exhibition focused on the Chautauqua Region’s voting story and an in-person Community Conversation led by Humanities New York Director of Grant-Making Joseph Murphy on September 25. Additionally, a teacher training workshop on October 4 will be led by New York State Museum Educator James Jenkins, who will align themes from the Voices and Votes and responsive exhibitions with New York State Learning Standard that encourages hands-on and inquiry-based classroom learning. 

MANY is the statewide organizer for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service’s Museum on Main Street Program, which previously brought the “Water/Ways” exhibition to six New York Museums in 2019. The Museum on Main Street program offers traveling exhibitions, educational resources, and programming across America to communities through local museums, historical societies, and other cultural venues.

Learn more about the New York State tour of the Voices and Votes exhibition: https://agoranewyork.org/ and preview the full schedule of programming and events happening at the Robert H. Jackson Center.

Voices and Votes is a Museum on Main Street (MoMS) exhibition developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. It’s based on an exhibition by the National Museum of American History. It has been made possible in New York State by the Museum Association of New York. Support for MoMS in New York State has been provided by the United States Congress with additional funding from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. “A New Agora for New York: Museums as Spaces for Democracy” humanities discussion programs are made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  About the Museum Association of New York The Museum Association of New York is the only statewide museum service organization with more than 780 member museums, historical societies, zoos, botanical gardens, and aquariums. MANY helps shape a better future for museums and museum professionals by uplifting best practices and building organizational capacity through advocacy, training, and networking opportunities. Visit www.nysmuseums.org and follow MANY on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn @nysmuseums  About the Robert H. Jackson Center The Robert H. Jackson Center advances Justice Robert H. Jackson's legacy through education, including live presentations, exhibitions, multimedia, research, and scholarship that demonstrate the relevance and applicability of Justice Jackson’s ideas to present and future generations. To learn more, visit roberthjackson.org.

In its latest museum grant announcement, the Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded twenty-one #NYSmuseums $4.3 million in funding from its Museums for America grant initiative.

One hundred and fifteen museums of diverse sizes, disciplines, and geographies will receive support for strategic, project-based efforts to serve the public through exhibitions, educational/interpretive programs, digital learning resources, professional development, community debate and dialogue, audience-focused studies, and/or collections management, curation, care, and conservation. In total, the program’s FY24 awardees will receive $23,361,915 in federal funding. 

This year, IMLS saw an increase in MFA grant applications requesting funding for projects related to America250. America250 is the nationwide commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary in 2026 led by the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission. IMLS is proud to support these institutions as they share America’s history, and where we stand today.  

“IMLS remains committed to serving the museum field and furthering the goals of the American public,” said IMLS Acting Director Cyndee Landrum. “The Museums for America program encourages applicants to be creative in their response to challenges, and to envision a bold future for their institution.” 

Adirondack Experience, $145,653

The Adirondack Experience will engage with a professional firm to conserve 139 drawings identified to be in urgent need of treatment following a survey of its drawing collection. This project will build upon previous IMLS-funded projects involving treatment of the oils on canvas, watercolors, and artists' sketchbooks. General treatment for most drawings will include both dry and aqueous surface cleaning, humidifying, and pressing, while some others will require more involved treatments such as removing supports, mending tears, and stabilizing iron gall ink. The conservation treatments will be documented in detailed reports including before and after photos; conditions addressed during treatment; the methods used, and high-resolution images. As a result, public access to the collection will be expanded by stabilizing and treating the objects so that they can be safely rotated in exhibitions.

American Museum of Natural History, $190,810

The American Museum of Natural History will improve the care and access of their collections of African and Asian elephant skulls, and African bovid specimens. Project activities will include unifying bovid specimens that are in offsite storage with the specimens in compact storage at the museum’s new Gilder Center; as well as cleaning, rehousing, digitizing, and moving elephant skulls to offsite storage where post-crania are kept. Two part-time conservation interns will provide support to the museum team by carrying out critical cleaning, stabilization, and documentation tasks on the skulls. Museum staff and researchers will experience increased access to frequently used specimens, and the objects will benefit from reduced exposure to key agents of deterioration.

BRIC Arts Media Brooklyn, $200,000

BRIC Arts Media Brooklyn will offer thirty-five to forty, twelve-session residencies per year partnering with New York City public schools. BRIC education staff will work collaboratively with teaching artists, teachers, administrators, and social service providers to design program curricula to strengthen arts and media mastery, develop critical thinking skills, and promote social-emotional well-being. The programs will engage in and enhance subject-area learning in social studies, language arts, and STEM to support meeting Common Core Learning Standards and the New York City Blueprint for Teaching and Learning the Arts. During each two-hour session, BRIC teaching artists and classroom teachers will deliver a custom curriculum that explores historical and contemporary works of art and engages students in hands-on, art-making activities. BRIC will supplement the residencies with BRIC House Gallery exhibition visits, family programs, and an annual exhibition to showcase student artwork.

City Lore, $235,153

City Lore will create exhibitions and programming focused on immigrant communities around the topics of women in the Blues, Cuban music, J’ouvert festival traditions, and the material culture of House Ballroom in the New York LGBTQ+ community. The exhibitions will be held in several locations in New York, Massachusetts, and Florida. Project staff will consult with cultural ambassadors to work with artists and communities and curate exhibitions. Staff will train cultural ambassadors on ethnographic methods to document cultural expression and assist them in establishing relationships with local government authorities. An online toolkit will be developed, which will provide professional information for artists, such as work samples for grant proposals and event production and promotion. 

Genesee Country Village & Museum, $188,841

Genesee Country Village and Museum will strengthen interpretation related to the history of enslavement in 19th century New York State. The project will focus on the educational interpretation of four historic buildings on site: the Nathaniel Rochester House, Land Office, Livingston-Backus House, and Quaker Meeting House. Staff will work with interpretive and educational consultants to create content and evaluation plans as well as to train staff on content delivery. Staff will also work with local community partners as well as both local and national subject experts to create and review in-person interpretation, exhibit, audio tour, and school program content.

George Eastman Museum, $249,849

The George Eastman Museum will digitize and provide free online access to a collection of audio and audiovisual recordings. The nearly 600 hours of recordings document the interviews, lectures, and gallery discussions of significant photographers, actors, filmmakers, scholars, curators, and critics who have influenced the study of visual culture over the past seventy-five years. Building on a previous IMLS-funded digitization project, the museum will reformat the recordings, which currently require technologically obsolete playback equipment to access, to open-source digital formats accessible through the museum’s website. The project will support a temporary full-time project processing archivist. The digitization of the recordings will improve long-term preservation by minimizing handling and will allow the museum to provide free online access for the benefit researchers, historians, enthusiasts, and the public throughout the world.

Heckscher Museum of Art, $250,000

The Heckscher Museum of Art will undertake a collaborative effort to produce exhibitions and associated educational programming showcasing major works by LGBTQ+ artists. A community advisory board and a youth advisory board will inform exhibit interpretation and programming to ensure that LGBTQ+ youth voices and perspectives are centered. Exhibitions will include works by LGBTQ+ artists in the museum's permanent collection, a retrospective of American neoclassical sculptor Emma Stebbins (1815–1882), and a photography exhibition created by teen participants on the youth advisory board. A full-time Community Outreach Coordinator will be hired to facilitate the advisory boards, collaborate with the museum's education team to inform school programming, and work with core project team members including a guest curator, exhibition design contractor, and external evaluator. As a result of the project, the museum will build sustainable relationships with the local LGBTQ+ community, support the mental health and well-being of local LGBTQ+ youth, and elevate, contextualize, and interpret experiences of LGBTQ+ figures in American Art History, past and present.

Historic Saranac Lake, $250,000

Historic Saranac Lake will create an exhibit about the history of Saranac Lake and its role as an international center for tuberculosis treatment and scientific research. Informed by an interpretive planning process and a previous design project supported by IMLS, staff will work with exhibit design professionals and humanities scholars to draw connections to topics such as the development of public health in the U.S., the history of occupational therapy, and the evolution of tuberculosis treatment and prevention. The exhibit will be installed in both the home of Dr. E. L. Trudeau and the neighboring Saranac Laboratory Museum. Beneficiaries of the project will include local residents, visitors, students, and members of the academic community.The Intrepid Museum will create accessible and interactive exhibits within seven compartments in Intrepid’s medical facility, known as sick bay. The exhibits will blend storytelling with multisensory elements and advanced augmented reality (AR) experiences and engage visitors with the experiences of medical personnel and their patients. The cross-departmental museum team will partner with the NYU Ability Project, experts in creating accessible environments through assistive technology and adaptive design for people with disabilities. The project team will also engage with a media group that combines producers and AR technology experts. Throughout the project, Disability Advisory Group, self-advocates with a range of lived experience and expertise, will provide continuous feedback on each exhibit element. This project will address an ongoing and documented interest from visitors of all ages and geographic regions in accessing more of the ship's historic areas, of which only 44% are currently open to the public.

Intrepid Museum, $250,000

The Intrepid Museum will create accessible and interactive exhibits within seven compartments in Intrepid’s medical facility, known as sick bay. The exhibits will blend storytelling with multisensory elements and advanced augmented reality (AR) experiences and engage visitors with the experiences of medical personnel and their patients. The cross-departmental museum team will partner with the NYU Ability Project, experts in creating accessible environments through assistive technology and adaptive design for people with disabilities. The project team will also engage with a media group that combines producers and AR technology experts. Throughout the project, Disability Advisory Group, self-advocates with a range of lived experience and expertise, will provide continuous feedback on each exhibit element. This project will address an ongoing and documented interest from visitors of all ages and geographic regions in accessing more of the ship's historic areas, of which only 44% are currently open to the public.

Long Island Museum, $134,334

The Long Island Museum will create a permanent exhibition and associated programs to explore the fight for equal rights in horse-drawn public transportation in the United States. The exhibition will be anchored by a c. 1885 streetcar that will include an accessible entrance for visitors to climb aboard, interact with the vehicle, and examine episodes such as the story of Elizabeth Jennings, a Black school teacher who fought for her right to ride a New York City streetcar in 1854. The project team will contract with a design firm to fabricate exhibition components, develop programs for families, students, and individuals living with memory loss, and make adjustments to the exhibition based on assessment findings. As a result, visitors of all ages and abilities will engage with an immersive and interactive gallery space.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, $250,000

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will develop and launch a suite of public programs tied to the reopening of the galleries dedicated to the Arts of Africa, Ancient Americas, and Oceania. The initiative will activate the collections and ideas explored in the new galleries, create multiple entry points for the museum’s diverse audiences, and incorporate Indigenous perspectives essential to understanding the collections. Project components will include performances and concerts, study days and salon-style discussions, symposia, thematic gallery tours, and additional programs such as art-making workshops, classes for teens, and access programs for visitors of varying abilities. The museum will build upon outreach efforts to civic, social, and professional groups in New York City and the tri-state area. The resulting suite of programs will further develop relationships with source communities at the museum while generating lasting resources for educators, artists, scholars, individual learners, and families.

Museum of the City of New York, $249,920

The Museum of the City of New York will create programs and classroom resources aligned with New York City’s “Civics for All” public school initiative. The museum will convene a paid teacher advisory group to work with a curriculum consultant to develop educational resources for students in grades six through eight. The advisory group will also provide feedback on two new “Civics for All”-themed field trips. In addition, the museum will host several professional development programs for New York City teachers focused on civic engagement themes. To support project activities, the museum will contract with a curriculum consultant, project evaluator, graphic designer, and translation services to translate curriculum materials into Spanish to reach a broader student population. The new “Civics for All”-aligned curricula and field trips will reach an estimated 10,000 New York City students and teachers.

National September 11 Memorial and Museum, $160,069

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum will create an exhibition of children’s artwork of 9/11, which will highlight the experience of children as witnesses to the events of 9/11 through the art they created in the year following. Museum staff will select works from the museum’s permanent collection of more than 800 works of children’s art. For the project, staff will develop an audio tour and online educational resources. To accompany the exhibition, staff will conduct educational public programming. Beneficiaries of the project will include multigenerational audiences, educators, adult visitors who were children on 9/11, and youth visitors.

New Museum of Contemporary Art, $246,718

The New Museum of Contemporary Art will expand and refocus its educational programming to address the need for teachers to meet the New York Department of Education’s Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education framework, an educational strategy for student-centered learning that uses aspects of students’ race, social class, gender, language, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or ability to learn about the world around them and connect across cultures. The museum will partner with teaching artists and twelve New York City public high school teachers to develop and implement lesson plans. The museum will then engage 360 teachers in professional development workshops. Ultimately, 2,600 teachers across the city will benefit from access to digital lesson plans that they can implement in their classrooms, and over 78,000 New York City high school students will benefit from art-based instruction, which has increasingly been cut from public schools.

New York Botanical Garden, $249,912

The New York Botanical Garden will implement the second phase of its Therapeutic Horticulture and Rehabilitative Interventions for Veteran Engagement (THRIVE) program to provide horticultural therapy programming for local veterans. In partnership with the Resilience and Wellness Center in the Bronx-based James J. Peters Veterans Administration Medical Center, the garden's Edible Academy will expand services and outreach for participating veterans and THRIVE alums. Program participants will learn about plants and nutrition by growing, harvesting, preparing, and consuming fresh produce with horticultural therapy specialists. The garden will hold a symposium with cultural institutions, horticultural therapy specialists, and veterans' organizations to share strategies and best practices informed by the THRIVE program, and staff will present findings and share information about horticultural therapy intervention for veterans at professional conferences and via new digital resources. 

Paleontological Research Institute (Museum of the Earth), $101,976

The Museum of the Earth will expand access to the collection of Cenozoic corals from the Western Atlantic by digitizing specimens and sharing data through online portals and educational resources. Project activities will include photographing 200 specimens and creating 50 illustrated species pages that will be published on the museum’s free, web-based educational portal. The museum will hire a collections assistant and train them in all aspects of specimen digitization and curation. A team of interns and volunteers will be trained to associate labels to specimens, enter information for the specimens in the collections database, and re-box items. This project will enhance the collection’s long-term preservation and accessibility for scientists, students, and the public to understand how coral reefs, which are one of the ocean’s most threatened habitats, respond to environmental stresses.

Rochester Museum and Science Center, $240,302

The Rochester Museum & Science Center will partner with the Ganondagan State Historic Site and the Friends of Ganondagan to offer programming related to the opening of the museum’s Hodinöšyö:nih (Haudenosaunee) Continuity, Innovation, and Resilience exhibit. Curated by a Seneca Knowledge Keeper, and informed by Haudenosaunee community member feedback, the exhibit will explore themes of Haudenosaunee cultural continuity and change, identity, and sovereignty through featured artists and artworks. A series of educational programs featuring traditional Haudenosaunee artistry through artist demonstrations, workshops, and cultural festivals will be planned and carried out. Project staff will provide professional development for staff, docents, and volunteers across the organizations to increase cultural knowledge and awareness about partner collections and resources. In addition to hosting field trips, staff will share online associated lesson plans and educational videos for the benefit of teachers, students, and Haudenosaunee audiences.

Sciencenter, $249,660

The Sciencenter will partner with regional libraries to expand equitable access to hands-on STEM learning by leveraging and supporting public libraries as trusted spaces that offer relevant and engaging experiences. The project team will use input from prior library collaborations and listening sessions to co-create STEM activity kits and establish a learning community with library educators to support locally relevant STEM learning opportunities that address regional challenges. Project activities will include prototyping activities with museum and library visitors, disseminating kits for at-home and library learning, and a developmental evaluation. As a result, the museum will strengthen partnerships to reach new audiences with a focus on rural communities and libraries; regional libraries and families will increase their capacity to facilitate STEM learning; and children will improve science process skills through increased STEM learning and engagement.

Staten Island Museum, $248,057

The Staten Island Museum will build a collaborative approach to the stewardship of the Native American and Indigenous collections in its care. Museum staff will work directly with Lenape representatives to catalog the Lenape archaeology collection and ensure appropriate handling, storage, and interpretation. The collection contains nearly 3,500 artifacts found on Staten Island and surrounding areas, part of the traditional homeland of the Lenape people. The museum will host advisory meetings with Lenape representatives to gain insight regarding the cultural and spiritual significance of the artifacts. The project will support the hiring of a part-time collections assistant and a museum fellow. This project will increase the care of the collection while allowing the museum to make the collection as accessible to the public as possible in a way that respects the heritage and significance of the artifacts.

Studio Museum in Harlem, $200,853

The Studio Museum in Harlem will install an inaugural exhibition in the new building about the life and artistic achievements of Tom Lloyd, that will address Lloyd's career as an artist, community organizer, and museum leader. The exhibition will include every known extant electronic sculpture Lloyd created, as well as works in metal and paper, and will be traveled to three venues along with an exhibit publication. Project activities at the museum will include free, weekly educational programs, art-viewing and art-making workshops, exhibition tours, and public programs for adults. During the museum’s opening year, the exhibition will be featured in free tour programs for all schools in New York's District 5. The project team will partner with institutions focused on underserved populations and addressing needs of their local communities to host the traveling exhibition. The resulting exhibition will be an entry point for arts learning for new audiences and non-traditional museum goers around the country.

University of Rochester (Memorial Art Gallery), $62,955

The Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester will work with a professional conservator to complete conservation treatments on 29 South Asian miniature paintings and drawings. These artworks range in date from the 16th through the 19th centuries and are inaccessible to visitors and very limited to researchers due to their present condition. The conservator will document the treatment in full photographic and written reports, and museum staff will re-mat the works and compile the treatment data for inclusion in the collection object records. As a result, the paintings and drawings will be available to the public, either on display in the Asian Art gallery or made accessible through photographs on the museum website.

Learn more and IMLS Museums for America: https://www.imls.gov/news/imls-awards-over-23m-grant-funding-through-museums-america-program?utm_campaign=&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=20240808&utm_source=govdelivery

Eleven NYS museums were awarded $498,809 in the latest round of the Institute of Museum & Library Services' Inspire! Grants for Small Museums to serve the public through exhibitions, educational programs, institutional planning, collections management, and other initiatives. In total, 78 museums across the country will receive $3,324,571 in federal funding.

This year, the Inspire! program provided applicants with two funding options – institutions requesting $5,000 to $25,000 were not required to provide any of their own funding, while institutions requesting $25,001 to $75,000 were required to match their requested funding amount with non-federal funds. This structure enables Inspire! grantees to propose larger-scale projects without putting undue burden on institutions that cannot provide a funding match.

The decision to update the program in this way was made with consideration to the diversity of small museums. Increasing the program’s adaptability enables applicants to design projects that best fit their institution’s needs and capacity. This is especially critical now, as many small museums are still struggling to return to pre-Covid funding and staffing levels.

“Small museums exist across a wide range of disciplines and geographies,” said Acting IMLS Director Cyndee Landrum. “Many serve as the only cultural institution in their community. Federal investment in small museums is an investment in access to art, science, history, and the preservation of local culture and stories. IMLS’s mission is to support small museums as the engines of vibrant, thriving communities.”

Oneida Community Mansion House, $25,000

The Oneida Community Mansion House (OCMH) will inventory and catalog approximately 850 objects in its care to preserve and improve access to its collection and advance knowledge of the Oneida Community and its relevance in United States history. OCMH staff will hire a part-time collections manager to inventory and photograph objects, create and update digital catalog records, and implement a collection storage plan and location system for two collections storage areas. Completion of this project will result in increased intellectual and physical control over the collection. Improving preservation and access to the collection will benefit visitors, students, researchers, historians, and Oneida Community descendants.

The Flow Chart Foundation, $25,000

The Flow Chart Foundation will partner with the Information Sciences Department at the University at Albany to create a paid internship program at the Ashbery Resource Center (ARC). ARC is the foundation’s repository and special collection library dedicated to the scholarly research of the 20th-century American poet, John Ashbery, and the broader New York School of Poets and Painters. Three part-time interns will be hired and trained under the direction of the ARC ’s Archivist/Librarian to assist with processing, cataloging, digitizing, and rehousing undocumented collections. The project will support museum and library workforce development by providing interns with hands-on training in collections management and archival processing. The work completed by interns will enhance preservation and access to the collection for students, visitors, and researchers and expand documentation for use in exhibitions and programming.

Hanford Mills Museum, $73,071

Hanford Mills Museum will draft and implement an updated Interpretive Master Plan to heighten connections between the site’s history and larger global systems and conditions. Museum staff will contract with a consultant to assist in writing the plan, building upon its recent interpretive audit and draft framework. The project team will draft interpretation and evaluation processes and protocols and provide interpretive workshops for staff, other small museums, and students. The project will result in a master plan to guide and expand interpretation, including an updated orientation script and mill tour. The planning process, resulting documents, and workshops will increase internal and external capacity and staff knowledge. Project beneficiaries include museum staff and board members, staff from surrounding small museums, nearby museum studies programs, and ultimately visitors to the site. 

The Museum at Bethel Woods, $43,442

The Museum at Bethel Woods will build upon its oral history initiative to document personal stories of the Catskills, the Woodstock festival, and community activism during the 1960s and 1970s. The museum will partner with the Borscht Belt Museum and the Borscht Belt Marker Project to organize oral history pop-ups and conduct long-form interviews. Museum staff will process and transcribe oral histories and contract with an outside advisor to ensure adherence to ethical standards and best practices. The project will result in 60 videotaped oral histories that will be used by all three institutions in exhibits and public programs to help commemorate the 250th anniversary of America. This collaborative project will expand partnerships and contribute to organizational capacity-building. Documenting these rapidly disappearing personal accounts will enhance public understanding of a formative period in our country's history.

King Manor Museum, $60,000

The King Manor Museum will create a series of three exhibitions about local and national history as well as the abolition of slavery in New York. The museum presents the history of the King family, focusing on Rufus King (1755-1827), a Founding Father and anti-slavery advocate in early American government. The exhibitions will explore such topics as: the history and legacy of antislavery activism from 1805 (which was when Rufus King purchased the property) through the end of the Civil War, the history of Jamaica Queens, and the American bicentennial commemoration in 1976. Staff will work with community members to co-curate exhibitions. Staff will conduct associated public programming with the exhibitions for the benefit of the local Southeast Queens community.

Historic Cherry Hill, $47,469

Historic Cherry Hill will develop programming aligned with its reinterpretation plan and in preparation for the commemoration of the United States Semiquincentennial and 200th anniversary of the end of slavery in New York. Building upon previous IMLS funding and audience feedback, the museum will conduct historical research on enslavement, transcribe and digitize documents, and create a new tour and programming to share the complex stories of the diverse members of the Cherry Hill household. Museum staff will contract with historians, an interpretive specialist, and an evaluator to assist with the project. The resulting programming and new focus tour will help reshape the interpretation of the museum for the next generation of visitors.

En Foco, $25,000

En Foco in the Bronx, New York, will inventory, rehouse, and digitize materials chronicling its 50-year exhibition history. Founded as a collective of photographers from the Puerto Rican diaspora, En Foco’s exhibition records detail the cultural legacy of photographers of color. This project will support the hiring of a full-time digital librarian to research, organize, digitize, and rehouse the exhibition’s archive. The digitized collection will be available onsite at the Nueva Luz Study Center as well as digitally online. Archive staff will purchase a computer, document scanner, and archival supplies. The project will result in greater preservation and access to the collection and will serve as a crucial resource for the Bronx community of Latino artists and artists of color. Providing online access to the collection will benefit artists, scholars, writers, curators, gallerists, and the public.

The Whaling Museum, $75,000

The Whaling Museum will fabricate, install, and evaluate a 2-year special exhibition that explores ocean-inspired myths and monsters and their contemporary connections. The museum will develop an array of onsite and offsite learning opportunities including school group tours, workshops, and lectures to complement the exhibition. The project will support staff, exhibit and programming supplies and materials, and marketing. To convey the fragility of our oceans, the museum will commission a local artist to create a kraken sculpture made from plastic debris collected from local shore cleanups. The stories and messages in the exhibition will be gateways to launch wider discussions about the cultural roots of hate and negative stereotypes. By exploring nautical mythologies, visitors will be prompted to think about the ocean’s influence on how cultures were shaped and continue to shape us, and our impacts on the ocean today.

Center for Photography at Woodstock, $71,000

The Center for Photography at Woodstock will implement an educational program to engage local high school students enrolled in the English as a New Language Program. Center staff will partner with Kingston High School to organize field trips and weekly in-school classes designed to help students improve language skills through photography. The program will culminate in a student-produced public art piece and a publication. The center will contract with an artist team that has facilitated similar community projects. The expected outcomes are to build students’ sense of self-worth and foster a wider discussion about the neighboring Latin American community. The center recently relocated to Kingston, and engagement with its new community will help it build capacity and establish new audiences. Primary beneficiaries include participating students, their families, and the local community.

Roger Tory Peterson Institute, $20,374

The Roger Tory Peterson Institute will purchase equipment to enhance preservation and access to the approximately 80 framed works of art in its collection. The Institute holds the largest collection of works by the artist-naturalist and creator of the well-known Peterson Field Guides. Informed by a 2022 Collections Assessment for Preservation (CAP) report, museum staff will purchase and install powder-coated cabinets and wall-mounted screens to store its framed artwork collection. Staff will also take the opportunity to photograph and complete condition reports for each piece as it is being rehoused. The project will result in improved preservation and access to the framed art in the collection and the creation of more functional space for collection care support activities.

Underground Railroad Education Center, $33,453

The Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region will develop a Museum Studies Teen Program for junior and high school students. The organization will offer a comprehensive out-of-school program to prepare students from low-income and/or marginalized backgrounds for a career in the museum field. Staff will hire a full-time Program Manager, initiate partnerships for mentorship, develop curriculum with input from external consultants, and recruit program participants. The project will result in a ready-to-implement plan that can be shared with other small museums wishing to replicate the program at their institutions. The project will increase organizational capacity, engage community youth, and help diversify the museum workforce, benefiting student participants and the museum field as a whole.

Learn more about IMLS Inspire! Grants for Small Museums: https://www.imls.gov/news/imls-awards-332m-grant-funding-through-inspire-grants-small-museums 

Located at the center of Niagara University campus is the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, a free admission university museum with a world-class collection of over 5,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and photographs. The collection encompasses a broad range of contemporary art movements from the 19^th century onwards; the most comprehensive collection of Niagara Falls prints in the world, including its oldest ever depiction; and works by local folk and traditional artists. 

In addition to permanent and temporary exhibitions, the museum also curates traveling exhibitions, including “Old/New Threads,” which will begin traveling in Spring 2025. We spoke with Edward Millar, Castellani Art Museum’s Curator of Folk Arts, to learn more about the museum's history and future of traveling exhibitions.

 Installation photo of "Old/New Threads". 2024. Courtesy Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University.

Why travel exhibitions?

Museums often develop traveling exhibitions to enhance their mission, outreach, and operational goals, as well as the ability to share their unique resources and collections. Partnering with another museum or organization to bring in a traveling exhibition, especially a high-profile exhibition, can increase attendance or attract a more diverse audience.

Before the pandemic, the Castellani Art Museum had a robust traveling exhibition program which toured exhibitions nationally and internationally, developed by Michael Beam, Curator of Exhibitions and Special Projects. “We predominantly created these traveling exhibitions from our collection, which worked for us as a mid-sized university art museum,” said Millar. “The exhibitions attracted a large audience and increased awareness for the museum…but then the pandemic happened.” Like many New York museums during the pandemic, the museum was forced to reduce staff, pausing current traveling exhibitions and their future development.

During the pandemic pause, the museum took it as an opportunity to reflect on and strategize its traveling exhibition program. “We wanted to better understand the traveling exhibition market. What kind of exhibitions are museums looking to host? Should we focus on thematic exhibitions or artist retrospectives? We want to create something museums will be interested in bringing into their communities and telling a story utilizing our collections while being conscious of the challenges of adapting exhibitions for travel and the need to build our museum capacity to achieve this.”

Now in 2024, the museum is back to capacity and rebuilding its traveling exhibition program, with its newest offering, “Old/New Threads”, ready for travel in Spring 2025.

Beginning of a tour of the "Old/New Threads" exhibition, with garlands made by Kaushila Biswa (originally from Bhutan) hanging over the entryway. 2024. Courtesy Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University.

Stitch Buffalo Partnership 

“Old/New Threads” is a collaboration between the museum and Stitch Buffalo, a textile art center in Buffalo committed to empowering refugee and immigrant women, environmental stewardship, and community education. The exhibition highlights the intersection of art, economy, and community and features over 14 local artists and 73 traditional and contemporary artworks—encompassing Afghan, Karen, Pakistani, Bhutanese Nepali, and other textile traditions.

Millar first connected with Stitch Buffalo in 2015, about a year after the group was founded. At the time, Stitch Buffalo was hosting monthly meet-ups at a local hall on the West Side of Buffalo, which was a well-known gathering space for Buffalo’s refugee community. Since then, Stitch Buffalo has grown into one of Buffalo’s major arts and cultural organizations, and recently relocated in Spring 2024 to a brand-new, expanded physical location (their second since 2017) that includes a storefront, community class space, work areas, textile donation room, and more.

For the Castellani Art Museum, grassroots organizations like Stitch Buffalo help fill an important gap in the support network for local refugee and immigrant women. “Stich Buffalo has been an important organization in Western New York [for years] but we never necessarily had [found] a project to work on together. When the pandemic happened, we started to think about the bigger picture in terms of what kind of stories we can help share that are maybe beyond one specific tradition. We connected with Dawne Hoeg (Founder and Executive Director of Stitch Buffalo) in 2020 about the possibility of developing an exhibition together.”

One of the exhibition's goals is to tell the story of Stitch Buffalo and its community of artists, and their impact on the fiber arts and refugee communities. “It’s been amazing to see Stitch Buffalo grow over the past decade. We want to share their story with a wider audience to not only help support what they do but help them grow by connecting them with new markets and people across New York and beyond through this traveling exhibition partnership.”

Hkwang Lung (l) and Munawara Sultana (r) at Stitch Buffalo. 2022. Courtesy Michael Mandolfo.

The Exhibition 

“Old/New Threads” explores how textile arts can be a medium for artistic expression, economic empowerment, and community building through the artists and story of Stitch. “Interpretive content for the exhibition came from interviewing the artists at Stitch Buffalo,” said Millar. “From talking about their work and how they’ve created additional income for their families and a community of women with shared interests but different cultural backgrounds. It’s a space where they can participate and share what’s going on in their lives and their art.” 

To develop the exhibition, the Castellani Art Museum was awarded an Inspire! Grant for Small Museums from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and a Mid Atlantic Arts Folk and Traditional Arts Community Projects Grant. The museum also receives support from the New York State Council on the Arts.

The exhibition is organized into three main areas reflecting its major themes: artistic expression, economic empowerment, and community building. By exploring artworks like a Karen woven shirt or a knit cap with shisha embroidery, viewers can learn about how traditional and contemporary fiber art can express cultural heritage. Through interpretive paneling about Stitch Buffalo as an organization, visitors can learn about how the sale of artwork is a form of economic empowerment for community members. Direct quotes from artists and artist profiles demonstrate how textiles bring together members of a multitude of refugee communities in the area into a shared community—or, as artist Munawara Sultana put it—a “family…a second home”. 

Stitched Stories, like this new one made by Hkwang Lung in 2024, were one of the earliest initiatives of Stitch Buffalo, providing an opportunity for refugee women to create works that express and share memories of home. 2024. Courtesy Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University.

Exhibition Specifications

The traveling exhibition recommends 100 feet of running wall space, salon-style, although 150 feet is preferred. There are ten 24” x 36” interpretive panels, ten 11” x 17” panels, and two 24” x 17” panels on Sintra board. Digital copies of interpretive materials are provided as part of the exhibition rental, and 50 physical copies of a 6-page trifold, full-color brochure are also provided (in addition to a QR code link to the digital copy of the catalog). Host sites must provide a certificate of insurance. The exhibition period is 12 to 20 weeks, with the first opening in Spring 2025.

“It’s great that the material items in this traveling exhibition are textiles, which makes it a bit easier because they can ship flat,” said Millar. Another consideration for the panels was to decide on what type of corners, sharp edges or rounded. “We ended up getting them rounded for use and longevity. There’s a lot to consider when designing an exhibition that will travel [in this case] even with displaying the prayer pouches. Early on, we reviewed a lot of different suggestions but ended up going with embroidery hoops, which fit the exhibition theme and is also portable.”

The rental fee is a sliding scale, based on the organizational budget size of the host site to accommodate institutions of varying resources. The weekly rental fee for an organization with an annual budget of less than $500,000 will be $200. Organizations with a budget size between $500,001 to $2,000,000 is $300 per week, and $2,000,001 and higher is $400 per week. The museum hopes to travel this exhibition throughout at three or four host sites annually.

“What we hope to accomplish with “Old/New Threads” is to spread the word about Stitch Buffalo and the type of support they’ve been able to provide for their community over the years,” said Millar. “We want to highlight their massive impact and encourage people to pick up a skill they may have seen their parents or grandparents do regarding sewing or creating things and thinking that artistry is not necessarily just paintings. [Traditional] textile and fiber arts are sometimes seen only as crafts or functional items. Those who make traditional clothing might not be seen as an artist. However, a big part of this exhibition is recognizing that a lot of artistry is involved with [traditional] textile and fiber arts, and…it’s an art that you often learn to make based on your culture or from your family.”

The museum wants this exhibition to spark interest where it travels, in either supporting or developing grassroots initiatives like Stitch Buffalo who have had such a positive impact on their community’s quality of life. “We want to encourage them to see how an organization like Stitch Buffalo grows into a larger organization and how it provides more opportunities for members in its community,” said Millar. “And if there isn’t a local organization in your community like Stitch Buffalo, what would it look like to create one? That’s something we would love to see… having institutions reach out and work with their communities.” Millar also wants host sites to encourage members of their community to interpret the textile art, or include their own textile art and traditions in supplement to the traveling exhibition.

“Ultimately, we hope that this traveling exhibition can help support these women in their community and organization, and give them a platform where others can recognize their work and dedication to creating each work.”

 

Learn more about “Old/New Threads” and View its Travel Prospectus & Fee Schedule: https://castellaniartmuseum.org/exhibitions/oldnew-threads