From the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, Washington, DC

For Immediate Release, July 17, 2001
IMLS Press Contacts:  202-606-8339
Eileen Maxwell:  [log in to unmask]
Mamie Bittner:  [log in to unmask]

Museums Receive Over $1 Million to Work with Neighbors:
Museums and Community Organizations Solve Local Problems Together

Washington, D.C.-The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the
Federal agency that lends support to the nation's museums and libraries,
awarded over $1million ($1,170,086) today to museums to partner with
community organizations to address pressing local issues.  The awards are
being matched with an additional $762,139 from the recipients.

"Museums have enormous potential to educate our communities and to help them
prosper, as well as entertain them," said Beverly Sheppard, Acting Director
of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.  "The grants we make today
demonstrate that museums are working in smarter and better ways with their
communities to unleash that potential."

Several of today's grant recipients are inviting area teachers to build
curricula-based education programs using their museum's artifacts.  Others
are working with local leaders to define and solve their community's
deficits--one such collaboration is leading to the creation of a much-needed
park.  Another collaboration involves all generations of the community.
This grant, in Talequah, Oklahoma, will help the Cherokee Nation artisans
pass on their skills to younger generations.  In turn, the artisans will
learn basic business and marketing skills from the Chamber of Commerce to
become commercially successful.  For a list of museums funded in your state,
please see below.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awards National Leadership
Grants to Museums to enhance the quality of museum services nationwide.
Winning projects provide creative solutions to issues of national importance
and provide leadership models for other organizations to emulate.

There are four categories of funding through IMLS' National Leadership
Grants for Museums.  Today's recipients are funded through the Museums in
the Community category.  Museums in the Community grants support innovative
partnerships between museums and community-based organizations.  These
collaborations harness the combined strengths and ideas of the partners to
address pressing community issues.  Past award winners have transformed
their community in a variety of ways: revitalizing a town as a cultural
center, studying the healing effects of museums on patients of mental
illnesses, and creating a virtual exhibit celebrating local history.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS):  IMLS is an
independent Federal agency that fosters leadership, innovation and a
lifetime of learning by supporting the nation's museums and libraries.
Created by the Museum and Library Services Act of 1996, P.L. 104-208, IMLS
has an annual budget of  $230 million. There are 122,000 libraries and
10,000 museum sites in the United States and its Territories.  For more
information, and grant applications, contact:  IMLS, 1100 Pennsylvania
Avenue NW, Washington, DC  20506,  202-606-8536,  www.imls.gov.

2001 NATIONAL LEADERSHIP GRANTS, MUSEUMS IN THE COMMUNITY AWARDS


Portland Museum, Louisville, KY: $232,849

The Portland Museum with Louisville Metro Parks will partner with the
Shawnee High School to create a new park, the Portland Wharf.  In creating
this park, the students, the museum, and the parks department will develop
prototype interpretive plans and education programs, forge a management plan
for the park and related resources, apply concepts of cultural tourism
management, and seek ways to weave the park into its neighborhood context.


Albany Institute of History and Art,Albany, NY: $162,821

The Albany Institute of History and Art in partnership with the City School
District of Albany will create the Center for Museum Learning, a
coordinating body to increase the use of museum resources in school
curricula.  The Center, housed at the Albany Institute with satellite
centers at area schools and museums, will create a clearinghouse of
object-based museum school curricula, ongoing professional development for
educators, research in object based teaching/learning, compilations of
museum resources from several museums and historic sites in the area, and
use of distance learning technologies (on-line resource and
videoconferencing).


Buffalo Museum of Science,Buffalo, NY: $247,300

The Buffalo Museum of Science, the Dr. Charles Drew Science Magnet School,
The King Center Charter School, First Hand Learning, and the University of
Buffalo's Center for Applied Technology in Education are pooling their
resources to create an integrated science learning experience for kids,
their schools, and their families in the inner city of Buffalo, NY.  The
project will create activity spaces in the museum and museum galleries
integrated with the school science curriculum, out-of-school activities
including reading hours and library loans of topical books, and family
memberships to the museum.


Cherokee National Heritage Society, Tahlequah, OK: $182,442

The Cherokee National Heritage Society in cooperation with the Tahlequah
Chamber of Commerce, the Stillwell Chamber of Commerce, the Cherokee Nation,
and the Eastern Oklahoma Development District will help traditional artisans
teach their skills to younger generations, and will document this teaching
process on film and video to preserve the techniques.  The collaborative
will also provide basic training in business and marketing, including
e-commerce, to 100 traditional artisans in both 2001 and 2002 in order to
raise their standard of living by helping the artisans successfully sell
their art.


Children's Museum of Houston, Houston, TX: $102,111

The Children's Museum of Houston in partnership with Technology for
All-Houston, Rice University's Center for Technology in Teaching and
Learning, and ten community learning centers will develop learning kits for
young children.  These kits will feature 15 hands-on learning activities
that work with curriculum-based software and selected resources on the
Internet to teach math-related concepts.  Mentoring will also be provided to
help the staff at the community learning centers to be better able to
utilize these new resources.


Pacific Science Center, Seattle, WA: $242,563

The Pacific Science Center, in collaboration with the School's Out
Consortium, will bring science enrichment to underserved youth populations
through a professional development program for out-of-school providers.
This will be accomplished through a combination of development of science
kits that can be loaned, providing technical assistance to community science
education providers, and linking these out-of-school providers with the
resources at the Pacific Science Center to discuss teaching strategies and
activities.

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