FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2006

Press Contact
202-653-4632
Eileen Maxwell, emaxwell@imls.gov
Mamie Bittner, mbittner@imls.gov

IMLS Accepting Applications for Native American/Native Hawaiian
Museum Services Grants
New application deadline is April 1, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC--The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is accepting grant applications from Native American tribes, Alaska Native villages, regional and village corporations, and non-profit organizations that serve primarily Native Hawaiians, to support museum activities. These activities will enhance learning in families and communities, sustain cultural heritage, build 21st-century skills, or encourage civic engagement. The application deadline this year is April 1, 2006. Downloadable guidelines and fill-in forms are available on the IMLS Web site.

The range of grant funding has increased over last year to $5,000 - $50,000 and is available under the following three categories:

• Programming - services and activities that support the educational mission of museums and museum-related organizations including exhibits, research and interpretation, and educational resources.
• Professional Development - education or training that builds skills, knowledge, or other professional capacity for individuals who provide or manage museum services activities. Individuals can be paid or volunteer and involved with museum services either currently or in the future.
• Enhancement of Museum Services - support for activities that enable and improve museum services including, but not limited to, technology, access, and strategic planning.

In FY 2005 IMLS funded 45 grant projects. Examples of the projects funded include:

$20,000 for the Barona Band of Mission Indians Cultural Center and Museum in Lakeside, California to select objects and photographs from its collection and conduct oral history interviews with tribal elders to create an exhibit commemorating the 75th anniversary of the reservation’s founding. A traveling version of this exhibit will also be developed and installed at institutions throughout the San Diego area such as libraries, civic centers, and other museums.

$19,748 to the Comanche Indian Tribe in Lawton, Oklahoma to host a series of training workshops promoting the development of Native American museum workers, primarily from the southwest Oklahoma region. Topics for sessions include museum management and operations, collections and archives development, museum education and interpretation, exhibition development, museum funding operations, and board development.

$19,602 to the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Harbor Springs, Michigan, to implement Past Perfect, a collections management software program that will increase the efficiency of artifact accessioning and tracking. The grant will help create and maintain a virtual museum using digital images of objects from the department. This virtual museum, available on the tribe's Web site, will make the collections more accessible to community members as well as the public.

Click here for descriptions of all grant projects funded last year.