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.

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.