Museum Grants For
African American History and Culture
July 2009 Grant Announcement
Florida | Maryland | Mississippi | Missouri | New
York | North
Carolina | Ohio
South
Carolina | Tennessee | Washington
Florida
The Black Archives History and Research
Foundation - Miami, FL
Award Amount: $149,549; Matching Amount: $239,457
Contact: Ms. Elizabeth Williams
Executive Director
305-636-2317
Project Title: "Preserving South Florida's
Black Archives"
This grant award will create a greater role for The Black
Archives History & Research Foundation to effectively
interpret the rich tapestry of African American history
in the South Florida region. IMLS funds will be used to
hire an assistant archivist/collections manager and purchase
equipment and supplies to inventory and accession the
collection, which includes primary source materials, personal
and professional papers, oral histories, photographs,
billboards, and African American art. Students from nearby
universities will be introduced to the museum profession
through the creation of an internship program that will
focus on collections management. Professional development
opportunities will be provided for current staff members
and an executive assistant will be hired to enhance the
public impact of the foundation’s Historic Lyric Theater,
allowing more time for the executive director to plan
for the future of this growing organization.
Maryland
Maryland African American Museum Corporation
(Reginald F. Lewis Museum) - Baltimore, MD
Award Amount: $82,258; Matching Amount: $112,039
Contact: Ms. Cherrie Woods
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
443-263-1812
Project Title: "Audiences, Capacities, and
Awareness Initiative (ACAI)"
Guided by a recently completed strategic planning process,
the Reginald F. Lewis Museum will strengthen future operations
by hiring a consultant to conduct a needs assessment and
introduce its staff to 21st-century skills and best practices
in audience development, communication, and engagement.
The project would also support the purchase of equipment
and software to implement newly acquired skills, resulting
in the development of a two-year audience development
plan for the institution and revisions to the museum’s
Web site. The Audiences, Capacities, and Awareness Initiative
(ACAI) will allow the museum to successfully pursue its
mission and better serve its public by accurately identifying
its audience and more fully understanding its needs.
Living Classrooms Foundation - Baltimore,
MD
Award Amount: $21,535; Matching Amount: $27,083
Contact: Dr. Dianne Swann-Wright
Curator and Director
410-685-0295
Project Title: "Summer Internship/Staff
Development"
The Living Classrooms Foundation's Frederick Douglass-Isaac
Myers Maritime Park will nurture two future museum professionals
by establishing a paid summer internship program that
will provide academic credit for students and strengthen
partnerships between the museum and local universities.
Interns will assist with the development of a three-year
temporary exhibit plan as well as research to support
the overall interpretation of this maritime history site
of the first African American-owned shipyard in the United
States. Funds will support student stipends and the necessary
supplies and materials to support their work. The project
will also provide new opportunities for staff members
to expand their professional knowledge and skills by attending
conferences and continuing education workshops.
Mississippi
B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive
Center - Indianola, MS
Award Amount: $144,561; Matching Amount: $190,212
Contact: Mrs. Ann Shackelford
Communications Director
662-887-9539 ext. 229
Project Title: "B.B. King Museum Capacity
Building"
The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center opened
to the public in 2008, with a commitment to improving
the knowledge, skills, and abilities of its staff and
the development of sustainable programs and services.
IMLS funds will support substantive professional training
and development for key members of this young institution’s
staff through participation in national conferences, a
series of management seminars, and enrollment in the Jekyll
Island Management Institute. The project also includes
hiring a volunteer coordinator to increase volunteer involvement
in all areas of museum operations, build the docent program,
and initiate an internship program. The museum staff and
board will also work with a strategic planning consultant
to focus attention on future goals and programming that
will create lasting connections to its community.
Missouri
American Jazz Museum - Kansas City, MO
Award Amount: $40,009; Matching Amount: $50,261
Contact: Ms. Dina Bennett
Manager, Collections/Exhibitions
816-474-8463
Project Title: "John Baker Film Collection
Internship Program"
The American Jazz Museum will recruit ten undergraduate
and graduate college students over a two-year period to
launch a pilot internship program to catalog the John
Baker Film Collection—one of the largest collections of
jazz film in existence. Under the guidance of staff and
expert consultants, interns will be introduced to museum
work while learning best practices of film research and
categorizing and gaining skills in the technical work
of inspecting and cataloging these rare resources. The
students will also research content and write detailed
descriptions of films in the collection for use in the
museum’s permanent exhibitions, Web site, educational
programming, and the development of a film collection
box set intended to generate revenue to sustain the program
in the future. Museum staff will carefully select interns
with specific qualifications based on prior coursework
and technical skills.
New York
Society for the Preservation of Weeksville
and Bedford-Stuyvesant History - Brooklyn, NY
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount: $181,733
Contact: Ms. Jessica MacLean
Collections Manager
718-756-5250
Project Title: "Preservation and Education
Capacity Project"
In preparation for the opening of its new Education and
Cultural Arts Building in 2011, the Weeksville Heritage
Center will promote from within to establish a new department
and the new position of director of preservation and collections.
A fully functioning department of Preservation and Collections
will result in a greater focus on historic preservation,
collections, and preservation education for the community
while dramatically increasing the use of objects and artifacts
in the interpretation of this site—one of the first free
African American communities in the nation. IMLS funds
will also support graduate education courses for the senior
education programs curator at Bank Street College.
North Carolina
Afro-American Cultural Center - Charlotte,
NC
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching Amount: $258,000
Contact: Ms. Carolyn Mints
Interim President/CEO
704-374-1565 ext. 32
Project Title: "Gantt Center Capacity Building
and Organizational Enhancement (GaCCBOE - 'gazebo')"
The Afro-American Cultural Center will build institutional
capacity by upgrading its current infrastructure as it
transitions to a new facility in downtown Charlotte. The
new facility will be known as the Harvey B. Gantt Center
for African-American Arts and Culture. Current staff members
will be afforded the opportunity to participate in skill-building
professional development programs. The museum will create
the new positions of staff curator/collections manager
and director of operations/facilities manager to help
facilitate the move into the larger facility and implement
programs and exhibits. The services of a consulting curator
will assist with collections care and exhibition. The
ambitious project also includes the enhancement of the
museum’s Web site and the establishment of an internship
program through a new partnership with Johnson C. Smith
University to result in a digitization plan for the museum’s
collections.
Ohio
Ohio Historical Society's National Afro-American
Museum and Cultural Center - Wilberforce, OH
Award Amount: $149,478; Matching Amount: $175,273
Contact: Dr. Floyd Thomas
Sustainable Program for Managing the National Afro
800-752-2603
Project Title: "Sustainable Program for
Managing the NAAMCC Archival Collections"
Funding from IMLS will enable the National Afro-American
Museum and Cultural Center to hire a professional archivist
to provide the vital expertise that is necessary for building
organizational capacity to manage its rich archival collections.
An archival management plan will be developed and staff
members will participate in formal training in archival
processing, the development of finding aids, database
management, and digitization. With the acquisition of
these new skills and capabilities, the staff will be able
to make the museum’s extensive African American history
resources accessible to wider public and scholarly audiences.
Working closely with its parent organization, the Ohio
Historical Society, the museum will build and implement
a sustainable program for the ongoing management of its
archival collections.
South Carolina
South Carolina State University's Stanback
Museum - Orangeburg, SC
Award Amount: $147,119; Matching Amount: $147,119
Contact: Ellen Zisholtz
Museum Director
803-536-8711
Project Title: "Professional Capacity: Collections
Management"
The Stanback Museum is the only museum with a planetarium
on any HBCU campus, allowing the integration of arts,
humanities, and sciences in a single facility. The museum
will use its grant to strengthen the knowledge and skills
of the professional staff and interns in all aspects of
collections management. A registrar will be hired and
significant progress will be made on completing the accessioning
and cataloging of the collection. A consultant will be
retained to provide training and assistance with the development
of written policies and procedures, including a collections
policy and disaster plan. A highly successful internship
program will be expanded and enhanced by offering student
stipends, and interns will gain additional connections
to the museum profession by accompanying staff to the
annual meeting of the Association of African American
Museums.
Tennessee
National Civil Rights Museum - Memphis,
TN
Award Amount: $138,690; Matching Amount: $170,890
Contact: Ms. Barbara Andrews
Project Director
901-521-9699 ext. 223
Project Title: "Building For The Future"
Located at the Lorraine Motel, the assassination site
of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the National Civil Rights
Museum will use its grant award to meet the needs of a
planned renovation to serve a growing audience. IMLS funds
will support the establishment of two new positions—a
registrar to assist with the care of collections and an
education assistant to provide more resources and programming
for students, teachers, and families. The museum will
also make a significant commitment to professional development
by providing training opportunities for over 20 staff
members and actively encouraging their participation in
presentations, committees, and networking with regional
and national professional organizations. An existing internship
program with local institutions will be strengthened through
the addition of stipends, with a goal of recruiting additional
new students from LeMoyne-Owen College, Memphis’s HBCU.
Washington
Northwest African American Museum - Seattle,
WA
Award Amount: $136,801; Matching Amount: $183,525
Contact: Mr. Brian Carter
Deputy Director
206-518-6000 ext. 103
Project Title: "Strengthening and Sustaining
the Curatorial Capacity of the Northwest African American
Museum"
The Northwest African American Museum will develop and
strengthen its core curatorial capacity by hiring a curatorial
assistant to participate in the planning and execution
of upcoming exhibitions and related programming. Grant
funds will also allow current staff members to build collegial
networks by attending national conferences and enhance
their skills through participation in intensive workshops
on exhibit design and fabrication, developing institutional
and collector relationships, techniques of community-based
exhibit design, and integrating the discipline of an outcomes-based
evaluation process with exhibit and program work. The
museum will partner with the University of Washington’s
Museology Program to create an ongoing curatorial internship
program that will offer students a hands-on introduction
to African American museum practice. These interconnected
and collaborative initiatives will enhance this young
museum’s capacity to interpret the history, arts, and
culture of African Americans in the Pacific Northwest.
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