The Hudson River Museum was awarded a Engaging Communities Award of Merit for Through Our Eyes: Collection Initiative and Exhibition, a new digital archive documenting the diverse history of the people of Yonkers. A related exhibition Through Our Eyes: Milestones and Memories of African Americans in Yonkers (May 31-November 3, 2019) culminated the year-long project envisioned by HRM and implemented by their Samuel H. Kress Interpretive Fellow, Christian Stegall, under the direction of the curatorial and education department heads.

Troy, NY—The Museum Association of New York (MANY) is pleased to announce their 2020 Awards of Merit to be presented to eleven individuals, museums, exhibitions, and programs from across New York State. The Awards of Merit were judged for programs conducted in 2019 and will be presented as part of the Museum Association of New York's 2020 conference "The Power of Partnership" at the Hilton Albany in Albany, NY on Monday, March 30 at 8 AM.

The Awards of Merit recognizes outstanding and innovative programs, staff and volunteers who have enriched New York State museums with new and remarkable projects. The Awards of Merit are judged in seven categories by an Annual Review Committee.   

The Anne Ackerson Innovation in Leadership Award recognizes a board member or staff leader that saw their organization through a critical challenge or significant opportunity in a creative, effective manner. Ed Varno, Executive Director of the Ontario County Historical Society will receive this year’s most prestigious award. Members of the committee noted Varno’s dedicated work at the Ontario County Historical Society during a critical point for the organization. Varno led the organization to new levels of community engagement, relevance, and sustainability.

The Award of Merit for Individual Achievement recognizes devoted staff and volunteers who are instrumental in moving their organizations forward over a sustained period. This year the committee recognized Individual Achievement in two categories, one recognizing a staff member and the other recognizing a museum trustee/volunteer. For the Individual Achievement of a museum staff member, the committee recognized Stuart Lilie, Vice President of Public History at Fort Ticonderoga for his incredible work in overseeing their Public History department. The committee was impressed with Lilie’s work that created a living history program using documents from Fort Ticonderoga’s collection to establish a sustainable program that has visitors returning to Fort Ticonderoga year after year. For Individual Achievement of a museum trustee/volunteer was awarded to Stephanie Krusa of the Montauk Historical Society. The committee appreciated Krusa’s tireless dedication to the Montauk Historical Society and her commitment as a volunteer who went above and beyond to help raise the professionalism and elevate the profile of the museum.  

The Excellence in Design Award, sponsored by the National Association for Museum Exhibition (NAME), recognizes an exhibition produced by a cultural institution that articulates content through engaging design and creates a satisfying visitor experience. The Excellence in Exhibition Design for organizations with an operating budget over $5 million was awarded to Camp: Notes on Fashion by The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The committee was impressed with its engaging content and how the exhibition brought out a marginalized story into public view. It was an incredible exhibition design and a relevant non-traditional topic for the museum. 

The Long Road to Freedom: Surviving Slavery on Long Island by the Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages was awarded an Award of Merit in Excellence in Design for organizations with operating budgets under $5 million. Drawing on decades of scholarship about the African American experience on Long Island during and after slavery, the Long Island Museum became the first museum to offer an island-wide exploration of this crucial historical subject in a format accessible to a wide public audience through this exhibition and its accompanying public programming. The committee was impressed by the breadth of this project and how it provided a socially relevant historical experience.

The Innovation in Collections Access Award recognizes exemplary projects that broaden access, preserve, and catalog museum and heritage organization collections. This year the committee recognizes Accelerate: Access and Inclusion at The Tang Teaching Museum. Accelerate was an ambitious project and involved collaborations with more than one hundred artists, students, faculty, and visiting scholars over three years and serves as a model for developing large-scale grant projects that focus on a museum’s collection, bringing in collaborators from backgrounds and perspectives that differ in geography, race, age, gender, sexual orientation, and ability, and highlighting artists of backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the museum space. 

The Engaging Communities Award recognizes organizations that use creative methods to engage its community and build new audiences. Projects can include collections interpretation, exhibitions, lecture series, educational or public programs, focus groups, strategic planning, or other community engagement efforts. This award is given to organizations based on their operating budget:

 

Volunteer- $100,000

Civil War Day, Military History Society of Rochester 

Hosted by the Military History Society of Rochester, Civil War Day is a day-long, interactive program for 4th and 7th graders that engages them with the American Civil War through talks, slide shows, authentic artifacts, and active participation. The day included four sessions on tenting and school of the soldier, artillery and soldiers in the way, music and kids in the Civil War, and Uniforms and food of the day.

 

$100,000-$500,000

We Were There: Schoharie County and the 9/11 Response

In early 2019, Schoharie County Historical Society representatives along with local residents Brian Head and Kevin Neary, undertook an effort to gather the stories of their first responders involved at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center. This project was a first for Schoharie County Historical Society. Through collaborative efforts, the historical society was able to exhibit numerous artifacts from the New York State Museum to teach a new generation about 9/11. 

 

$1,000,000-$5,000,000

Through Our Eyes: Collection Initiative and Exhibition, Hudson River Museum

Through Our Eyes is a new digital archive at the Hudson River Museum (HRM) documenting the diverse history of the people of Yonkers. A related exhibition Through Our Eyes: Milestones and Memories of African Americans in Yonkers (May 31-November 3, 2019) culminated the year-long project envisioned by HRM and implemented by their Samuel H. Kress Interpretive Fellow, Christian Stegall, under the direction of the curatorial and education department heads. Their goal was to collect images related to important stories and everyday moments in Yonkers, as a part of a commitment to equity in representation at the Museum. To date, HRM has collected more than 700 photographs, spanning over 100 years, which document African Americans who made Yonkers the vibrant city that it is today.

 

Over $5,000,000

Vogueing Program by The Costume Institute and the Education Department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the spring of 2019, The Costume Institute’s exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion created an opportunity to launch a unique series of events and workshops centered around performance by members of New York City’s vogueing community.  Exhibition curators and museum education staff conceived of the series of performances in The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a way to advance critical and creative dialogue about the ongoing impact of the camp aesthetic on fashion.  In so doing, curators and educators sought to support community engagement with diverse NYC youth, area LGBTQIA communities, and the transgender community of New York City.

 

New to the Award of Merits this year is the Development Award. This award recognizes institutions whose fundraising campaigns have been innovative, engaging, and successful. This award showcases teams or individuals who garner financial support creatively and effectively for the benefits of their organization and their community’s cultural economy. The Paleontological Research Institution (Museum of the Earth) will receive this award for their Teach Climate Science Project. This project was a crowdfunding campaign to disseminate their “Teacher-Friendly Guide to Climate Change” to every high school science teacher in the United States. By November 2019, Museum of the Earth had raised $137,000 and reached over 50,000 teachers and 5 million students with both print and digital copies. The committee was impressed by the reach of the project and how relevant and helpful this project was for teachers seeking information from a scientific source. 

 

The Award Ceremony will take place at 8:00 AM on Monday, March 30, 2020 at the Hilton Albany in Albany, NY. Photo opportunities will be available. For further information please contact info@nysmuseums.org or 518-273-3400.

NYS museum delegates gather outside Senator Gillibrand’s office as part of Museums Advocacy Day with the American Alliance of Museums (AAM)

Dear Members of MANY’s Museum Community,

If you’ve attended a MANY program in the past couple of years, you have heard me ask you to reach out to your local, state, and federal legislators to let them know what resources you need to serve our communities, preserve and share collections, and sustain and grow the unique power that museums have to transform lives. I know some of us find it difficult to speak up and get loud enough to make a difference. Many museum professionals identify as introverts, while others may be uncomfortable speaking with people they don’t know.

One member of our museum community, the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) has just experienced a disaster that we all dread— the potential loss of a collection to fire. MOCA’s social media campaigns, calls to city officials, outreach to emergency management offices, and help from members of the community made a difference. Their announcement on Thursday, February 27 that the building on 70 Mulberry Street that housed the collection will be hand-demolished and that most of the collection remaining will be salvaged will help them continue to tell the nationally significant stories embodied in the collections.

At MANY’s annual conference in Albany on Monday, March 30^th at 1:00, a group of museum professionals will share how communities and museums responded to the impact of Hurricanes Sandy, Irene, and Andrew and how shared exhibitions and programming effected change in their communities. Coming together, speaking out, and communicating our needs to our representatives is how we will effect positive change for New York’s Museums.

MANY is here to help our members amplify their advocacy messages, and I want to remind you that you are the best ones to tell your story with authentic passion. We returned on Wednesday from AAM’s Museums Advocacy Day where 55 representatives from New York made 30 visits to our Senators and Congressional representatives. We are fortunate that we can thank Senator Schumer for his support and Senator Gillibrand and Congressman Paul D. Tonko for co-authoring the Office of Museum Services budget appropriation sign on letters in their respective houses. Congressman Tonko closed Museums Advocacy Day with an impassioned pledge of his spirit, integrity, and energy on behalf of museums across our nation. He knows that our museums are the most effective places to express and share our art, history, and heritage about the places we call home.

In Albany we have been working hard with NY State Senator Serrano and Assembly Member Fahy to advance the Museum Education Act A.9695 (Fahy)/S.6819 (Serrano). I am pleased to report that it has passed out of the Tourism Committee in the Assembly and the Cultural Affairs Committee in the Senate but we need you to step in, speak up and get loud now. We have received an outpouring of support in both houses, but we need you to tell your legislators how your museum does essential work in your community and ask them for their support now. Please send an email and follow up with a phone call to your State Senators and Assembly Members as soon as possible to ask for their support to include the Museum Education Act (A.9695 (Fahy)/S.6819 (Serrano)) in the one house budget bills at $3.5M. You can find your Assembly Member's contact information by clicking here and your New York State Senator by clicking here and MANY's memo of support here. Please feel free to borrow freely from this email and our letter of support when contacting your legislators. There is more advocacy information about the MEA on our website: https://nysmuseums.org/Advocacy.

If you are planning to join us at our 2020 annual conference in Albany (it is going to be amazing), please invite your legislators to join us at the “Power of Partnership” 2020 Annual Conference Opening Reception on Sunday, March 29^th in The Rotunda of the New York State Education Department Building from 4:30 – 6:30 PM. You can find a pdf of the invitation here. With budget negotiations underway, I am sure they will appreciate a break and a chance to speak with and enjoy refreshments with their constituents.

 

With thanks and hopes to see you in Albany!

Founded in 1862, Buffalo’s Albright-Knox Art Gallery is undergoing a massive expansion project scheduled to finish in 2022. It is the third major construction project in the museum’s history. While the main building is closed, the museum has sustained its engagement of its members and visitors with public art installations throughout Erie County, art programming throughout Western New York with their Art Truck, and the opening of Albright-Knox Northland, a new facility in Buffalo’s Northland Corridor.

Architectural rendering of the new 30,000 square foot addition to the 1905 building on the main Albright-Knox Campus. Image courtesy Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Off-Site, On Mission: Northland - Public Art - Art Truck

To continue to engage with artists, community members, and visitors during construction, the Albright-Knox is hosting exhibitions and events at Albright-Knox Northland. The 15,000 square-foot building is a former industrial site and is not climate controlled. Opened in January of 2020, it will offer different kinds of exhibition experiences than those presented at the main campus. This challenge is viewed as an exciting opportunity to cultivate new exhibitions and visitor experiences. “We have to think about the ways in which we engage with contemporary artists, often in a way that results in collaborative works. It also casts a wide net for our audience so that the artists can be a little bit more active with the work in the space,” said Aaron Ott, Curator of Public Art at the Albright-Knox. The first and current exhibition, Open House: Domestic Thresholds, features a life-sized replica rooftop that visitors are encouraged to climb on and explore inside. The exhibition is a collaboration between three artists, the late Rodney Taylor, Edra Soto, and Heather Hart. 

Exterior of Albright-Knox Northland, a 15,000 square-foot industrial building that has been repurposed for exhibiting contemporary art, space for events and programming, and staff office space while the main Albright-Knox campus undergoes construction. Photo courtesy Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Installation view of Open House: Domestic Thresholds by Heather Hart, Edra Soto, and Rodney Taylor. Photograph by Brenda Bieger

For now, Albright-Knox Northland will continue to be home for museum staff, educational programming, and exhibitions of contemporary art on a pay-what-you-wish admission basis. “We’re doing things that are certainly what the museum has normally done, but in a different way,” said Ott. The goal for exhibitions at Northland is to re-calibrate people’s relationship with contemporary art and, as Ott hopes, their relationship with Albright Knox. 

Established in 2014, the Albright-Knox Public Art Initiative, which has created more than 30 murals through Buffalo, will continue and increase throughout construction. 

Louise Jones’s Wildflowers for Buffalo, 2018, at 465 Washington Street in Buffalo. 

Photograph by MK Photo.

The mobile Art Truck, which launched late last year, is bringing hands-on educational programming to Western New York communities. The Albright-Knox partnered with BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York to present art classes for people of all ages and skill levels. The Art Truck will bring programs and materials to schools, libraries, parks and community centers with scheduled events and opportunities for nonprofits and for-profit organizations to request the Art Truck at their events. 

The Albright-Knox Art Truck, which brings arts into local neighborhoods, was awarded a separate grant through the National Endowment for the Arts. Photo courtesy Albright-Knox

Expansion and Transformation

The expansion project will create more exhibition space to showcase the Albright-Knox collection. Before it closed, the museum was only able to exhibit 1-2% of its collection at any one time. After the expansion, the exhibition capacity will nearly double and will add a state-of-the-art space for presenting special exhibitions. Albright-Knox Director of Education & Community Engagement Dr. Jennifer Foley said that the museum has a lot of repeat visitors who have deep connections to the collection. “They often express disappointment when they visit and don’t see their favorite work,” said Foley. 

AK360 will also create more space for education and events. The education classrooms will move into the 1962 building in a more visible space. These spaces will be enlarged and updated to allow the Albright-Knox Education & Community Engagement team to focus on program development for specific audiences. The 1962 open-air Sculpture Garden will be covered, converting the space into an Indoor Town Square for year-round civic engagement, open free of charge to the community during museum and program hours. “[These new spaces] will make it possible for us to think about whole new types of programming and engagement that we haven’t been able to do in the past,” said Foley. “We will be able to really think about how we can develop programming that is responsive and in tandem with our community.”

Architectural rendering by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu of a new work of signature architecture on the north end of its historic campus, which will more than double the amount of prime exhibition space. The new building will also incorporate several visitor amenities and is envisioned to have a wraparound promenade that visually connects the interior of the building with the surrounding Frederick Law Olmsted landscape. Photo courtesy Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

Getting Community Buy-In

The Albright-Knox will add 30,000 square feet of exhibition space. This new building, an impressive work of signature architecture on the north end of the museum campus, will have several visitor amenities and a wraparound promenade that will connect the interior to the surrounding Frederick Law Olmstead park. With this massive undertaking, the Albright-Knox was keen to have a positive working relationship with its neighbors and stakeholders in the community. 

“We are in a neighborhood where we are surrounded by our cultural partners, the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo State College, Shakespeare in the Park which takes place in Olmsted Park behind the museum, and the Buffalo History Museum. We also have residents as neighbors,” said Maria Morreale, Director of Communications. “What we have done and what we will continue to do for those who are significant stakeholders is to keep them informed of what is happening next by inviting them to the table.” The table is actual meetings or meet and greets between neighbors and construction managers to allow the public to ask questions and for the construction team to hear concerns. “Transparency is our ultimate goal, but it also helps stakeholders get to know the construction company and contractors,” said Morreale. Additional meetings will continue as major steps in the project proceed. 

Lawn view rendering of the new north building. Photo courtesy Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Economic Impact

When the Albright-Knox re-opens in 2022 as the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, it anticipates a 30-40% increase in visitors and $34 million economic impact, an anticipated 40% increase. Funding to AK360 for the total construction project will total around $165 million with $720,00 from NYS REDC, $500,00 from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and from private donations. The project has received public support from Congressman Brian Higgins and Senator Charles Schumer (who helped announce the federal funding awarded to museum) who were both impressed with what the continued growth of the museum will contribute to economic impact in Buffalo and amplify it as a destination for art and arts education. “This project was seen or perceived by them [Congressman Higgins and Senator Schumer] as being an integral part of Buffalo’s resurgence or renaissance, particularly with the anticipated economic impact of the project,” said Morreale. 

Advocating for Your Institution

“Telling the story of what you’re doing to your representatives—whether it’s state, local or federal—and about the impact that your museum is having on the community is key,” said Foley. “This is why when we create partnerships between our schools, libraries, and community centers with the Art Truck, our Mayor will come to an event because we are engaging with his constituents and he wants them to know that he supports what we are doing.”

“We have very good relationships with our elected officials—we work with their staffs, we invite them to participate in our events, we value their input on and feedback about what matters to our shared constituencies, and those long standing relationships helped make our ask for support the furthest thing from a cold call,” said Carly Kirchberger, Manager of Government and Foundation Relationships. “We also invested in the data. We know a project like this will positively impact the landscape of our community, but when we made these presentations we had the numbers and information to back up this belief which in turn helped those officials make their case on our behalf.”

Opportunities to Reflect

Going through a massive building project, whether the museum is closed or partially closed, provides an incredible opportunity for museums to reflect and look at what they might want to change. “It allows time to ask questions like ‘who do we want to be when we launch as that new museum?’ or ‘ what do we want to change, add, or do differently?’ It’s important to take the time to reflect,” said Morreale.

Ahead of the project, visitor surveys and public meetings were key to help answer those questions. “It was a really useful project because what we heard from people informed those initiatives that we are implementing now which is bringing the Albright-Knox deeper into its community through public art, through Northland, and through the Art Truck,” said Morreale. “As we were thinking through how we would engage people in this period of ‘closure’ we were able to lean on all those conversations that we had in the preceding years.” 

“I think that a lot of those conversations have informed how we’re thinking about what’s going to happen when we open,” said Foley. “It’s having an impact on how we’re thinking about how the future operations should be...what we turn our focus and attention to in the new museum. All of that discussion is incredibly important both in what happens in-between and what happens when we open.”

Further Reading

About the Project

https://www.albrightknox.org/campus-development/about-project

Albright-Knox Northland...new experience, visitor favorites

https://www.lancasterbee.com/articles/albright-knox-northland-new-experiences-visitor-favorites/

Schumer and Higgins announce two federal grants totaling $500,000 for Albright-Knox Art Gallery

https://www.wnypapers.com/news/article/current/2020/01/24/139857/schumer-higgins-announce-two-federal-grants-totaling-500000-for-albright-knox-art-gallery

In 2020, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) awarded more than $3.7 million in 132 grants to organizations from all 10 Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) Regions in New York State for Museum Program Funding. Grant applications for 2021 are due March 12 by 4 PM. We are pleased to share some helpful tips from NYSCA to navigate the grant application process and examples from previous Museum Program Grantees to help inspire your institution as the deadline approaches. 

NYSCA Grantee Map, (all grant recipients for all NSYCA programs)

The goals for the Museum Program Grants from NYSCA are to “help advance museums and other related professional service organizations by offering support for arts and cultural activities, and encourages creative thinking to better engage the public.” Funding can be awarded to museums, cultural nonprofits, Native American Tribes in New York State, and units of government in municipalities in New York State, like public libraries, school districts, or public parks. All organizations must have its main place of business located in New York and serve New York State constituents. 

Museum Program Grants

This program seeks to recognize excellence in museums engaged in arts and cultural activities, encourage creativity, foster life-long learning through museums, expand audience for museums, recognize strong leadership and institutional management, and support non-profit organizations providing opportunities for museum professionals. Within the Museum Program Grants there are three funding categories: General Operating Support, Project Support, and Regrants and Partnerships (the last category being by invitation to apply only). 

General Operating Support

General Operating Support is investment by NYSCA into an organization’s ongoing work instead of a specific project or program. Funds can be used to support administration, finance, programming, or other organization activities. From NYSCA’s Museum Program Guidelines when considering General Operating Support, “NYSCA examines the nature, scope, and quality of an organization’s programs and activities, its managerial and fiscal competence, and its public service.” 

Some of the main criteria to qualify for General Operating Support from NYSCA is that an organization must:

• Have ongoing programs, exhibitions, or other arts and cultural activities that are open to the general public

• Makes evident a substantial commitment to arts and or culture, with a prior record of accomplishment in producing or presenting cultural activities

• Demonstrate fiscal responsibility, like positive fund balance or a balanced organizational budget without substantial or recurring deficits

• Employ one or more qualified and salaried full time or part time administrative staff

• Have a policy of fair payment to artists

Museums like the Long Island Children’s Museum on Long Island and the Roberson Museum and Science Center in Binghamton both received General Operating Support form NYSCA in 2019 for their public programming and exhibitions. The Long Island Children’s Museum specifically uses these funds to support their traveling exhibits, theatre performances, and other community outreach initiatives while the Roberson Museum uses General Operating Support to fund a percentage of the salaries of their Director of Education, Public Programs Coordinator, Registrar, and Director of Exhibitions. The Museum at Eldridge Street received $20,000 in General Operating Support for general operations including their historic building tours, temporary exhibitions program, k-12 educational programs, adult learning programs, lectures and concerts, and neighborhood walking tours.

Long Island Children’s Museum Theatre, which is partially supported by NSYCA General Operating Support, is Long Island’s only year-round venue that offers more than 200 live family-focused performances. Photo courtesy Long Island Children’s Museum

General Operating Support is usually awarded on a multi-year basis. These grants are no less than $5,000 and cannot exceed more than 25% of an organization’s budget. 

Project Support

Project support offers an opportunity for museums or related service organizations to “seek funding for projects or programs that are essential to maintain, improve and/or increase service to their audience/communities.” NYSCA cites arts or cultural projects like exhibitions, education programs, public programs, interpretation, collections research, catalogs, audience development, and services to the field.

The minimum awarded is $2,500 and grants cannot exceed 50% of the total project budget. 

Bronx Children’s Museum

Bronx Children’s Museum’s “Dream Big” Summer Arts Enrichment Program.  Photo courtesy Bronx Children’s Museum

The Bronx Children’s Museum received $8,000 in NYSCA Project Support for their community based learning project, “Dream Big”— a five week summer arts enrichment program to children in the South Bronx that focused on the theme “Building the Bronx.” The Dream Big Summer Enrichment Program serves approximately one hundred 2nd and 3rd graders from Bronx community-based organizations and schools. Its purpose is “to encourage children to entertain and elaborate on their grandest desires for their futures.” Offered as a summer enrichment program at two to three community based organizations as day camps, museum teaching artists provide visual and performance arts instruction three days a week for up to fifteen sessions. The theme changes each year but it is always Bronx related. The program culminates is a Dream Big Day which celebrates the entire program and where notable Bronx-born in the arts and public life (like Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor) interact with the children and help inspire them to pursue their dreams. Children also present what they have learned throughout the program.

Other Project Support Funding

The Voelker Orth Museum is a museum in Queens that tells the story of an immigrant family in the 1890s. The Museum received $5,000 in NYSCA Project Support for the first phase of a new interpretive plan that will include audience evaluation and asset review. 

Lakes to Locks Passage received $18,00 to continue services to the field with workshops, roundtables, and technical assistance to museums in northern New York State for building strong governance, improving capacity, and creating thematic interpretive programs to increase visitors’ understanding of the region’s cultural resources. 

The New York Botanical Garden received $20,000 in project support for their exhibition “KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature” a garden-wide exhibition that will bring new, critical perspectives to the body of work by Japanese Contemporary Artists Yayoi Kusama. The exhibition combines newly commissioned site-specific, early, and existing artwork and will be a multi-sensory presentation of Kusama’s connection with nature. 

The exhibition will cover the entire 250 acres, inside and out and will feature Kusama’s first obliteration greenhouse.

The exhibition opens on May 9, 2020.

Tips and Advice from NYSCA

• Read the Guidelines carefully. There are updates every year.

• Ask questions! Reach out to NYSCA Program staff.

• Use the formatting tools in the NYSCA-CFA to make your application easier to read.

• Submit early. Don’t wait until the last day to apply—there are no extensions.

• Follow up. Whether your request is funded or not, follow up with NSYCA Program staff after you receive notice to schedule time to hear feedback.

Applicants to the Museum Program can choose to apply for either General Operating Support or Project Support, but not both. Organization may submit applications for another NYSCA Program, like Facilities Projects, Folk Arts, or Visual Arts, etc.) if applicable.

Consolidated Funding Application Tips

• Be prepared. Review all the steps to apply: https://arts.ny.gov/application-guide

• Choose your words wisely when it comes to character counts. Character counts at the maximum and do include spaces. Tell your story with detail but don’t be repetitive.

• Use your options. For NYSCA, budget notes are really important, so don’t skip them.

• Upload support materials. Each category has different requirements so be sure to read carefully and upload the required materials as PDFs as to not lose any formatting. 

• Again, submit early. No exceptions for CFA applications. 

Grant applications are due March 12, 2020 by 4 PM.

Further Reading / Resources

Museum Program Overview

https://arts.ny.gov/programs/museum

Recent NYSCA Grants Search 

Search for recently funding NYSCA organizations

http://www.nysca.org/grant_app/org_search.cfm

Applying to NYSCA for FY21? Start Here!

https://arts.ny.gov/blog/applying-nysca-fy21-start-here

Earlier in February, I traveled to the Philipsburg Manor Historic Site in Sleepy Hollow to join a discussion with representatives from 20 institutions led by Historic Hudson Valley about how they are telling the stories of enslavement in the Colonial North.

Participants came from historic sites and museums in the Hudson Valley, Long Island, and New York City sharing  success stories, resources, current projects, and challenges across the sector. .

(left) Michael Lord, Associate Director and Content Developer for Historic Hudson Valley, leads a tour of Philipsburg Manor

Historic Hudson Valley

Historic Hudson Valley (HHV) has been committed to telling the story of enslavement in the colonial north for more than two decades. They do this at their Philipsburg Manor site through a dynamic range of programs and digital initiatives that are responsive to the needs of educators, students, and the public. HHV uses primary documents from the Philipse and Van Cortlandt families and scholarly research to “illuminate the lives of the enslaved Afrians who lived and worked in the Northern states; to grapple with the inhumanity of their plight, and to make their skilled contributions to the American economy and national culture abundantly evident to our visitors.” 

Philipsburg Manor is a 1750 milling and trading complex that was home to 23 enslaved individuals of African descent. Extensive research has been done using primary sources to learn  the names of those enslaved on this site. If I had arrived some twenty years earlier, the experience would have been very different. In fact, I might have learned very little about any enslaved individuals who lived and worked there. Historic Hudson Valley made the decision to tell the larger story, bring their content up to date, and move these stories forward using primary and secondary sources and translating them to the public. 

“People Not Property” Project

The original interpretation at Philipsburg Manor focused on the Philipse family. HHV wanted to alter its interpretation to focus on researching and telling the stories of those enslaved at the manor and the story of enslavement in the Colonial North. The “People Not Property” website project explores the history of slavery in the Hudson Valley region. The project was one of 253 across the United States and was awarded $500,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to create digital exhibitions and advance research. The website is an interactive documentary that explains the history of enslavement in the Northeast, focusing on the Hudson Valley by using stories, videos, and re-enactments. “People Not Property” focuses on the lives of the 32 enslaved Africans who built and maintained Philipsburg Manor. 

(left) Objects in the Philipsburg Manor that are used to help tell the stories of those lived and worked there.

Michael Lord, Associate Director and Content Creator for Historic Hudson Valley who convened this Historic Sites and Slavery Roundtable, recognized the importance of acknowledging the existence of slavery in the Colonial North and telling these stories from the perspective of the enslaved. With the success of the new interpretation at Philipsburg Manor and the “People Not Property” project helping to inform the public about the impact of slavery in the north, HHV hopes to gather like minded people representing museums and historic sites in the Hudson Valley and beyond to share collective challenges and share their institutional perspectives.

Around the Table

Participants included curators, interpreters, directors of public programming and education from the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Historic Huguenot Street, Morris-Jumel Mansion in NYC, and Sylvester Manor Educational Farm on Long Island. 

23 participants from around the Hudson Valley, Long Island, and New York City gathered at the Philipsburg Manor Historic Site in Sleepy Hollow  for an informal discussion about historic sites and the presentation of enslavement in the Colonial North.

At the start of our tour of Philipsburg Manor, each participant shared what their museum or historic site was doing to tell their stories of enslavement. Laura Carpenter Myers, Director at Van Cortlandt House Museum (located in Van Cortlandt Park in the Kingsbridge neighborhood of The Bronx and the oldest surviving building in the borough) shared that the museum is looking for grant funding to tell the stories of those enslaved and is inviting the community to participate by hosting community coalition meetings. 

The Dyckman Farmhouse, built in 1784 in upper Manhattan in the Inglewood neighborhood, is researching the history and lives of those who were enslaved. Now, museum staff are trying to figure out the next steps and how to best use this information to tell these stories. 

Preservation Long Island shared that like the Van Cortlandt House Museum, they too are using community round tables to gather information from the public on the three historic house museums that they manage on how best to tell the stories of enslavement, specifically at Joseph Lloyd Manor and the life of Jupiter Hammon, one of the first published African American authors who lived, wrote, and was enslaved at Lloyd Manor for most of his life. Educational programs for teachers now include workshops on the history of “Colonial Long Island’ and the “Slave Experience in New York.” Preservation Long Island recently launched The Jupiter Hammon Project, a major initiative that will develop a new interpretive direction for the Lloyd Manor that “encourages responsible, rigorous, and relevant encounters with the story of Jupiter Hammon” as well as Long Island’s history of enslavement and its impact on society today.

Donnamarie Barnes, Curator and Archivist at Sylvester Manor Educational Farm shared the “Hidden in Plain Sight” Program which is sharing the histories of enslaved African American people who lived, worked, and died on Long Islands’ East End. The program, which took place as part of the 5th Annual Black History Month Celebration on February 24, explored the history of slavery on the East End and “the omission of that history from the founding narrative of the United States.” Sylvester Manor, like HHV, is using primary documents to find the names of the enslaved and to understand their lives. 

Challenges as a Region

While these historic sites and museums are making incredible strides in research and creating now content and interpretation, there are challenges. After the tour of Philipsburg Manor, we gathered back inside the visitor center and spoke about the shared challenges. Levada Nahon, Interpreter of African American History with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, asked how historic sites and museums share primary documents that tell the stories of enslavement in the Colonial North with the public. Nahon commented that “we should start addressing enslavement happening in the North and move away from the notion that the Dutch weren’t enslavers.” Sharing resources with the public from each historic site is important to help recognize enslavement in the North. “It’s important to get the word out to our audiences to challenge the southern narrative.

One other challenge that many participants shared was training staff and volunteers on how to talk about slavery and the terminology to use. Nahon asked “how do we train the staff for these dialogues and what is the emotional impact of these new interpretive techniques?” At this point in the discussion,  there was a lot of great advice and resources shared from other institutions. Heather Lodge, Manager of Youth and Family Programs at Greenwich Historical and Bush-Holley House, who also was involved with the Witness Stone Project in Guilford, shared information about the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience network who is helping historic sites with safe spaces and resources about sharing difficult histories. 

Moving Forward

At the end of the discussion, all institutions agreed that there are still important stories waiting to be told and the need to continue to recover peoples’ stories with new perspectives. Historic Hudson Valley hopes to continue to have these meetings and to continue the discussion. Connecting historic sites and museums who have similar goals is important to share resources, stories of success, and to share strategies to navigate challenges. 

Further Reading / Resources

Historic Hudson Valley “People Not Property” 

https://peoplenotproperty.hudsonvalley.org/

Preservation Long Island “The Jupiter Hammon Project”

https://preservationlongisland.org/preservation-long-island-launches-the-jupiter-hammon-project/

Hidden in Plain Sight

https://www.sylvestermanor.org/calendar/2019/2/24/black-history-month-celebration-in-plain-sight

Teaching Tolerance: Using the WPA Slave Narratives

https://www.tolerance.org/frameworks/hard-history/race-in-the-united-states/slavery

This letter originally appeared in our "This Month in NYS Museums" newsletter sent on 1/29/2020. For the latest information about the Museum of Chinese in America please visit:https://www.mocanyc.org/visit/

In his 2020 book, The Storytelling Animal, scientist Jonathan Gottschall proposed that human beings are natural storytellers; that we love stories so much we incorporate and use objects, artifacts, ephemera, and out natural world to tell stories about ourselves and our cultures to make them relatable to other humans.

Imagine dedicating forty years of your life to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting the stories of your family, your neighbors, and your community, and waking up one morning to learn that all you collected to tell those stories was gone.

Last week’s fire in a brick building at 70 Mulberry Street in New York City has devastated the Chinese community in New York and across our country. They did not only lose their community center, they lost their stories embodied in the collections of The Museum of Chinese in America.

The museum staff may be able to gain access through first responders to part of what may remain of the collections later today (January 29). Although they believe that most of the collection did not burn, the rescue, restoration, and conservation of the collection requires assistance and funding beyond the current means of the museum. Imagine the damage caused by 12 hours of water pouring from fire hoses onto rare books, archival materials, precious textiles, and ephemera and the expense of rescue and restoration. 

We have little control over disasters like floods and fires, but there are things we can do as museum professionals to take precautions with this unimaginable loss in mind.Call your local first responders, invite them to your museum, show them where you store your collections, share your stories with them so that if the water rises, or a fire starts, they are better prepared to help in an emergency.

Donate to the rescue efforts at MOCA. Every donation is significant, no matter

the amount. 

Sign up and volunteer to share your professional expertise with MOCA staff.

We will do our best to share the news of the recovery and preservation efforts in the weeks to come. Please help however you can. 

Listen to NPR’s “All Things Considered” interview with Nancy Yao Maasback, MOCA President What The Museum of Chinese In America Lost In A Fire

From the NY Times: 85,000 Pieces From Beloved Chinatown Museum Likely Destroyed in Fire

From the Gothamist: Archive Recovery To Begin At Museum Of Chinese in America Days After Devastating Fire

From the New Yorker: What We Lost in the Museum of Chinese in America Fire

"Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty" was a phrase coined by Jack Weinberg in the 1960s.

Photo courtesy of the Button Museum.

Dear Members of the MANY community,

This past November I turned 57. Depending on which demographer you choose to believe, I am either a Baby Boomer or a member of the elusively-defined Generation “X.” My older cousins wore POW-MIA bracelets to honor soldiers captured in the Vietnam War. Some went to Woodstock, others got stuck on the Thruway trying to get there. I was surrounded by people who fought for racial and gender equality, protested against injustice, questioned authority, broke dress codes, and stepped outside of social norms. There was a clear divide from older generations fueled by a mutual lack of trust; places and spaces to come together and agree on politics, music, or values were few and far between. 

I held part-time jobs through college and graduate school, and paid off my student loans by the time I was 40. Once I entered the museum world, I was frequently the youngest person in the room. I was told to be quiet in meetings and deferential to senior staff. A colleague stopped me after a meeting to tell me that I shouldn’t act like I knew what I was doing, because I didn’t. About a year later that person apologized, admitted that they spoke harshly, and hadn’t given me a chance. I have never forgotten that apology because it taught me how to gracefully admit when I had done something wrong. 

We are once again at a time when a generational divide has sown a lack of trust in our society and in our workplace and distracted us from achieving common goals that would benefit ourselves, our families, and our organizations. I know I have complained about having to learn yet another new way to electronically manage files, send emails, or keep a calendar to accommodate how my staff tracked my travel. But recently, someone reminded me how it felt to be the youngest person in the room. 

The divide between older and younger museum professionals may be more about history, culture, and technology than money or political power, but the gap is real. If you are a Baby Boomer in the position to hire a new staff person, you can find articles on LinkedIn about traits you need to know and practice to successfully train a Millennial. A Millennial told me it was one of the most condescending things that they had ever read. 

A Pew Research Center study from the fall of 2019 confirmed what most of us already know, that Millennials are the fastest growing sector of non-profit professionals, leading older Americans in their adoption and use of technology. Millennials are not the ones hanging out in bars until last call. They have young children and mortgages, are passionately dedicated to the museum field, and won’t be able to retire their student loan debt before they turn 40.

The generation divide in museums may also be defined by how you learned to do your job. Did you have a typewriter at your first desk? Did someone deliver a press proof that you edited by cutting and pasting text and sending it back to a typesetter? If you answered these questions with “yes” and remember how it felt when that first computer was delivered to you, I ask you think about how those tools changed the way you communicated, managed projects, and produced exhibitions. Now imagine never having to change and learning how to do your job already fluent and highly skilled with those tools. Many Baby Boomer and Generation "X" colleagues question younger staff about why they want to do things differently and discuss the challenges of working with Millennials. It may be time for those of us with gray hair to remember how it felt to be told to keep quiet and be deferential. 

Gathering together generationally may feel safe, but it also may be distracting us from larger issues in our field and diverting our attention from ways in which we can advance our institutions. If it can fit your schedule and your budget, come to the MANY conference in Albany, get out of your comfort zone, and let’s find a safe space together to build trust and share ideas without regard to the year on our birth certificates. 

With thanks for your support,

In December 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that more than $761 million in Round IX of New York State Regional Economic Development Council Initiatives (REDC) were awarded to municipalities, non-profits, art and cultural organizations, and museums. 58 museums across New York State received just over $21 million in REDC Initiatives. 

Funding to museums included Empire State Development (ESD) Grants, Market New York (MNY), Environmental Protection Fund: Parks, Preservation and Heritage Grants (OPRHP), and New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) initiatives. 

Funding to museums by REDC Region

NYSCA’s Arts and Cultural Initiatives

NYSCA’s Arts and Cultural Initiatives funding provides up to $5 million across New York State’s 10 economic development regions. Its purpose is to enhance and transform the cultural and economic vitality of NYS communities. Funding support is broken down into three categories: NY State Arts Impact Awards, Workforce Investment, and Workforce Fellowships. 

Workforce investment funding supports the creation of new full or part-time positions as well as the expansion of existing part-time positions to full time. It includes either general full-time or part-time positions, or a resident artist (like a visual artist, folklorist, or choreographer). 

The Wild Center received $30,000 from NYSCA Workforce Investment for its Fellowships program. This Fellowship provides job training and experience focused on museum operations, interpretation, and the region’s cultural and natural history. This program helps emerging museum professionals prepare for the next stage in their careers. 

Genesee Country Village & Museum received $15,600 in renewed support for an Assistant Preservation Carpenter, a full-time resident artist position, who will demonstrate their craft for visitors, offer community education programs, and assist in the maintenance of the sixty eight buildings on-site.

A $20,000 Workforce Investment was awarded to the Burchfield Penney Art Center who will expand a part-time Curatorial Associate into a full time position. The goal is to enable this position to expand their services to the community and visitors from across New York State and beyond.

The Arts & Cultural Facilities Improvement Program (Arts ACFIP) provides funding for renovations and/or expansions that are open to the public, projects to support sustainable and energy efficient spaces, improvement in accessibility, and improvements to technology and other equipment that benefits the public. 

The Hispanic Society of America received $145,000 for a special exhibition gallery helping to renovate its East Building’s ground floor and will focus on juxtaposing its global Hispanic collections with Contemporary Ibero-Latinx art. 

In the Finger Lakes, the National Women’s Hall of Fame will use its $145,000 Arts ACFIP Award to restore its iconic Seneca Knitting Mill Smokestack and will focus on making the building accessible while completing the second floor occupancy to celebrate Great American Women. 

Market New York

In 2018, New York State tourism grew by $6 billion and generated nearly $155 billion in economic impact. Museums are included in this tourism economic impact and helped contribute to the more than 250 million visitors (https://esd.ny.gov/industries/tourism).

To grow and sustain this economic impact, ESD established Market New York (MNY) to strengthen tourism and attract visitors to New York State. For Round IX of REDC Funding, 18 museums were awarded a MNY grant to support tourism marketing initiatives that include capital and construction projects, fund special events, bring in special exhibitions, and fund tourism marketing campaigns aimed at increasing visitors. 

In the Western Region, Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Garden Society received $500,000 to promote their 120th anniversary and their new facility expansion project set to open in 2022 to increase awareness of the Buffalo Botanical Gardens among residents and tourists. 

A large glass building is planned for the southwest side of the Botanical Gardens as part of a planned expansion. 

(Rendering courtesy of the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens via Buffalo News)

The Brooklyn Historical Society received $169,950 to launch a marketing, advertising, and PR campaign aimed at increasing Brooklyn tourism by expanding its visibility. This campaign will promote two of the Brooklyn Historical Society’s unique sites, a landmark 1881 building in Brooklyn Heights and a 3200 square feet gallery in the Empire Stores building in DUMBO. The Brooklyn Historical Society notes that this project is the most comprehensive campaign of its kind in its 155 year history.

Historic Huguenot Street received $290,000 from Market NY to construct a state of the art visitor center with the goal to increase capacity and enhance the museum as a key attraction in the Mid-Hudson REDC region. 

Historic Preservation Funding from the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP)

Major funding was also announced for the preservation of historic properties under the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF). These historic preservation fund improvements, preservations, rehabilitation and restoration to sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as structural assessments and planning for these projects. 

The George Eastman Museum received $600,000 to restore and repair historic garden structures and also will increase accessibility to The Grape Arbor, Pergola, and Loggia. 

Other major restoration projects funded in this REDC round was $600,000 to the Oneida Community Mansion House to complete phase I of its exterior rehabilitation project. This work will include repairs to the 19th century roof, drainage, masonry, painting and window restoration.

In Binghamton, the Roberson Museum will use $320,870 for critical restoration work of the windows and trim of the Roberson Mansion and Carriage House.

The Montauk Historical Society was awarded $313,500 to help restore the iconic Montauk Lighthouse and the John Jay Homestead will use funding to protect the historic home from fire by adding a fire safety management plan. 

Sonnenburg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Site received $500,000 to build a new entrance and update parking to become ADA compliant.

Increase in Capital Funding

31 museum received nearly $18 million in REDC Capital Funding. These projects include both new and renovations to existing museum building to create great accessibility for visitors, increase capacity, and expand educational and community programs.

The Tesla Science Center on Long Island received $750,000  to transform the only existing laboratory of inventor Nikola Tesla into three unique attractions—a museum honoring Tesla and his legacy, a center for education and research, and an entrepreneur and technologist innovation program.

$276,000 was awarded to the Buffalo History Museum to invest in its guest amenities for a better and more welcoming visitor experience with air conditioning, new seating in their auditorium, and universally accessible guest welcome stations. 

Rendering of the Universal Hip Hop Museum on the Bronx/Harlem waterfront by S9 Architecture (photo courtesy Curbed NY)

In New York City, the Universal Hip Hop Museum received $3,500,000 to build and promote a new cultural arts institution and the first museum in the world dedicated to the preservation of hip hop history and culture that will attract visitors and help to further develop the Bronx/Harlem River waterfront. Construction will begin this summer and the Museum is expected to open in 2023. 

Year Over Year

2018 v 2019 REDC Capital Funding to NYS Museums

REDC Funding to museums was down by almost $2 million from 2018, however the number of museums awarded increased from 57 to 58. There was also a $3 million increase in capital grant funding through ESD and Market NY Grants. 

As funding increases to capital projects to museums across the state, MANY will continue to advocate for additional funding for education and programming in museums. 

In October 2019, the Museum Education Act (Bill #6819) was re-introduced by New York State Senator José Serrano. This Act will amend the arts and cultural affairs law in relation to providing financial assistance to museums, zoos, botanical gardens, aquariums, and other cultural institutions located in low-income urban, suburban, or rural communities. The Museum Education Act will create a mechanism to fund programs at New York’s cultural organizations, specifically educational services and strengthen the way museums work within their communities. 

For the full list of NYS museums who received REDC funding click here.

For the full list of 2019 Round IX REDC grant recipients please visit: https://regionalcouncils.ny.gov/2019-awards-ceremony

Tourism is New York State’s third largest industry and New York’s museums are significant partners. In 2018, museums helped contribute to the state's 253 million visitors and $114.8 million total tourism economic impact. The New York State Division of Tourism / I LOVE NY helps to promote museums by, creating dynamic marketing campaigns and offerings, funding to local and regional partners through programs like Market New York, which has helped museums  bring in special exhibitions and events and fund capital projects. Earlier this month, I spoke to Ross Levi, Executive Director of the New York State Division of Tourism, about his role at I LOVE NY, how museums are important to New York State's tourism industry, and tried to confirm his favorite museum. “We [I LOVE NY] see [the relationship between tourism and museums] as a very reciprocal relationship and we want to be able to help museums so that museums are able to help tourism,” he said.

(left) Ross Levi, Executive Director of the New York State Division of Tourism/I LOVE NY, photo courtesy I LOVE NY

Megan: What is your current title with I LOVE NY? How long have you been there?

Ross Levi: I am Executive Director of the New York State Division of Tourism, which is often referred to as I LOVE NY, and also a Vice President at Empire State Development (ESD). I’ve been with ESD since 2012 and worked initially in tourism and business marketing before migrating exclusively to tourism, where I've served as Executive Director since 2017.

Can you give me a brief overview of what you do in your work?

The New York State Division of Tourism promotes all of New York State as the premier travel destination, and we do that in a number of different ways. We promote New York State through marketing including paid advertising like TV commercials, PR and earned media efforts, digital and social media, and printed collateral. We also do domestic and international sales work like leading sales missions, participating in travel trade shows, and reaching out to tour operators. We also provide industry support by funding local and regional tourism initiatives, and we work on policy development to make New York State a more appealing destination to potential visitors. 

At the end of the day my responsibility is to inspire travel to New York State by keeping it a top-of-mind destination for travelers when considering or planning a trip. 

What motivates you to do what you do? What do you get excited about? What are some of your goals?

First of all, knowing that tourism is New York State third largest industry supporting one out of every 10 jobs in the State – I feel a responsibility to tourism as an economic driver. My aim is to promote the incredible diversity of all that New York State has to offer as a travel destination and also help foster public policies that continue to make New York State a highly desirable place to visit, while supporting our tourism industry partners. They are the ones who are out there spreading the word and at the end of the day,  most responsible for delivering on the promise that we make to consumers. 

Beyond that, I love to travel, and I’ve always loved to travel. The greatest times in my life were when I was on a trip somewhere and I really love that I can help other people make lifelong memories and experience the joy of travel. It’s pretty great that my job is to convince others to have fun, to recharge, to broaden their horizons, and it’s even better when the product is New York State—an amazingly diverse place as a vacation destination, and a place for which I have a strong passion.

How many museums do you think you’ve visited in New York State since you become Executive Director of I LOVE NY?

Wow—at least dozens, but most likely scores. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I have always loved museums. As a kid, I grew up in Connecticut and visited the museums at Yale University; the Peabody Museum of Natural History, the University Art Gallery. I have always loved museums, and not just as an academic exercise but they were always fun for me. There were exciting, interesting places where you're exposed to things and worlds you didn’t know about. I still have a sense of wonder when I visit a museum that I have never been before, no matter the topic—whether its a fly-fishing museum in the Catskills or the It’s a Wonderful Life Museum in Seneca Falls. New York has such an amazing variety of museums that the sense of wonder is never ending. 

You mentioned tourism being the third largest industry supporting New York State. Do you see museums supporting tourism and helping to drive economic development?

Oh yes, absolutely We know that nearly 80% of all U.S. leisure travelers engage in cultural or heritage activities such as visiting museums as part of their vacations, according to the U.S. Travel Association. So, we recognize that museums are a vital part of any tourism ecosystem and that is particularly true for a state like New York where we really have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to amazing museums, from the large world-famous destinations that everyone knows to the more niche institutions. We at I LOVE NY, along with the many other tourism promotion partners across the state that we work with, want our museum partners to thrive and we want them to help us help them.

How can museums in New York State better utilize I LOVE NY?   

There are a lot of different ways but I'll highlight four:

One is to make sure that you are connected with your local Tourism Promotion Agent (TPA). Every county in New York State has a TPA that is officially assigned to overseeing and coordinating tourism for their area. They act as our front line folks who we go to whenever we have a new campaign. It is very important that museums are connected with their TPAs, so when we reach out to the TPAs, they are well informed about what’s going on in the museum world in their area. They are also the ones responsible to make sure attractions and museums are listed on the I LOVE NY website and mobile app. 

Connect with your TPA to make sure you are on ILOVENY.COM and listed on the mobile app.

Two is to engage with our Path Through History initiative, either by becoming an official Path Through History attraction and/or by participating in a Path Through History Weekend. The Path Through History Weekend is a Tourism Heritage Initiative and a way that I LOVE NY can speak specifically to people who are interested in adding a heritage tourism element as part of their trip. One of its signature activities is the two Path Through History Weekends held each year: one in the spring and one in the fall. You don’t have to be a Path Through History attraction to hold an event and participate in a Path Through History Weekend. 

Third, it’s great to keep us informed of your public relations efforts because we post press releases on the I LOVE NY website, giving you additional exposure to the journalists with whom we are connected..

Lastly, if it is appropriate, apply for Market New York funding through the Consolidated Funding Application (CFA). This program allows museums to apply for grant funding that supports capital projects, special events and exhibitions, and special marketing initiatives that get the word out about their institutions. 

Can you tell me more about Market New York?

Market New York is a grant program that provides matching funds for tourism marketing projects, special events, and tourism facility capital improvements that will ultimate create economic development by increasing tourism throughout the state. More than $15 million awards were just announced as part of Round IX of the program [See our write up about 2019 REDC museum funding]. We hope there will be a Round X included in the next State Budget and, if so, that application process will open in the spring. 

How did you end up at I LOVE NY? What led you to this job? What were you doing before?

I’ve had a very varied career. My first career out of college was in marketing in the film industry for studios like Universal Pictures, Miramax and 20th Century Fox. I then had a second career; I went to law school and was a lawyer and advocate that included a long stint at New YorkState’s LGBT advocacy organization. I was their Executive Director for a few years, and helped coordinate the effort to legalize same-sex marriage in New York State. 

My first connection to Empire State Development and Tourism was to help launch Governor Cuomo’s LGBT initiative—a tourism project to make a specific invitation to the LGBT community. My overall background allowed me to go back to the future with marketing and led me here and to lead the Division of Tourism when my predecessor left in 2017.

Can describe a favorite day on the job?

In a way, it’s hard to say because there is no typical day at I LOVE NY, but I really enjoy interacting with and helping to support our tourism partners. That's probably one of my favorite parts of the job. We have such a talented and professional group of professionals working in New York’s tourism industrywhether those are destination marketers, or the people who run the attractions, colleagues at other state agencies, and the advocates at our state tourism trade groups. I am really grateful to get out in the field and to speak with and learn from our tourism partners, which includes participating in industry meetings like the MANY Conference or seeing the latest developments at a tourist destination. So, my favorite parts of the job are being out in New York State alongside my colleagues in the tourism industry.

Final Thoughts?

We exist to help the tourism industry and that very much includes museums. We can help museums fulfill their missions by helping them attract a larger and more diverse group of visitors often at no cost to the museum. In turn, we know that when museums succeed, they help us meet our responsibility in making New York State the world’s ultimate vacation destination. 

We see it as a very reciprocal relationship and we want to be able to help museums so that museums are able to help tourism. 

I emphasize the importance of museums to tourism and we recognize that museums have missions and an important societal role beyond that. As a New Yorker, I am glad for that role, even though  I need to focus on the tourism and economic development piece of it. One of the things that I feel satisfied about is that since I’ve been here there has been increased dialogue between the museum and tourism worlds. While we recognize that there is such a natural relationship there in helping each other succeed, we don’t necessarily speak the same language and that’s ok. There is so much cross over but there are independent pieces as well. 

Further Reading / Resources

To learn how your museum can apply for Market NY visit https://esd.ny.gov/market-new-york-tourism-grant-program

To learn more about I LOVE NY visit https://www.iloveny.com/

To find you Tourism Promotion Agency visit https://www.iloveny.com/articles/post/county-and-regional-tpa-list/

Owned and operated by the Underground Railroad History Project, the Myers Residence is using the house and objects found on site to challenge longstanding, stereotypical assumptions about free people of color before the Civil War. Its immersive approach to interpretation aspires to empower people to become agents of change in their own communities.

On Livingston Street in Albany, you’ll find a house that stands out from the rest. A mid-19th century three story brick Greek Revival that was once home to abolitionists Stephen and Harriet Myers. Today it is listed on the New York State Underground Railroad Heritage Trail and is a site on the National Park Service’s National Network to Freedom.

Purchased and saved from decades of neglect in 2004 by the Underground Railroad History Project, their goal is to preserve and restore the Myers Residence back to what it was in the 1850s. With nearly $1 million raised through grants and individual donations for preservation and restoration work on the building’s exterior, they are now turning their attention to interior restoration and interpretation.

Preservation with a Purpose

Mary Liz Stewart, Executive Director of the Underground Railroad History Project (URHP), began the organization out of a want to bring documented information about local Underground Railroad activities into her 5^th grade classroom. Her husband, Paul, was writing for a local newspaper, The South End Scene was also searching for documented information about the Underground Railroad in Albany for his articles. Through their research, they uncovered stories of those who had previously been “written out” of history that provided different accounts of the Underground Railroad activism. The Stewarts realized that the story they were uncovering belonged to the community and created the URHP. The Myers Residence is an important artifact of the anti-slavery and Underground Railroad period in Albany and has been documented as headquarters for Underground Railroad activity.

I met Stewart at the Myers Residence for a tour. When I arrived at 9:30 on a brisk January morning, there were already workers mixing cement for the restoration of the back stairs and preparing the ground for the installation of a new lift. “It’s important for accessibility and to remove as many barriers as we can,” said Stewart. She pointed out that there is only one fence on the property, at the rear, which was also intentional. “People of color have traditionally been excluded, so we decided not to put up fences surrounding the property.”

The interior walls have been striped back to plain plaster, an industrial carpet protects the original wooden floors, and interior doors have been removed. It is a blank canvas. I asked about any plans to leave parts of the house in an unfinished state. “We’ve had people ask if we plan to leave one room unfinished but with all the wealthy white men’s houses in Albany… the Schuyler Mansion, Ten Broeck, Crailo...it is important to have this home of an enslaved man be restored to the same standards,” said Stewart.

Splitting with Tradition

The front room has furniture you might have found in the 1850s when Stephen and Harriet Myers lived here as well as contemporary art. There is a second empire style couch from the 1850s but rather than a “do not sit” sign, visitors are encouraged to sit. It’s part of the overall goal of the Myers Residence to help the house and its history feel touchable for today's visitors. Stewart wants people to feel connected to the house and immersed in its history. By allowing visitors to sit on the furniture, the Myers Residence splits with traditional historic house museums.

What is most striking in the front parlor is a corner devoted to the Schuyler Flatts Burial Ground Project. Created to pay tribute to the discovered remains of 14 formerly enslaved people, the remains were reinterred in decorative catafalques made from wood and designed by artists. The remains lied in state at the Schuyler Mansion Historic Site in 2016 before being buried at St Agnes Cemetery. Photos of the 14 catafalques are displayed in a corner in the front parlor along with a large mixed media sculpture. This sculpture, created by visual artist D.D. McCullough titled, “The Scales of Injustice,” focuses on the “torture and pain experience by Africans during slavery.” The sculpture was created to accompany the 14 catafalques at the Schuyler Mansion Historic Site, and was then installed at the Myers Residence after being reinterred.

"The Scales of Injustice" by D.D. McCullough with images of artist designed catafalques displayed on the wall.

Writing and Murals on the Walls

Decorating the rest of the walls in the front parlor are signatures of some of those who have supported the Myers Residence and the URHP. The signatures punctuate the unfinished plaster and reflect the community effort that has surrounded this preservation project.

Written in a permanent market, signatures of Underground Railroad History Project supporters adorn the walls —including the signature of Congressman Paul Tonko, NY 20

The back parlor is a shared workspace. Two desks are pushed together in the middle of the room. It’s the office hub for all Underground Railroad History Project programming. Beyond the desks my attention was drawn to the brightly painted mural that travels up the stairs.

The mural, “Seeking Sanctuary” contains 100 events on a timeline that begins in 1741 with the NY Slave Conspiracy. “Each point highlights those who provided sanctuary, those who sought sanctuary, and those events in American and National history that caused the need for sanctuary,” said Stewart.  “It reflects the fact that the Myers Residence was a place of sanctuary in antebellum New York and continues to be a place of sanctuary today as it is used to promote racial reconciliation and healing.” The mural was designed and painted in 2018 by teens in the Young Abolitionist Teen Scholars’ Institute lead by local professional artist Oliver Peters. The mural travels with visitors up the stairs to the second and third floors and to current events.

“Seeking Sanctuary” mural recognizes 100 events on a timeline beginning in 1741 highlighting people who provided sanctuary, those who sought sanctuary, and events in American and National history that caused the need for sanctuary.

Artifacts Challenging Stereotypes

The back room of the second floor (once a bedroom and now the reading and exhibit room) is where visitors will find just a few of the artifacts found onsite. The Myers Residence uses archaeological artifacts that have been excavated on the property to tell more of its story. A pair of boots, pieces of a ceramic doll, a child’s tea set, slate pencils, and other artifacts are displayed. “There are a number of artifacts that had they been whole and intact, would have been part of a complete dinnerware,” shared Stewart. This dinnerware set found onsite is now used to share the Myers’ story and their role in Albany in society. “We use those pieces as a way to help displace some of the stereotypical notions that hover in public memory which usually suggest that free people [of color] before the Civil War did not have much. Finding artifacts like this [dinnerware] indicates the opposite for Harriet. This large collection of dinnerware pieces becomes an indicator of Harriet having a full set of matching dishes,” Stewart said. In addition to the artifacts changing previous stereotypical assumptions, the house plays an important role. “The house itself becomes an artifact...its ten rooms, the Greek Revival Style architecture, gas lighting, crown molding… all of these things are easily acquainted with the white wealthy families,” said Stewart. “This building speaks to both the wealth as well as the capacity of people of color before the Civil War who contributed to the health and vitality of the community which they were based.”

Pieces of a ceramic child’s tea set found on the property during archaeological excavations. This archaeological evidence reminds visitors that the Myers were also a family in addition to their work in civil rights activism.

Paper Trail

There are also important paper documents about the Myers that have been discovered in recent years that help provide a more comprehensive understanding of their lives. Visitors can flip through copies of chattel mortgages (the originals safely held in the Albany County Hall of Records) that list items owned by Stephen and Harriet Myers used as loan collateral. “These are incredible records of their personal possessions that gives us the opportunity to have a better understanding of what their personal world was like, what daily life was like, and what we are going to do when it comes time to furnish the building,” Stewart said. The goal is to interpret the house on a multi-dimensional scale. To portray the lives of Stephen and Harriett Myers as more than abolitionists, but as community activists, parents, working and supporting their family. “They were people with full, rich lives who engaged with organizations and activities beyond the Underground Railroad activism...but all efforts that were about equity and civil rights.”

Leaving Empowered

Comments left by visitors decorate the walls in the reading and exhibit room.

Stewart hopes that by using these artifacts in the interpretation of the house and its programming, visitors will connect with the Myers and draw connections from their lives in the 1850s to today.

There are post-it’s that cover the walls in this reading/exhibit room. These are thoughts left by visitors about their tour, about what they learned, what they liked, and how their visit affected them. It is an immersive experience.

“We want to empower people to engage and to become agents of change in their own networks, in their own communities working towards a more equitable and just society for everybody,” said Stewart. “We hope that when people come and become engaged with the Myers Residence, they will leave empowered and recognize that people of color have had a more significant impact on the American narrative.”

The Myers Residence is open for tours Monday to Friday, 5 – 8 PM and on Saturdays 12 – 4 PM.

For more information about the Myers Residence and the Underground Railroad History Project visit: https://www.undergroundrailroadhistory.org/