The U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services has announced the fiscal year (FY) 2023 recipient of funding awards through several of its competitive grant programs.
This includes $8.4 million in National Leadership Grants for Museums and $31.5 million for the Museums for America program—including the Museums Empowered and Inspire! Grants for Small Museums.
Among the awardees are 41 projects at ASTC-member institutions for more than $8.2 million:
- National Leadership Grants for Museums
- Museums for America
- Museums Empowered: Professional Development Opportunities for Museum Staff
- Inspire! Grants for Small Museums
Applications for FY 2024 funding for these programs will open in August 2023, with an anticipated application deadline of November 15, 2023.
National Leadership Grants for Museums
National Leadership Grants for Museums support projects led by museums and related organizations that address critical needs of the museum field and that have the potential to advance practice in the profession so that museums can improve services for the American public. This year, 19 projects were selected from 48 applications, including three ASTC members:
Children’s Creativity Museum
San Francisco, California
$49,770
The Children’s Creativity Museum will address gaps in support networks for leaders of color in children’s museums, science centers, natural history museums, zoos, and aquariums through expansion of an informal cohort of museum executives from underrepresented backgrounds. Project activities will include hosting in-person meet-ups with museum professionals and allies, producing a position paper that identifies challenges and future research into these leaders’ experiences, and sharing the paper and findings with museum associations, and private and public funders. After formally establishing the network, members and potential members will have access to virtual calls an in-person events hosted concurrently with national museum association conferences. The final paper will highlight the unique challenges, opportunities, and strengths of museum leaders of color and the organizations they lead, as well as yield systemic approaches to sustaining diversity initiatives in the museum sector.
Lawrence Hall of Science
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
$49,770
The Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California Berkeley will create and test a program that integrates museum learning activities into a Spanish-Language STEM program in order to address the lack of STEM opportunities and role models for Latinx museum visitors and learners. In collaboration with the Oakland Public Library, César E. Chávez Branch, the project team will enhance an existing series of informal STEM talks by recruiting more Spanish-speaking STEM experts, providing them with individualized science communications training, and incorporating hands-on activities into the lectures. The team will gather insights and use them to make changes before creating a shareable model that provides guidance for other museums that wish to incorporate scientists and community-based partners in engagement programs.
Museum of Science
Boston, Massachusetts
$277,286
The Museum of Science, Boston in partnership with a coalition of museums and media producers will build the foundation for museums of any size to address current topics of relevance through immersive digital experiences. Project activities will include identifying best practices, developing standards, identifying effective interaction methods for experiences, and documenting strategies for sharing media and content between museums. The early work of the coalition will focus on current science, technology, engineering, and mathematics content, and the long-term intent is for the project results to be of use to museums of all types as they address other current issues. As a result, immersive digital experiences of the highest quality will be more widely available in museums across the United States.
Museums for America
Museums for America supports projects that strengthen the ability of individual museums to benefit the public by providing high-quality, inclusive learning experiences, maximizing resources to address community needs through partnerships and collaborations, and by preserving and providing access to the collections entrusted to their care. This year, 122 projects were funded, including 24 at ASTC-member institutions:
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
$243,856
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University will partner with Mantua Civic Association to create the Mantua Youth Ambassador program, a community engagement program that seeks to connect youth ages 8-16 in place-based arts and civic engagement activities through environmental stewardship of community green space. Project funds will support a community horticulture educator and a university student intern in the development, implementation, and oversight of the program, as well as stipends for the Philadelphia youth ambassador participants. Through their participation in a curriculum of educational opportunities integrating arts, STEM, community engagement, and environmental justice, the youth ambassadors will develop leadership skills and a deepened sense of civic engagement. This initiative will address an urban community’s need for youth civic and environmental responsibility, as well as serve as a model for future engagement of informal STEM learners and youth community leaders within Philadelphia.
Amazement Square
Lynchburg, Virginia
$165,824
Amazement Square will partner with five central Virginia libraries to provide the STEAM Library Makers programs designed for at-risk early learners not enrolled in early learning facilities to help them develop the skills they need to enter Kindergarten and empower their caregivers to help them learn at home. Project activities include developing, implementing, evaluating, and refining the monthly STEAM programs and providing STEAM maker education training for library staff. Project funds will support fabricating mobile maker spaces for each partner library, program materials, and paid college internships. Program participants will develop a love for learning and curiosity while developing skills that will help prepare them for kindergarten.
American Museum of Natural History
New York, New York
$249,841
The American Museum of Natural History will broaden access to its vertebrate paleontology archive by creating detailed findings aids for eight of its collections. The archive consists of 820 linear feet of materials in 43 collections, including photographs, correspondence, and field notes. Building on work funded by previous IMLS grants, the museum will hire a project archivist and two paid student interns to process, rehouse, and digitize collections materials. As a result of the project, researchers from a variety of disciplines will be able to directly access catalog records describing the contents of the vertebrate paleontology archive collections. Project staff will share the results of the project online and at professional conferences.
Brooklyn Children’s Museum
Brooklyn, New York
$249,980
Brooklyn Children’s Museum will partner with elementary school educators to create school programs for Nature’s Engineers, a new STEM maker space for children ages 5-10 that explores biomimicry (how nature influences human design) through hands-on projects and engagement with the 14,000 objects in the museum’s natural science collection. Project activities include creating an educator advisory council, developing five new STEM maker field trip programs, delivering those programs to Central Brooklyn public elementary schools at no charge, providing teacher professional development programs, and evaluating the programs for their effectiveness on learning outcomes and behaviors. The project will result in Central Brooklyn students making connections between engineering and nature that contribute to their constructed narratives about science, human design, and the importance of our natural world.
Buffalo Museum of Science
Buffalo, New York
$242,925
The Buffalo Museum of Science will gain intellectual and physical control over its fluid-preserved ichthyological collection that documents the population of freshwater fishes in regional waterways. The museum will hire a collections assistant to work with student interns and volunteers to create a cohesive catalog as well as rehouse, photograph, and digitize the collection. Staff will also create and install panels at freshwater conservation areas in Western New York to promote education about freshwater fish at local waterways. As a result of the project, staff will make the newly completed catalog of the collection publicly available through open-access collection portals for research and educational purposes.
Building for Kids
Appleton, Wisconsin
$198,616
The Building for Kids will offer programming aimed at making meaningful change in the food culture of its community. Museum staff will host family cooking workshops as well as field trips for children and their grown-ups to develop knowledge and skills around sourcing, preparing, and consuming a variety of nutritionally valuable foods. A diverse advisory group will help guide project activities, while community stakeholders will inform the development of an exhibit about food culture. The museum will also hire local university students to serve as research assistants and assist in program evaluation. As a result, program participants will better understand how they view and engage with the food they eat and take pride in and ownership over their choices and preparation of healthy meals.
Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Indianapolis, Indiana
$249,000
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis will mark its centennial in 2025 with an exhibition that tells stories about the ways in which people of all backgrounds, beliefs, and abilities from all across the world have contributed to the museum, community, and society. Project activities will include selecting objects with final conceptualization and input gathered from the community, consulting with advisors on storyline development, cleaning and stabilizing objects for display, producing complementary programs, and conducting a formative and remedial evaluation. The exhibition will elevate underheard voices, celebrate museum and community milestones, and explore the sometimes-difficult stories behind these objects while envisioning the role the museum will play in society over the next century. The project will raise awareness of the importance of collections stewardship, turning visitors into ambassadors who will support centennial campaign efforts to fund collections infrastructure improvements to safeguard these iconic objects for generations to come.
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
$238,623
The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh will collaborate with a team of partners and local advisors to expand the Genius, Joy and Love program to incorporate co-learning experiences in which high school students and teachers participate in three types of activities: research-based workshops about education practices that value students’ experiences outside school as assets; art and making activities; and supported action planning. The project will be conducted in three phases. Phase one will carry out a version of the program where adults and youth are balanced co-learners, phase two will review evaluation results from phase one and develop new modular programs, and phase three will embed the program as a regular part of the museum’s mission-aligned programming. The project will raise awareness of equity-based approaches to educating, support meaningful collaboration, and empower participants with action plans to recognize and address injustice so that program participants feeling energized and motivated to reclaim education.
Children’s Museum Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
$242,762
The Children’s Museum Tucson will expand its STEAM program offerings for families and young learners onsite and through virtual and in-person outreach throughout Pima and Santa Cruz Counties. Building on “Aprendemos,” an IMLS-funded initiative, the museum will create a new position for a bilingual STEAM specialist, who will collaborate with the project team to expand existing programs by offering them in Spanish, create Spanish-language tours, and design new programs and educational community engagement that originate in Spanish, as well as continuing translation of existing programs. As a result, the museum will be an inclusive, welcoming place for children who have historically been excluded from educational programs, and enable all children in Southern Arizona to build, create, imagine, explore, and discover.
Cincinnati Museum Center
Cincinnati, Ohio
$249,685
Cincinnati Museum Center will develop and design a new permanent exhibition, the Indigenous Peoples Gallery, which will explore the Greater Cincinnati region’s long history of human habitation, from the earliest Native American societies to the Tribal Nations that still call the central Ohio Valley home. This project will build on relationships with seventeen federally recognized Tribal Nations, established through the museum’s ongoing Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) work. The project team, comprised of museum staff, Tribal representatives, exhibition design contractors, and local archaeology and anthropology experts, will meet regularly in-person and in hybrid to co-create the exhibition schematic and final exhibit design. Using an interdisciplinary approach and inclusive lens, the Indigenous Peoples Gallery will center and share Indigenous perspectives, feature appropriate cultural resources stewarded by the museum, and communicate the message that Indigenous cultures live and thrive in the Greater Cincinnati today.
COSI
Columbus, Ohio
$224,732
The Center of Science and Industry (COSI) will foster STEAM literacy by developing and widely distributing an “America’s 250th Anniversary Learning Lunchbox” with replicable hands-on science, history, and art activities for underserved youth and families. In partnership with multiple federal government agencies and professional organizations, the program will significantly expand COSI’s existing lunchbox learning efforts. Project funds will support the production, distribution, and supplies costs of approximately 15,000 new learning lunchbox kits. The kits will be delivered to local foodbanks, museums, and libraries throughout the U.S., where they will be shared with K-12th grade youth, particularly students with special needs. As a result, youth across the country will have access to hands-on STEAM learning resources that are fun and engaging, promote STEAM career pathways, and increase their understanding and appreciation of American innovation.
Explora
Albuquerque, New Mexico
$190,946
Explora will partner with local community groups and libraries to increase the museum’s relevance for blind and low-vision visitors. The project team will host listening sessions and design charrettes to better understand the aspirations of the blind community; make modifications to the exhibit floor that utilize advisors’ expertise and best practice from other museums to improve accessibility for blind and low-vision visitors; employ blind and low-vision teens to work as near-peer mentors with younger blind students in co-created out-of-school time programs; train the frontline museum staff to support blind visitors at the museum; and enhance the museum’s website to improve accessibility for blind and low-vision users. The outcome of the project activities will be enhancements to the museum’s exhibits, programs, and online resources that make them more relevant to the blind community as well as increase access to educational opportunities that support pathways to STEAM courses and careers.
Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum
New York, New York
$151,546
The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum will pilot Inspiration Academy, a new teacher training and resources program designed to help K—12 educators teach inclusive STEM, history, and social studies, built on the museum’s decade-long experience developing teacher professional development and providing of continuing education credits to teachers in New York State. Project activities include recruiting early-career teachers from Title 1 schools; implementing professional development opportunities, including in-person and virtual seminars and institutes; and conducting a program evaluation. The project will address early-career teacher attrition rates by fostering a sense of belonging in the profession and rekindling the joy and inspiration which brought individuals to teach.
Long Island Children’s Museum
Garden City, New York
$250,000
The Long Island Children’s Museum will launch the third phase of the development of “Saltwater Stories: The Sea and Me,” a new permanent exhibition that will engage family and school audiences in an exploration of the local maritime traditions that have shaped the historical, cultural, and economic development of Long Island. Building on previous grants, the project team will incorporate findings from the second phase to fabricate exhibition components with an outside contractor, develop seasonally informed programs and materials for families, develop website content, finalize and implement the exhibition marketing plan, and utilize a remedial evaluation of the installed exhibition to make adjustments. Exhibition content will correlate to several New York State Next Generation Learning Standards, and will extend the reach of humanities programming to key audiences, including underserved or recently immigrated populations from coastal communities in Mexico, Central America, and Asia. As a result, visitors to the museum will increase their understanding of Long Island’s maritime history and culture through participating in educational and intergenerational experiences.
Madison Children’s Museum
Madison, Wisconsin
$250,000
Madison Children’s Museum will fabricate and install “Rhythms of Life,” a long-term exhibition that will explore the interconnectedness of all living things and promote the importance of empathy and caring for the earth. Centered as a journey through the four seasons, the exhibit will feature hands-on components targeted toward children from birth to age 12. Local artists representing the Hmong, Ho-Chunk, Black, and Latinx communities will be engaged in bringing the exhibit to life and in collaboration with local contractors, will use natural, local and sustainable building materials. The resulting exhibition will advance the museum’s commitment to supporting young children’s ability to practice empathy and kindness through joyful play, and will increase visitors’ understanding of how diverse species are all innately linked.
McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center
Concord, New Hampshire
$54,072
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center will use funds to organize and preserve their historical collections focused on two New Hampshire space pioneers, Admiral Alan Shepard, and the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe. This project will be guided by the recommendations of a grant-funded professional conservation and preservation assessment carried out in 2021. The museum will purchase new storage cabinetry and staff will rehouse the material in archival containers. Appropriate treatment of these items is necessary to preserve this history and to make it accessible to both the local community and to researchers.
Museum of Discovery and Science
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
$240,500
The Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale, Florida will expand its STEMobile program, a mobile maker space program for early learners ages three to five and their caregivers and teachers. The program will serve 123 early learning centers in the 10 lowest-income zip codes in Broward County that are also the most affected by intergenerational poverty, economic immobility, and lowest educational attainment levels. The project will provide interactive STEM experiences for young children aligned with Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards; a Family Science Night that reinforces the caregiver’s role as their child’s first teacher; and professional development resources that empower teachers to feel more confident about teaching STEM. The project will help reduce disparities in education for vulnerable young learners and help them succeed.
Museum of the Rockies
Montana State University
Bozeman, Montana
$236,240
The Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University will design and launch Discover Science!, a paleontology education initiative that will immerse visitors in processes of scientific inquiry of 71-82 million year old prehistoric environments by engaging them with paleontology specimens. Project activities will include producing K-12 curriculum, developing teacher training programs to be offered virtually and in person, and offering a Pop Up Museum service that will include outreach kits for classrooms and a traveling museum educator. The museum will hire a part-time staff person to lead the Pop Up Museum service with a focus on reaching Title 1 and reservation schools. The resulting suite of programs will leave an outdated, self-guided tour approach behind and replace it with more inquiry-based and interactive approach that will better serve the museum’s rural community.
New York Transit Museum
Brooklyn, New York
$148,200
The New York Transit Museum will develop a community-informed model for creating adult public programs and sustaining audience engagement. Museum staff will work with consultants to conduct an audience assessment as well as develop plans for improved digital communications. A full-time outreach coordinator will be hired to supervise the project and identify external stakeholders to serve as advisors for program development. This stakeholder advisory committee and partnering downtown Brooklyn cultural organizations will inform the resulting program planning framework, helping the museum better-understand and engage with its existing adult audiences, identify potential audiences that are not yet engaged, and collaboratively design programs that include community voices and input.
Rochester Museum and Science Center
Rochester, New York
$123,801
Rochester Museum and Science Center will partner with Haudenosaunee stakeholders and artists to develop an exhibit that will present Haudenosaunee stories through contemporary and historic art, collections objects, multimedia presentations, and interactive, multisensory experiences. Funds will support the purchase of materials necessary to develop immersive, themed components such as a longhouse structure, as well as a professional conservator to assess and prepare collection items for display. The exhibit will be developed and curated by a Seneca artist and knowledge-keeper and will explore themes of Haudenosaunee cultural continuity and change, identity, and sovereignty. The project partnerships and resulting exhibition will make the museum’s collection more accessible, expand historical narratives, and celebrate the dynamic and active art, culture, and heritage of the Haudenosaunee people.
Science Museum of Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
$240,610
The Science Museum of Minnesota will expand on recent efforts to build evaluation capacity across the museum by engaging in community-wide conversations about equity and climate action in the Twin Cities and the Upper Midwest. Using a wide variety of data collection strategies, ongoing data reporting, and three day-long summits to reflect on the breadth of data gathered, the museum will develop new insights into what its role can and should be in supporting climate-related community conversations. The project will build on the museum’s existing climate and equity work, inform future exhibits and programming, and support deeper engagement with onsite visitors as well as with neighboring communities who are interested in or committed to work on equity and climate change.
Sciencenter
Ithaca, New York
$248,429
The Sciencenter will address its community’s need for outdoor family learning experiences and increase access to hands-on STEM education through the creation of four outdoor exhibit areas. The project team will use community input to drive the design and development of the exhibit areas, and create and test prototypes with a focus on accessible play-based activities to address learning declines resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Project activities will include meeting with the community and gathering input to define the learning goals, fabricating selected components of the exhibits, consulting with advisors and accessibility experts and testing prototypes, and continuing evaluation after the exhibits open to the public. As a result, the museum’s role as a relevant and welcoming resource for science learning will be evident, and local children and families will increase their social skills and knowledge of the science process.
The Bakken Museum
Minneapolis, Minnesota
$83,010
The Bakken Museum will enhance its capacity to conduct evaluations by designing and implementing a new internal evaluation system and training staff on research and evaluation tools and practices. Through an iterative and collaborative approach, project staff and paid community advisory group members will design and test the new system, which will position the museum to better understand and respond to visitors’ needs. Staff will receive training on techniques for community outreach-based evaluation methods, such as survey development, observations, and interviews, and will attend conferences to further their professional development and share results of the project. As a result, the Bakken Museum will be better situated to serve its constituents and staff will be empowered to assess program improvements, communicate successes and challenges, and foster ongoing engagement.
The Wild Center
Tupper Lake, New York
$175,711
The Wild Center will conduct a two-year outreach and summer program initiative to train a cohort of teen climate educators in climate literacy, enabling them to communicate climate change science and impacts as well as climate justice and solutions to museum visitors using the museum’s Science on a Sphere and Climate Solutions exhibit. Project activities include recruiting and onboarding the educators, developing and implementing training and mentoring plans, enhancing the visitor experience through exhibit-based engagement, working with the teens to develop and implement climate action projects for their school or community, and planning and hosting the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit. Project funds will also support purchasing high-quality projectors and two back-of-the-house computers to run the Science on a Sphere exhibit. The teen climate educators will lead interpretive programming, become active in community outreach and civic engagement, and support the youth-led planning and implementation of the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit.
Museums Empowered: Professional Development Opportunities for Museum Staff
Museums Empowered: Professional Development Opportunities for Museum Staff is a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program supporting staff capacity-building projects that use professional development to generate systemic change within a museum. Each of the 19 recipients—including six ASTC members—will focus their projects on one of four categories: digital technology, diversity and inclusion, evaluation, or organizational management.
Discovery Museum
Acton, Massachusetts
$200,240
The Discovery Museum will develop and implement a new professional development program that provides ongoing learning opportunities for all staff and empowers them to achieve their professional goals. Project activities include developing and implementing three types of staff training including providing basic skills and knowledge training to help staff perform their roles; mission-focused training to help staff understand and see their role as it relates to the museum’s mission, values, and strategic direction; and developing individual professional development plans for all museums staff. The project will generate a sustainable approach to professional development that will ensure staff have the skills, knowledge, and support to achieve their individual learning and professional goals while strengthening the museum’s workplace culture by fully integrating learning and collaboration opportunities into the work experience.
Exploration Place
Wichita, Kansas
$28,383
Exploration Place will implement a digital audience engagement professional development program for its 13 virtual educators and presenters to build staff skills and understanding of digital audience engagement. Project activities include developing and implementing digital engagement best practices training, developing a virtual engagement roadmap, delivering new programs using the newly acquired skills, and evaluating the new programs. Project funds will support engaging a digital audience consultant who will guide the project team to create a train-the-trainer manual, support the initial creation of new digital programs, and provide team coaching and support. The project will build staff skills and processes to deliver impactful and engaging programs changing the culture around digital programs, enabling the museum to reach every Kansas county and school district.
Marbles Kids Museum
Raleigh, North Carolina
$151,426
Marbles Kids Museums will work with a consultant to implement a professional development initiative for the entire staff to improve cultural competence across all departments of the organization. Project activities include assembling the project team and engaging a training consultant; developing and implementing the new professional development training program; and evaluating and refining training modules to ensure they are meeting stated goals. The resulting training initiative will equip museum staff with the skills to confidently interact with people from all backgrounds creating an environment where all visitors feel more connected and comfortable while visiting the museum.
Perot Museum of Nature and Science
Dallas, Texas
$209,711
The Perot Museum of Nature and Science will develop a leadership professional development program to attract talent and help grow the next generation of museum leaders. The program consists of four training categories: a core values academy where participants will learn how to lead with clarity, confidence, and connection; leadership training that develops curious leaders; crucial conversations for mastering dialogue training that helps leaders develop dialogue skills to have important conversations in the moment; and crucial conversations for accountability training that prioritizes the person and not the process through candid coaching, identifying goals, and supporting professional development. The project will generate an empowered and passionate workforce who recognize their value in serving the museum’s mission creating a culture of welcoming and excitement for learning for all visitors.
spectrUM Discovery Area
University of Montana
Missoula, Montana
$250,000
The University of Montana’s spectrUM Discovery Area will partner with the Missoula Public Library to improve the design and outcomes of its programs by developing a cross-institution approach to evaluation. Project activities include conducting staff training in evaluation tools and techniques, developing an evaluation framework, and participating in the Collaborating on Ongoing Visitor Engagement Survey (COVES) program to compare data with other museums nationwide. The project will break down existing institutional barriers and create shared core metrics, measurements, and intended outcomes for individual and collective programs resulting in a holistic evaluation framework that integrates impact, assessment, and learning strategies increasing the museum’s ability to shape programs and improve outcomes.
The Tech Interactive
San Jose, California
$249,528
The Tech will implement an organizational management initiative to strengthen staff growth opportunities, professional development, and capacity for building an inclusive workplace. Project activities include developing career ladders so staff across the organization know their opportunities for growth; implementing training at every level to build awareness of the new career ladders and individual professional goals; integrating inclusion, diversity, equity, and access goals into board policies and practices and staff responsibilities; and creating a dashboard to measure progress. The project will strengthen and support the museum’s 130 staff members who will benefit from professional development while increasing job satisfaction, retention, and work performance, building a more resilient organization.
Inspire! Grants for Small Museums
Inspire! Grants for Small Museums, a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program, was designed to reduce the application burden on small museums and help them address priorities identified in their strategic plans. The 77 recipients—including eight ASTC members—focus on lifelong learning experiences, institutional capacity building, and collections stewardship and access:
Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium
Saint Johnsbury, Vermont
$32,367
The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium will rehouse its entomology collection of approximately 240,000 specimens into new archival storage cabinets. In partnership with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, the museum staff will work with volunteers to temporarily move collections, replace existing cabinetry, and rehouse the specimens, which include moths and butterflies from around the world. Additionally, museum staff will develop an exhibit highlighting environmental conservation in relationship to the specimens. As a result of the project, specimens will be preserved, and researchers and museum staff will be able to more easily access specimens for the purposes of scientific study and exhibition.
International Museum of Art and Science
McAllen, Texas
$37,398
The International Museum of Art and Science will improve collection stewardship and accessibility for approximately 5,600 works of Mexican and Latin American folk art in its collection. During the project, staff will work with paid interns to photograph, catalog, and input data into a collections software database in order to provide internal and online access to the collection. Local and national project advisors will inform research activities and assist staff in reviewing Spanish and English text translations related to the objects.
Lindsay Wildlife Experience
Walnut Creek, California
$50,000
Lindsay Wildlife Experience will create three new aviary animal enclosure exhibits in the Nature Cove, an outdoor program presentation area. Activities will include upgrading the area to make the outdoor exhibit fully ADA accessible and developing interactive signage in multiple languages. This project is part of a larger initiative to provide interactive opportunities for people of all ages to learn about wildlife and conservation in a safe, outdoor location where visitors will feel comfortable visiting even during a pandemic. As a result, the museum will have aviaries that exceed current California Fish and Wildlife regulations on housing live, wild animals, and the animal ambassadors will have a safe and natural home that will vastly improve their welfare.
Science Mill
Johnson City, Texas
$48,542
The Science Mill will expand the IMLS-funded pilot project, Summer STEM Career Initiative (SCI) Camps program, into the Big Bend region of Far West Texas, an underserved rural Texas community. The expansion will consist of offering immersive summer STEM camps, supported by the museum’s Mobile STEM Van initiative to 3rd-8th grade students. In partnership with Sul Ross State University, the project team will develop and offer one-week long camps based in real-world STEM career scenarios including coding and programming, engineering, life sciences, robotics, and entrepreneurship. As a result, rural students will increase their interest in STEM learning and see themselves as part of a future 21st century skilled workforce. Student outcome and impact will be measured through analysis of survey responses and will track a variety of metrics specific to camper experience.
SEE Science Center
Manchester, New Hampshire
$50,000
The SEE Science Center will increase its ability to welcome visitors with disabilities by removing barriers in the built environment and through a new inclusive customer service staff training program. Project activities include conducting two Universal Design principles staff trainings for SEE’s Access Team; selecting, ordering, and installing new accessible equipment and furnishings; creating an acoustic mitigation report; and designing and implementing new inclusive staff customer service training based on Universal Design principles. The project will involve engaging a consultant to serve as SEE’s accessibility and inclusion advisor and trainer. The project will result in a more welcoming and accessible space for all visitors including those with physical and neurosensory disabilities.
South Dakota Discovery Center
Pierre, South Dakota
$45,108
The South Dakota Discovery Center will address educational disparities for rural and tribal communities in the field of STEM by acquiring a new user-friendly, portable planetarium system. Project activities will include working with consultants to develop star shows for K-12 students, after-school programs and summer camps, provide training for staff and volunteers, and work with longstanding tribal community partners on a Lakota Star Knowledge program that incorporates Indigenous Knowledge. The new planetarium system will increase the self-efficacy of museum staff and volunteers to deliver immersive programs and expand capacity for authentic career exploration opportunities that utilizes inquiry- and evidence-based informal programming in public, in-school, and out-of-school settings. The project will be evaluated by analyzing pre and post learning assessments and end-of-program reflection prompts.
The Science Zone
Casper, Wyoming
$50,000
The Science Zone will fabricate a series of traveling exhibitions, known as FLEXCART, to reach underserved communities across the state of Wyoming. The carts are mobile and small enough to be pushed through a classroom door, and focus on teaching STEM topics using a hands-on interactive approach. FLEXCARTs will be made available for booking by family-serving agencies across the state, as well as Natrona County service providers. Through the development and maintenance of statewide partnerships, children, youth, and families in rural communities will get to experience hands-on activities and museum quality STEM exhibits at no cost.
Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center
Wenatchee, Washington
$50,000
The Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center will inventory and rehouse approximately 1,500 large objects from its collection pertaining to the history of North Central Washington, including objects related to the region’s Native American, pioneer, geological, industrial, and art histories. The organization will hire a collections inventory specialist to work with staff and volunteers to conduct a physical inventory of the collection. Staff will photograph the collection, input data into a collections management database, and develop a collection deaccessioning plan. The project activities will address both a backlog of objects that need to be inventoried and threats to the collection posed by overcrowded storage conditions.
Additional Information:
- “IMLS Invests Over $8 Million in Museum National Leadership Projects,” August 3, 2023.
- “IMLS Invests More than $31 Million in Grants to Museums Across America,” August 3, 2023.