FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2006

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

Institute of Museum and Library Services Announces $16.9 million for
Museums for America

Nation’s Largest Federal Funding Program for Museums Will Strengthen 177
Museums from Art to Zoo, Across America

Washington, DC—Dr. Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, today announced the 2006 Museums for America recipients, the nation’s largest federal funding program for museums. Museums of all types from art to zoo, 177 in all, will share $16,955,577. The recipients will match the federal funds with an additional $29,774,193. Four hundred and forty-eight museums nationwide—urban and rural, large and small—competed for grants, requesting over $41.7 million.
Click here for a contact list of the recipients organized by state with descriptions of their grant projects.

“Museums for America will help strengthen museum service in communities across the United States,” said Radice. “These awards will support hundreds of hands-on educational programs, the digitization of thousands of objects in museum collections, and exciting ventures using new technology. Museums will use these funds to advance community partnerships; spur cultural tourism; and support classroom teachers with educational curriculum, training and much more.”

Museums request funding to support lifelong learning, sustain cultural heritage, or serve as centers of community engagement. Museums for America grants help museums serve the public more effectively by supporting high priority activities that advance the organization's mission and strategic goals. Some examples of how the 2006 Museums for America recipients will use the grants include:

Support Lifelong Learning
Mount Independence Historic Site, Vermont Division for Historic Preservation
Orwell, Vermont
Discovering Mount Independence: Trail Interpretive Signage is a project to create and install interpretive signage on the 1¼-mile trail to be constructed in the fall of 2006 at the Mount Independence State Historic Site. Project activities will include research on the historic, archaeological, and natural features to be highlighted in the signs; text writing; and graphic design. The signage and new trail will be promoted through press releases and announcements, and celebrated at the June 2007 trail opening. A series of guided hikes will be offered, as well as a special outdoor program for school field trips. The signage will complement the story of this Revolutionary War site as told in the state-of-the-art visitor center.

Sustain Cultural Heritage
Minneapolis Institute of Art
The Minneapolis Institute of Art is a national leader in education and is known for developing accessible educational programming related to its Asian collection. It will increase public access to its collection of Miao textiles—one of the largest of its kind in the United States. The museum will digitize each of the 1,100 objects, develop accompanying contextual information, and incorporate each into its collections management system. It will develop an online unit with additional context regarding the Miao people and the creation of their unique textiles. This unit will be available through the museum’s website and through an interactive learning station in the gallery, and will be added to an interactive DVD.

Serve as Center of Community Engagement
Catawba Science Center
Hickory, North Carolina
The Catawba Science Center (CSC) will develop the Inventor's Lab, one of the first elements of its Touch the Future capital expansion. The 1,300-square-foot lab will support several experiential modes: structured group visits, facilitated activities, unstructured casual visits, and science demonstrations and shows. It will provide the context for open-ended, inquiry-driven science activities and demonstrations facilitated by middle and high school science students from CSC's innovative STEP program, whose participants represent the racial and economic diversity of the greater Hickory community. Lab activities will extend beyond CSC's walls as outreach presentations in underserved areas of Hickory and Catawba County. A primary goal is to use the lab as the context for engaging an increasingly diverse audience.

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. Its mission is to grow and sustain a “Nation of Learners” because life-long learning is essential to a democratic society and individual success. Through its grant making, convenings, research and publications, the Institute empowers museums and libraries nationwide to provide leadership and services to enhance learning in families and communities, sustain cultural heritage, build twenty-first-century skills, and increase civic participation. To learn more about the Institute, please visit: http://www.imls.gov.