This seems a good opportunity to mention the Mars Millennium Project, a
joint undertaking of the US Department of Education, the National
Endowment for the Arts, the J. Paul Getty Trust, and NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, under the auspices of the White House Millennium
Council.  Following my signature block is a memo on the project that AAM
sent to directors of institutional members.  Please contact me if you
would like more information.  Also please note that we unaccountably
omitted to include the website of the Mars project -- so here it is:
http://www.mars2030.net.

Andy Finch
American Association of Museums
[log in to unmask]

Last month, the White House announced its premier youth initiative for
1999-2000, the Mars Millennium Project, which is being developed by the
U.S. Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Arts, the
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the J. Paul Getty Trust.  Over 100
organizations, including AAM, have signed on as national partners, and
the project has significant corporate support as well, including USA
Today and AOL.

The project asks young people to imagine a Mars settlement for 100
people in the year 2030, posing critical questions about what makes a
community function.  What will it take to survive?  What will give life
meaning?  According to the White House, "participants will use their
knowledge of history, the arts, sciences, and technology to explore
scientific, social and cultural characteristics they would export to a
new planetary environment as they design an ideal community in which
they would want to live."

The Mars Project aims to involve school and community educators working
with young people in the K-12 age groups.  An introductory poster is
being sent to every school, as well as to every art, science and math
teacher in the United States. We believe that this project offers
museums a unique opportunity to showcase their presence as educational
resources for their communities, and therefore we have arranged for all
AAM institutional members to receive this poster as well.  You can
expect to see it in the very near future.

The poster includes a return device.  Those who send it in to the Mars
Project office will receive "participation guidelines" that can be used
to design curriculum and other programs.  The guidelines will include
simple language recommending that participants contact their local
museums to explore their collections and human resources that could
relate to the Mars Project - so be ready for calls.  We believe that
with a little imagination, every museum can find a connection to the
project!

AAM would like to coordinate museum web resources for the Mars Project.
At this stage, we envision a museum gateway at the Mars home page that
would link to simple Mars-themed entries telling participants how to
utilize your  educational resources.  If your institution would like to
create such an entry, please contact Andy Finch in AAM Government
Affairs at 202-289-9125; FAX 289-6578; [log in to unmask]