For Immediate Release
November 28, 2000

Press Contacts:  202-606-8339
Eileen Maxwell: [log in to unmask]
Mamie Bittner: [log in to unmask]

Three Outstanding Museums
to be Honored with Award at White House

Washington, DC-  On December 20, three museums, the Albright-Knox Art
Gallery in Buffalo, New York, the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological
Repository in Kodiak, Alaska, and the Youth Museum of  Southern West
Virginia in Beckley, West Virginia will join only 19 others nationwide that
have received the prestigious Institute of Museum and Library Services
(IMLS) National Award for Museum Service presented by First Lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton.

The award winners are as diverse as the cultural landscape of the country:
small and large, urban and rural, art, history and science.  They have one
thing in common: they have each found innovative ways to make serving the
community central to their mission.  They use their collections, programs
and exhibitions to address real community needs: economic, educational or
environmental.

"This national honor is a tribute to the power of museums to engage
children, families, and communities, in towns and in cities all across
America," noted the First Lady. 

"Since the award's inception in 1994, the National Museum Services Board has
played a critical role in developing criteria and reviewing nominations."
noted Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Chairperson of the National Museum Services
Board.  "I am proud of all the recipients, and particularly congratulate the
museums we honor this year.  They are shining examples of what is possible
as we enter the 21st Century."
 
"This award is the only national recognition of the extraordinary public
service role museums play in our communities," said Beverly Sheppard, IMLS
Acting Director.  "Each of these museums has an inspiring story to tell."
 
The Albright-Knox Art Gallery
The Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York enjoys an international
reputation for its outstanding collection of modern and contemporary art.
But the museum is not content to rest on its laurels.  Through innovative
programming and community partnerships the Gallery is promoting economic
development in the region and also heightening its service for inner-city
children and families in Buffalo:

The Gallery has specifically sought to ensure that minority and low-income
students and their families are benefiting from its collections.  ARTStart,
currently in its fifth year, provides art programs for approximately 4,000
inner-city school children at ten community sites throughout Buffalo.
ARTStart encourages self-awareness and self-confidence in "at risk" youth
through two components, Art Attack! and Looking and Learning.  Art Attack!
offers neighborhood after-school workshops and summer sessions with hands-on
instruction, and field trips to the museum. Looking and Learning brings
every third grade student in Buffalo Public Schools to the Albright-Knox Art
Gallery for a guided tour.  Teachers are provided with pre- and post-visit
materials to prepare their classes for the tour and to follow-up with their
students after the visit.  Over the years ARTStart has been funded through
the generous support of seven companies and two foundations.

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery spearheaded The Summer of Monet campaign, a
major collaborative effort that capitalized on the influx of tourists to
Buffalo for the Gallery's special exhibition, Monet at Giverny:
Masterpieces from the Musée Marmottan. The Gallery brought together leaders
from area businesses, foundations, tourism agencies, and New York State.
Through a cultural events brochure and an advertising campaign promoting
hotel/cultural packages, 70 not-for-profit cultural organizations showcased
their activities in Erie and Niagara Counties. A survey and analysis of the
campaign estimated the economic impact on the City of Buffalo at $11.3
million from visitors outside the area.

"The Albright-Knox Art Gallery is honored by this tribute from the Institute
of Museum and Library Services," said Gallery Director Douglas G. Schultz.
"Their recognition that our outreach programs and partnerships have had an
impact on Buffalo and Western New York's cultural community is extremely
gratifying."

Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository
Located on the mountainous coast of Kodiak Island, Alaska, accessible only
by plane or boat, the Museum is dedicated to serving the Alutiit, a Native
Alaskan people.  The Alutiit, whose culture dates back more than 7,500
years, are Kodiak's original residents.  In 1987, the Kodiak Area Native
Association's (KANA) Culture and Heritage program resolved that the
exploration and celebration of Alutiiq heritage was essential to the health
of Alutiiq communities.  In 1993, the dream of developing a state-of-the-art
repository and regional research facility to promote awareness of Alutiiq
history, language, and arts was realized when KANA received a $1.5 million
grant from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. The Museum is
governed by the Alutiiq Heritage Foundation which represents eight tribal
organizations. The Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository enriches
their communities through innovative educational programs:

Kodiak is home to some of Alaska's richest archaeological resources.  For
the Alutiit, Kodiak's archaeological record is a store of cultural
information available from no other source.  Community Archaeology, an
annual investigation of prehistoric archaeological sites, engages the entire
Kodiak community in the exploration of Native heritage and the preservation
of threatened archaeological sites.  Museum archaeologists, staff, and
trained volunteers excavate, catalog, and share the results at local
presentations, statewide professional meetings, and gallery displays.  Since
the summer of 1997, 180 participants have given 5,000 hours of their time to
the project.

Today, fewer than 500 speak fluent Alutiiq, one of six Eskimo languages. A
central goal of the Alutiiq Museum has been to revitalize the language.  In
1998, the Alutiiq Museum teamed with their local public radio station (KMXT)
to create the Alutiiq Word of the Week, a program of cultural lessons that
share Alutiiq language and traditions through weekly radio broadcasts. The
enormous popularity of the program is evidenced by its growth. It now
includes a weekly column in the Kodiak Daily Mirror, a paperback volume of
the first 52 lessons, downloadable audio lessons on the Museum's website
<http://www.alutiiqmuseum.com/wordsofweektext/48sealion.htm>, and weekly fax
and email broadcasts.  The Alutiiq Word of the Week program reaches
thousands of households across Alaska, the United States, and every school
in the Kodiak Archipelago.

A major challenge in serving the greater Kodiak community has been finding
ways to link the Alutiiq Museum with the nine remote villages in its region.
In 1997 the Museum teamed up with the Kodiak Island Borough School District
(KIBSD) to produce an annual art show of student work at the public school
in each village.  Students submit works with a Native Alaskan theme,
complete loan agreements with the museum, and write short statements about
each work.  KIBSD promotes the show in the schools and ships the artwork to
the Alutiiq Museum. The Museum mounts and advertises the exhibit, collects
donations of art supplies from local businesses for prizes, juries the show,
produces a catalogue that is distributed to each school, and creates a page
for the show on the Museum's website
<http://www.alutiiqmuseum.com/RSAS.htm>. The exhibit encourages young
artists to explore, maintain, and interpret the creative traditions of their
ancestors.  Through the collaboration, the Museum has expanded its rural
audience, formed working relationships with teachers, and established itself
as a source for young people to explore Native culture.

"We are proud to be recognized for these achievements and hope that our
collaborative programming will serve as a model for other organizations
seeking to promote cultural awareness," said Sven Haakanson, Jr., Executive
Director of the Museum.  "Since the Museum's founding, the Alutiit of Kodiak
have begun to truly recognize the power of their heritage.  It is the
Museum's honor to be selected for this award, as it recognizes the
importance of heritage exploration and honors our goals of sharing,
promoting, and teaching the Alutiiq culture.  Thanks to the tireless efforts
of our community, Alutiiq traditions will continue to shine brightly."

Youth Museum of Southern West Virginia
The Youth Museum of Southern West Virginia is situated in the rugged
mountains of Beckley in an area that is rural, poor, and isolated.  The
Youth Museum serves children from eleven rural counties with a total
population of 300,000.  The Youth Museum works closely with regional school
boards, local businesses, and other area agencies to ensure that culture,
art, and a sense of history and identity are part of the growth and
development of the children of southern West Virginia. The Museum's programs
use education, art, and creativity as significant resources for preventing
failure and providing positive opportunities for at-risk youth:

For such a small state, West Virginia has produced an extraordinary number
of talented writers. Conversely, according to a U.S. Department of Education
study, 17 percent of West Virginia adults have significant difficulty with
literacy tasks related to everyday life. A goal of the Youth Museum is to
make West Virginians aware of their rich heritage of native authors while
increasing their literacy skills.  In partnership with county and state
reading specialists, librarians, teachers, writers, students and a West
Virginia scholar, the Youth Museum developed Page After Page, an exhibition
focusing on West Virginian authors of children's literature. Authors sent
copies of their works and poignant letters on what being a West Virginia
writer meant to them. So far, Page After Page has been presented in five
towns and viewed by over 15,000 West Virginians.  Gallery guides and
teaching supplements augment the experience.  Page After Page challenges and
stimulates young readers while instilling a sense of pride in their strong
literary heritage.  

In 1998, the Raleigh County Board of Education asked the Youth Museum to
help develop a pilot Transition to School project for 103 special needs
preschoolers.  Museum staff members worked with professional preschool staff
to create two free sessions per semester at the Museum for the special needs
children and their families.  Educational materials and hands-on museum
activities were designed for special needs children.  Evaluations by school
counselors and special education teachers were so well received that the
Transition to School project continued throughout 1999 funded by the West
Virginia State Board of Education. The Youth Museum's Transition to School
program provided the area's special needs preschoolers and their families
educational and social opportunities that they would not otherwise enjoy.
Many of the families have become regular visitors to the Museum for
afternoons of fun, learning, and sharing with their new friends.

Recognizing that education, art, and creativity are significant resources
for preventing failure and increasing positive opportunity, the Youth Museum
developed an Artist-in-Residence Program for the area school districts.  The
Youth Museum partners professional artists with more than 30 schools.  The
artists visit the classrooms and work directly with the students. A
curriculum of the artist's talents is sent to teachers before the visit as
well as prepared classroom activities.  The program has introduced thousands
to the thrill of live theater, native arts-and-crafts, dance, storytelling,
and traditional Appalachian music.  The Youth Museum's Artist-in-Residence
School Program has been duplicated in school districts throughout West
Virginia and has served over 20,000 children.  

"We work very hard, with a very small staff and it is gratifying when that
effort is recognized," said Youth Museum Director Sandi Parker.  "It is
validation that one small museum and its activities can make a difference.
The Youth Museum is proud to receive this award on behalf of our community
and our collaborating partners."

The National Award for Museum Service

The National Award for Museum Service was established in 1994 to recognize a
national trend among museums.  Today's museums are taking significant steps
to make the communities they serve as central to their mission as their
collections and exhibitions have always been.

All types of museums, from anthropological to zoological, fine art to folk
art, urban and rural, large and small are nominated for the National Award
for Museum Service.  Nominations are evaluated by the National Museum
Services Board, an advisory panel of presidentially-appointed and
Senate-confirmed members.  As the policy advisory body of the federal IMLS,
the Board makes recommendations to the Director. 

The National Award for Museum Service nomination deadline for 2001 is
January 8, 2001.  The postmark deadline for application materials is
February 15, 2001.  Nomination procedures and form can be found at:
http://www.imls.gov/grants/museum/mus_nams.asp
 
The Institute of Museum and Library Services 

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
administers the Library Services and Technology Act and the Museum Services
Act. IMLS has an annual budget of approximately $190 million.   IMLS
receives policy advice from two Presidentially-appointed and
Senate-confirmed entities: the National Commission on Libraries and
Information Science and the National Museum Services Board.  For more
information contact: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 1100
Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC, 20506, (202) 606-8536, or visit
www.imls.gov.



Eileen Maxwell
Public Affairs Specialist
Institute of Museum and Library Services
1100 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Suite 510
Washington, DC  20506
202-606-8339
202-606-8591 (fax)
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