FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
August 25, 2007
Press Contacts
202-653-4632
Jeannine Mjoseth, jmjoseth@imls.gov
Mamie Bittner, mbittner@imls.gov
IMLS Supports Gulf Coast Museums with New Hurricane Relief
Awards
New Orleans, LA—On
August 25, 2007, Anne-Imelda Radice, Ph.D., Director of
the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, announced
the Hurricane Relief Awards to help Gulf Coast museums
return to normal and improve emergency services. Radice
announced the $350,000, two-part award while she was in
New Orleans attending the World Cultural Economic Forum,
a gathering of international cultural and business leaders
convened to help boost investment in the cultural economy.
“Flood waters may have receded but
museums throughout the Gulf Coast region are still recovering
from the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,”
Radice said. “The Hurricane Relief Awards go beyond
our standard grant programs in order to meet the needs
of the institutions that are still in recovery.”
The awards include a $250,000 initiative
that will fund grants up to $25,000 to institutions in
need. The Atlanta-based Southeastern Museums Conference
(SEMC) will manage distribution of funds to museums and
work closely with IMLS to establish and distribute grant
guidelines, assess grant applications, and coordinate
a reporting and evaluation process. SEMC was selected
to help manage the program because of experience and contacts
it gained while administering donation-based emergency
grants right after the 2005 hurricanes. The project design
will serve as a national model that can be used by other
regional service organizations in responding to other
disasters and emergencies.
The Hurricane Relief Awards effort also
includes a partnership between Tulane University's Amistad
Research Center and the Ashé Cultural Arts Center,
both in New Orleans, and the River Road African American
Museum in Donaldsonville, La. The organizations, which
focus on African American history, art, and culture, will
share a $100,000 grant to improve access to collections,
communicate with members, and enhance their ability to
attract new audiences. The Ashé Cultural Arts Center
and the River Road African American Museum will initiate
long term projects such as Web site development and digitization
of collections. The Amistad Center will create a virtual
exhibit to expand access to information and images from
its fine arts collection. The institutions will also seek
to strengthen their positions within the cultural tourism
industry and reach new audiences using newly designed
media marketing kits.
The Hurricane Relief Awards are part of
IMLS’s ongoing commitment to support museums and
libraries in the affected Gulf Coast region. Previous
IMLS support includes the following:
- $670,000 in financial assistance to seven museums
in Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi to improve emergency
preparedness and response. Read
more.
- $866,284 for SOLINET (Southeastern Library Network)
that created staff capacity and strengthened staff skills
in 16 public library systems in Louisiana and Mississippi
that suffered severe damage and destruction from hurricanes.
- funding the development of a team of “rapid
responders” that can be mobilized to provide emergency
assistance to museums in the wake of hurricanes, earthquakes,
and other natural and man-made disasters created by
the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation
of Historic & Artistic Works. Read
more (pdf).
- funding the development of dPlan, a free online program
to help institutions write comprehensive disaster plans
created by the Northeast Document Conservation Center
in Andover, MA. Read
more at www.dplan.org.
- funding the pilot Program for Risk Evaluation and
Planning (PREP), to help museums develop disaster plans
and create guidelines for first responders and local
emergency managers created by Heritage Preservation.
Read
more.
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About the Institute of Museum
and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary
source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000
libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission
is to create strong libraries and museums that connect
people to information and ideas. The Institute works at
the national level and in coordination with state and
local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and
knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support
professional development. To learn more about the Institute,
please visit www.imls.gov.
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