September 2008 21st Century Museum Professionals Grant Announcement

California  |  Florida  |  Massachusetts  |  New York  |  Tennessee  |  Washington  |  

California

Balboa Park Cultural Partnership - San Diego, CA
Award Amount: $500,000; Matching Amount: $773,641

Contact: Mr. David Lang
Executive Director
619-232-7502; bpcp@bpcp.org

Project Title: "Development of the Balboa Park Learning Institute"
The Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, a collaborative organization comprising 24 diverse museums and cultural institutions in San Diego, will establish the Balboa Park Learning Institute (BPLI). Over the three year project period, BPLI will design a professional development program targeted to the 2,500 professional staff members, 500 trustees, and 7,000 volunteer staff members in the park’s museums. As BPLI expands, the classes will be made available to museum colleagues and volunteers outside the park. BPLI will develop and present 66 workshops to build knowledge and skills in core museum competencies. Professional evaluation and assessment throughout the project will prioritize learning needs and refine program delivery techniques. Three symposia will also be offered, bringing together staff and volunteers from park institutions and beyond to learn about and discuss best practices in museum management and leadership.

Exploratorium - San Francisco, CA
Award Amount: $206,522; Matching Amount: $207,836

Contact: Ms. Bronwyn Bevan
Director, CILS
415-353-0453; bbevan@exploratorium.edu

Project Title: "Museums Afterschool: Principles, Data and Design (MAPDD)"
The Exploratorium will collaborate with eight other science and children’s museums, four afterschool agencies, and a research organization to produce and publish a set of design principles to guide the planning, implementation, and assessment of museum science learning activities for afterschool audiences. As museums play an increasingly larger role in the expanding field of afterschool programs, the project will provide an intensive professional development experience for 26 educational leaders from nine participating museums to create and test the incorporation of design principles at their sites. At the conclusion of the project, the Museums Afterschool: Principles, Data and Design Guidelines will be Web-published, providing tested designs, supporting data, and program descriptions that illuminate principles of evidence-based, engaging, content-rich, informal science in the afterschool environment. Through an aggressive dissemination plan, the guidelines will potentially impact museum programming for thousands of children nationally.

Florida

University of Florida - Gainesville, FL
Award Amount: $365,299; Matching Amount: $365,648

Contact: Dr. Jaret Daniels
Assistant Professor
352-273-2022; jdaniels@flmnh.ufl.edu

Project Title: "Imperiled Butterfly Conservation and Management"
The Florida Museum of Natural History will establish a broad partnership with six organizations involved with the emerging and increasingly important field of insect conservation biology. Grant funds will support intensive laboratory and field training workshops at partner institutions with established butterfly conservation and recovery programs. Professionals from natural history museums, zoos, and botanical gardens will gain an enhanced understanding and increased competenc e in butterfly conservation and recovery techniques. Participating organizations will benefit from new opportunities for collaboration. Project activities will also include Web-based resource sharing, instructional printed materials, and scientific journal papers. The cross-training program will strengthen the capacity of institutions and their staff to play a strategic role in addressing the decline in butterfly populations and the resulting threats to the environmental health of the planet.

Massachusetts

New England Aquarium - Boston, MA
Award Amount: $228,825; Matching Amount: $231,961

Contact: Mr. John Anderson
Director of Education
617-973-0256; janderson@neaq.org

Project Title: "Ocean Change Education Aquarium Network (OCEAN): Collaboration for Audience Engagement"
The New England Aquarium will coordinate a collaboration of five aquariums to provide their educators with specialized training, materials, and tools to increase public awareness of ocean change. Twelve interpreters will work in teams to develop and test a “train the trainer” model for exploring the challenging issues of sea level rise, elevated water temperatures, acidification, and resulting threats to sea life and habitat with visitors in fun, informative, and relevant ways. By the end of the three-year project, over 200 interpreters will be trained, a toolkit will be developed for use with visitors, and a model training program will be refined for adaptation by other aquariums. The partners are the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution, and the Aquarium of the Pacific in California.

USS Constitution Museum - Charlestown, MA
Award Amount: $236,676; Matching Amount: $239,421

Contact: Ms. Anne Grimes Rand
Deputy Director
617-426-1812 ext. 121; arand@ussconstitutionmuseum.org

Project Title: "Engage Families!: Encouraging Family Learning Across the Nation"
The USS Constitution Museum will share theory, techniques, resources, and best practices that have proven to be successful at engaging family audiences at history museums. The project will include two daylong “Idea Incubators,” which will feature experts in programming for family audiences and exhibit techniques to encourage family engagement; five Family Learning Across the Nation workshops; and an expansion of the familylearningforum.org Web site -- an online resource of 100 successful family programs as well as transcripts, videos, podcasts of the Idea Incubators, and links to supporting resources. Dissemination and communication plans will enable the project to reach over 1,500 museum professionals nationwide.

New York

State University of New York, Oneonta - Albany, NY
Award Amount: $238,584; Matching Amount: $246,805

Contact: Ms. Gretchen Sorin
Director and Professor of Museum Studies
607-547-2586; sorings@oneonta.edu

Project Title: "Developing Cultural Entrepreneurs"
SUNY’s Cooperstown Graduate Program will partner with the Museum Association of New York and the New York State Historical Association to create an institute to train the next generation of cultural “entrepreneurs.” Focusing on the Northeast region, participants will be selected from a wide range of museums. Coursework will be designed to spark innovation and creativity in the planning and execution of all aspects of museum work, and to refine the skills and abilities of mid-career museum staff that will prepare them for future leadership roles. The institute will use a case-study, interactive approach with leaders who have led fundamental change within their own institutions. All materials will be recorded and made available on a companion Web site that will be accessible to institute participants as well as to the field, scholars, and the public.

Tennessee

American Association for State And Local History - Nashville, TN
Award Amount: $494,041; Matching Amount: $800,819

Contact: Mr. Bob Beatty
Director of Programs
615-320-3203; beatty@aaslh.org

Project Title: "Project Management for History Professionals"
The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) will provide training for museum professionals in the fundamentals of project management -- a critical skill set for managing exhibitions -- education programs, collections-related activities, and capital projects. Working with experts from the business sector, AASLH will develop and present a series of onsite and Web-based project management workshops specifically geared to history museum professionals. The project will begin with the development of a pilot workshop, followed by a series of 11 Web-based follow-up modules for participants. Working with six regional museum associations, AASLH will then offer the program to history professionals throughout the nation, reaching 195 museum professionals. By the end of the three-year project, a full online project management course will be created and ready to offer to the field at large.

Washington

University of Washington - Seattle, WA
Award Amount: $278,141; Matching Amount: $281,420

Contact: Dr. Kristine Morrissey
Director, Museology Program
206-685-8207; morriss8@u.washington.edu

Project Title: "New Directions: Research, Service and Training in Visitor Studies"
The University of Washington’s Museology Program will partner with the Woodland Park Zoo and the Learning in Informal and Formal Environments Center to develop a model of university-community collaboration where students work with client museums to evaluate exhibits and programs under the guidance of a research mentor. Students will gain experience in museum/exhibit research and evaluation, as well as in project management, collaboration, and leadership. Staff at participating museums will advance their personal knowledge about visitors and the field of museum evaluation. The project will prepare a new generation of evaluators and museum practitioners through an innovative apprentice-styled laboratory that integrates the strengths of mentoring, fieldwork, academics, and client-centered experiences. A publication with results of studies and samples of instruments will provide guidance to other museums.