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. ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).