In 2018, New York State’s Regional Economic Development Councils (REDC) awarded over $15 million for capital improvement projects to museums. Museums are using these funds to expand gallery and exhibition spaces, improve facilities to increase accessibility, and adapt new spaces. These museum capital projects involve major construction projects that often serve as a catalyst for economic investment in their regions. All of these projects strengthen museums’ ability to implement their missions and serve their communities and their visitors.

REDC funded projects include a new entrance and visitor center at Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park, a 100,000 square foot expansion at The Strong National Museum of Play that will allow for new exhibitions and additional facilities for educational programs. The Studio Museum in Harlem’s capital project to reconstruct and re-envisioning of its current facilities will help it better serve its audiences. The Children’s Museum of the East End will build a permanent facility to expand community access to arts and cultural programming that will allow it to change from seasonal to year-round operations. Museums across New York State want to improve access to their collections and programming. While these projects will build capacity, they also require museums to think strategically about staffing, admissions,  interpretation, and maintaining public engagement with visitors throughout the construction. Especially if the museum has been undergoing major construction for over two decades like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin Martin House.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House, Image courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Martin House Facebook page.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin Martin House 25-Year Restoration

The buildings at Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House complex in Buffalo, NY began a $52 million restoration journey back in the early 1990s which was finished earlier Executive Director Mary Roberts was proud to announce that restoration was complete.

This project evolved from $10 million for the restoration of a single building to the restoration of the entire complex with a final budget that exceeded $50 million. Public funding accounted for $32 million of the total budget with $24 million from multiple New York State agencies. The balance between achieving this massive restoration project and continuing programming required creative solutions. “Restoration has been the backdrop to our operations for two decades and throughout the multiple phases of work, our interpretation has necessarily adapted to spaces and entire buildings under construction and restoration,” said Roberts.

Exterior view of the Darwin D. Martin House, 1959.  Victor Shanchuck, courtesy Martin House Restoration Corporation.

Interpretation Alteration

The Darwin Martin House embraced and incorporated ongoing restoration into its interpretative strategy. This approach allowed the museum to remain open and keep audiences engaged. “As programming revenue is so important to any presenting organization, we created messaging, tours and programs that made the most of the process inviting guests to experience a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ when they visited the work in progress,” said Roberts. Tours like “Hard Hat Tours” or “Restoration Tours” gave visitors the opportunity for an insider look at the restoration. “Hard Hat Tours” included an actual hard hat (for safety in an active construction site). These tours gave architecture enthusiasts or those curious to see up close structural details and restoration work. Throughout construction, tours and interpretation strategies evolved and changed to adapt to the work in progress.

Martin House, Open for Tours While Under Restoration.  Courtesy Martin House Restoration Corporation.

Building Closures and Public Accessibility

Building construction might necessitate museums like the Darwin Martin House to face some long-term closure. During one interior restoration phase, one half of the main residence was kept open while the other half remained closed. These areas shifted  as construction progressed. The museum built artificial walls with viewing windows that looked into these construction zones giving visitors a peek into the work in progress. “We required contractors to maintain safe and clean work spaces knowing that visitors would be adjacent to work zones,” Executive Director Roberts said. This approach allowed the museum to not fully close to the public, keep a revenue stream, and offer a unique experience that encouraged visitors to return after the restoration to see the project completed. 

Today the Martin House Restoration Corporation is bringing the Martin House complex back to its former magnificence in the most ambitious restoration of a Frank Lloyd Wright site ever undertaken. Three of the original elements — the pergola, conservatory and carriage house, which were demolished decades ago, are rebuilt in the first-ever reconstruction of Wright buildings. The historic site is operated as a house museum and will remain open for tours throughout the restoration.  From time to time a specific tour space in the Martin House may be unavailable due to ongoing restoration. An alternate space will be made available.

-Darwin Martin House website, May  2015

Reconstruction of Pergola, Conservatory, courtesy Martin House Restoration Corporation.

Construction and Public Perception

The Darwin Martin House created positive and informative messaging on construction fencing to keep visitors and the local community informed. This signage provided details about the restoration projects. The Darwin Martin House also provided educational lectures, programs, and exhibitions on site and at partner locations that focused on the restoration. Additionally, the Darwin Martin website included details for each restoration phase. “We tried to never apologize for work in progress, and instead created messaging delivered by our staff and volunteer docents that the restoration was a very positive thing, and something we were proud of,” said Roberts. Marketing messaging and publicity celebrated each completed restoration phase and kept restoration work transparent that also engaged the public. 

Construction and Community

Construction signage outside the Darwin Martin House

One priority that the Darwin Martin House kept throughout its 25-year long restoration was being sensitive to the needs of their Parkside Community. “The Parkside Community Association has an ex officio seat on our board of directors in order to maintain strong lines of communication and foster involvement that has enabled a strong and positive relationship,” said Roberts. “We offered special meetings, receptions and sent written updates with information in advance about projects to the neighbors, and invited their comments and questions on a regular basis.” Community engagement during massive construction projects fosters public trust and encourages public support. 

Governor Andrew Cuomo closed the final gap for restoration funding with $5 million that was used to rehabilitate the historic landscape, preserve the Barton House (the secondary residence on the estate), and complete the restoration of the second floor of the Martin House 25 years after construction began. Capital improvement funding is critical to improving museums’ ability to increase admissions and solidify their role as economic engines in the New York State economy. The completed restoration at the Darwin Martin House will “boost the number of tourists significantly above the nearly 400,000 who came last year,” Patrick Kaler, Visit Buffalo Niagara for The Buffalo News (June 2019). Funding for these massive projects are important to increase capacity that is needed to achieve these economic development numbers and require museums like the Darwin Martin House to be strategic in planning interpretation, engagement, and in maintaining programming revenue. “...the restoration is an important part of the story we tell, and it is now a part of the history of our National Historic Landmark and New York State Historic Site,” Executive Director Roberts said. “It is a project that has captured the imaginations and hearts of many. It is a symbol of what a community can do when it sets its mind to doing something important.” 

Final Thoughts: The Darwin Martin House Strategy 

• Embrace the construction work and include it into your interpretation

• Find unique solutions to keep up with programming and tours that incorporate the construction

• Promote capital improvement projects with positive messaging and include the community in the conversation

• Stay transparent by listing information about construction on a website
  

I am taking the opportunity for this “Letters from Erika” for a bit of shameless promotion of MANY fall programs. I usually use this space to comment on trends and topics I find relevant and important to bring to the attention of colleagues. This time, they are one and the same.

This year’s Museum Institute at Great Camp Sagamore is designed to help museum professionals share ways to build organizational capacity in fundraising, program structures, leadership training, and human resource development through diversity, equity, access, and inclusion. Four days and three nights in this immersive learning experience with experts in the field renews energy and motivates change. Feeling a bit stuck and unsure what might be next for you? Come to Great Camp Sagamore and let us help you find some new choices.

Our fall Meet Ups and Workshops are in places where mission, community, and resources align to create new synergies. Workshops will re-present programs that were the most highly rated by annual conference attendees and will include something for museum professionals of different experience levels and disciplines. We are also trying a new workshop structure; our September workshop in Buffalo will focus on fundraising and institutional advancement. Meet Ups will include exhibition and behind-the-scenes tours as well as refreshments, time to connect with colleagues. and learn what MANY has planned for the coming year. 

Fall 2018 program assessments revealed that people are attending MANY Workshops and Meet Ups to network with individuals from their regions, learn about what is happening at other museums and make connections with Industry Partners; more than a third of the attendees traveled over an hour; half of those who responded to the survey were attending a Meet-Up or Workshop for the first time and 90% said that they would visit the museum again in the future. 

I am so excited to be able to see hundreds of you this fall and have the opportunity to speak in person. I look forward to learning about all the amazing things happening in New York. Please join us, visit a place that may be in your region but you have never seen before, and tell me something good that we can share with all of our members, colleagues, and industry partners.

See you on the road! e

After visiting almost every state, Museum on Main Street is making its New York State debut with Water/Ways this June at the Erie Canal Museum.

The Erie Canal Museum and the surrounding community has been chosen by the Museum Association of New York to host Water/Ways as part of the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program―a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations. The exhibition will tour six communities in New York State through April 2020.

#thinkwater #nysmuseums

Learn more at: https://nysmuseums.org/WaterWaysTour

The Coby Foundation has awarded more than $5 million to over 170 projects in its history. Established in 1994 by Irene Zambelli Silverman to honor her mother, Irene Meladis Zambelli, the Foundation’s goal is to promote scholarly research about and exhibition implementation for textiles. 

The Foundation provides funding to non-profit organizations in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic for textile scholarship, consulting, exhibition planning, and exhibition implementation from early antique textiles to contemporary avant-garde. The Foundation supports projects that will benefit the public by creating dynamic exhibitions and public programming. “Artists and designers are turning more and more to textiles for research, inspiration, and for use in their own work so more museums are including academic research and exhibitions for these artists to use as a resource,” said Ward Mintz, the Coby Foundation Executive Director. While the Foundation has funded larger museums like the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Museum of Art and Design (MAD) in New York City, and the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, the Foundation wants to increase its support to smaller museums, specifically in Upstate New York. 

In 2018, The Coby Foundation awarded over $700,000 in grants to textile projects, the largest amount in its history.  The Foundation supported twenty projects, the majority of which were contemporary art of design exhibitions. 

“Many of these institutions have these collections and need the expertise to look at them and see what they are ...[the Coby Foundation] goal is to not only help museums understand what they have in their textile collection but to put it to use in an exhibition,” Mr. Mintz said. For smaller museums who have a large textile collection but need assistance and guidance on care, preservation, or how best to exhibit these items, the Coby Foundation’s mission is to provide funding to support “exhibitions and programs that combine excellent scholarship and effective interpretation” with an emphasis on providing a public benefit. “Most institutions that we fund don’t necessarily do textile projects all the time.”

Case study: Everson Museum of Art

Shelia Pipe: Hot Mess Formalism, 2017 $40,000

Sheila Pepe: Hot Mess Formalism at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. Photo by David Broda

The Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York, focuses on modern and contemporary American art and was the first museum to classify ceramics as fine art. When President and CEO Elizabeth Dunbar had a chance meeting with Ward Mintz at an event, she mentioned bringing textile artist Sheila Pepe’s Hot Mess Formalism to the Everson. Ward Mintz was eager to help the Everson Museum bring this exhibition organized by the Phoenix Art Museum to Upstate New York. The Coby Foundation was able to fund artist travel costs, as well as programming and installation costs for this exhibition. Previous to this meeting with Mr. Mintz, Director Dunbar did not know about the Coby Foundation. “The Coby Foundation was [and still is] looking to diversify its grant applications outside of New York City,” Director Dunbar told us. “...and if you are not exclusively working with textiles, you might not have encountered the Foundation before.” She noted that the Foundation encourages a one to one conversation regarding exhibition funding and it is helpful to have the letter of intent ahead of the formal application process to see if the Coby Foundation is a good match. 

Advice for applicants? “Review previously funded projects to find similarities but also keep in mind that it is a competitive grant process so make your application stand out. Do your homework, and have a conversation with Ward at the start.”

Case study: Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY)

Warmth, Remembrance, and Art: 200 Years of Quilts and Comforters in Northern NY, 2016 $25,000

“Warmth, Remembrance, and Art: 200 Years of Quilts and Comforters in Northern, NY” exhibition at the Traditional Arts in Upstate New York.  Photo by Dave Warner, artintheadirondacks.com

TAUNY’s mission is to document and present the living traditions and folk culture of the North Country in NYS, a fourteen county region north of the Mohawk River, from Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River to Lake Champlain and includes the Adirondack Mountains. Executive Director Jill Breit, a folklorist, partnered with Historian Halle Bond, who had worked previously as the historian at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake (the Adirondack Experience), to travel around the north country to document quilts. Historian Bond had received funding from the Coby Foundation for a textile project. “And I just couldn’t believe that there was a foundation that specialized in supporting scholarship about textiles which is an area that I love and have done a lot of work in...to me that was a dream come true that they had a very specific focus,” said TAUNY Executive Director Jill Breit. Director Breit called Ward Mintz at the Coby Foundation to inquiry more about the Foundation and possible funding opportunities. TAUNY applied for a planning grant to develop a scheme for this quilt exhibition and then applied for a grant to implement their research as an exhibition.

“The Coby Foundation is rigorous about the scholarship. They expect you to have scholars involved with your projects and to really do the research so we had consulting textile scholars who worked with us. It is a good and necessary part of us applying...to have our work vetted by scholars in the area,” Director Breit said. The Coby Foundation wants to help smaller institutions build capacity to learn about textiles and elevate the scholarship around textiles.

Advice for applicants? Have a conversation with Ward Mintz first who can help to frame a letter of intent before the invitation to make a full application. “I always start by talking to the grant officer first, especially with a new foundation that I have not worked with before,” Director Breit said. “Even with a foundation that I have worked with for years, I like to call just to check in to see if anything has changed or if there are new priority areas.”

Case study: Olana State Historic Site

Costume & Custom: Middle Eastern Threads, 2018 $30,000

Three figures dressed in Middle Eastern Clothing, Dining Room. Photo Courtsey Peter Aaron/OTTO and the Coby Foundation; Olana State Historic Site

The Coby Foundation supported this exhibition at Olana State Historic Site, Frederick Church’s home in Hudson, NY. The exhibition featured clothing collected by Church during his travels to Middle Eastern cities like Damascus, Beriut, Petra, and Jerusalem from 1867 to 1868. Olana had these materials in their collection but had yet to exhibit them. With funding from Coby Foundation, Olana hired Textile and Costume Historian Lynne Bassett and Palestinian costume expert Hana Karaman Munayyer to research the people who wore these clothes that were collected by Church and his use of these cloths  in his home and art. What stood out about this project to The Coby Foundation was that this collection was previously untouched and that Olana was working with a Palestinian organization for special docents to lead public tours as well as bringing in experts in the field to do the work. Ward Mintz noted that this exhibition reunited Church’s historic costume collection with Church’s artwork, including displaying original sketches of the clothes that inspired his home at Olana and having the very same clothes in the room. 

The Grant Process

1. Send up to a 2-page letter of inquiry either through the website or by email to Executive Director Ward Mintz

2. Provide a budget showing income and expense

If the project meets requirements, the organization is invited to submit a formal application. 

What to include in your proposal? “I look to see if there is expertise that they have either acquired a consultant or on the staff for this project,” Mr. Mintz said. 

• Interpretive strategy for an exhibition that is reasonable and intelligent

• Efforts that the organization is making for public outreach, i.e. to get people in to see the exhibition or participate in accompanying programming

• Must be a 501c3

• The project must begin at least three months from the grant award

How much can I apply for? While there is no minimum or maximum grant amount request, not many projects are awarded less than $5,000 or more than $100,000. The average grant awarded is $20,000. There are exceptions if there is a highly unusual circumstance. “If there is a project that is a huge step out for the organization because of the subject matter we might give out a higher percentage...but we want to see outside funding sources besides us to the project that demonstrates a commitment to the project,” Mr. Mintz said. 

Other advice? Look at what has been funded in the past. The Coby Foundation has archives on its website for grants awarded from  2012 to 2018. You can see if there are any projects similar to the one you might propose or if there aren't, determine why your project meets The foundation’s guidelines. Mr. Mintz also strongly suggests contacting previously Coby Foundation grantees to ask them about the process. “We are in a generous field with other organizations willing to share their project details...take advantage of this,” Mr. Mintz said. 

Learn More

The Coby Foundation

http://cobyfoundation.org/

Sheila Pepe: Hot Mess Formalism at the Everson Museum

https://www.everson.org/explore/past-exhibitions/sheila-pepe-hot-mess-formalism

Warmth, Remembrance, and Art: 200 Years of Quilts and Comforters in Northern NY at TAUNY 

http://tauny.org/subpages/42/194/22/quilt-exhibit-2016

Costume & Custom: Middle Eastern Threads at Olana State Historic Site

https://www.olana.org/exhibitions/costume-custom-middle-eastern-threads-at-olana/

MANY Profile: Joshua Voda, Public Affairs Officer

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, New York

Five years ago, Joshua Voda almost started a career with the Internal Revenue Service, but after serving for six years in the United States Air Force, Joshua missed public service. He turned to the Public Affairs Department at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York City where he has been helping to amplify the dialogue across the country. “A lot of museums are more directly confronting diversity and women rights and with some of those issues, we are part of the national dialogue today, and from my perspective being part of the machine that helps publicizes those dialogues at the National Museum of the American Indian...” This past April, Joshua traveled to Cooperstown to attend his first MANY annual conference. We caught up with him to learn more about his journey to the museum field and his role at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Joshua Voda, Public Affairs Officer at a museum staff event in the New York Museum's Diker Pavilion for Native Arts and Cultures

MANY: What’s your current position? How long have you been there? 

Joshua: Public Affairs Officer at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and I have been there for 5 years. 

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

I handle media relations for the NY branch of the museum, and coordinate with the DC museum [Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian] marketing. Day to day, I make ad purchases, or I negotiate contracts and generally take media relations queries for the exhibitions or for the museum more broadly.

The exterior of the National Museum of the American Indian in NYC at the George Gustav Heye Center, located within the historic Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House.

The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian located in Washington, D.C. which houses one of the largest and most diverse collections to the understanding and knowledge of the Native cultures of the Western cultures. Photography courtesy Jackson Lo, Flickr, May 2011

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

Being part of the Smithsonian you are connected to so many different and important issues and it’s really a place where we are putting our best foot forward in terms of the national dialogue and the way that we want the country to be remembered. It is an exciting time to be part of the Smithsonian when we have another national identity museum in the mix, the National Museum of African American History & Culture. I think that a lot of museums are more directly confrontingdiversity and women rights and some issues that we are part of the national dialogue today and from my perspective being part of the machine that helps publicized a lot of those dialogues at the National Museum of the American Indian and at the Smithsonian overall I think that it is a big responsibility to get that message out there and that’s what motivates me to go to work every day.

How did you end up at the Public Affairs Officer for the National Museum of the American Indian? What led you to this job? What were you doing before? 

I got to the Smithsonian in 2014. I was working for Apple at the time, but I didn’t feel that I wanted to be part of anymore and previously I had been in the United States Air Force Public Affairs. I decided that I wanted to go back to government work and then I learned that the Smithsonian had a presence in NYC. At that time, I was getting through the rounds of potentially working for the Internal Revenue Service… so in terms of cocktail conversations, I think that I got the better end of it.

Can you describe a favorite day on the job?

The first one that comes to mind is that we recently, last year in May, we opened imagiNATIONS Activity Center which is a new permanent part of the museum in New York that directly connects Native innovations in STEM. It’s geared to kids in 4th to 8th grade and looks to bring the kids into the museum and let them know about all the different types of or menus of different ways that native people throughout time have made innovations in science and technology that affect the way we work today. When we opened this Center one of the first classes that came in was a local class from NYC and they were so excited to be the first to experience the space. To see the first group of kids really interact with all of the different interactive stations, you could really tell it was making a difference. It was the moment that they started using and interpreting the information. That was really rewarding. It spoke to so many parts of our mission and it really was a joyful time to be at the museum. For me it was a time that will always stick out as one of the most important events.

Six graders learn how igloos are engineered and construct their own model during the opening day of imagiNATIONS Activity Center at the National Museum of the American Indian, NYC, Photography courtesy Susan Bednarczyk via Flickr, Press opening day, May 2018

The imagiNATIONS Activity Center opened in May 2018 in NYC. “In this lively, interactive space, young visitors will explore the scientific principles behind Native ideas so ingenious they remain a part of modern life and will leave with a key takeaway-Native people were the original innovators of the Americas.”- Joshua Voda, Media Fact Sheet, December 2017

What is your favorite item in the collection?

For me, it's not that I have a favorite object per se but I have seen a lot of really interesting exhibitions come through and even though. I think that my favorite thing is exposure to new artists because we don’t often come across a lot of Native American artists. The show that we have currently is from the Peabody Essex Museum and presents the work of artist T.C. Cannon. I think it really defines the imagery of native people in a certain dignity that at the time, this was the 70s, many works weren't allowed or the imagery pushed native people to ideals that would maybe pigeon hold them to the past and he really modernized the imagery of native people that I think was so groundbreaking at the time but even now to put that contemporary face on native people is really important because people need to be reminded that native people still exist and are part of a vibrant culture and his work comes across strongly. So I wouldn’t say that I have a favorite object but there are many moments at the museum and exhibitions that have touched me and made me rethink a lot of those things that I just missed formal educational settings in regards to native peoples. 

 Artist T.C. Cannon (Caddo and Kiowa, 1946–1978) identified struggle and resilience as key features of Native American identity. In the mid-1970s, he wrote, “by the simple and beautiful virtue of being native american [sic], with the blood of mountain and bird motivation, we still have to be soldiers in our homeland.” His work "Soldiers" captures this sentiment in the split figure: the Native soldier confronts and merges with the colonizing aggressor in his homeland."Soldiers" is currently on display at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York in the exhibition "T.C. Cannon: At the Edge of America," which runs through September 16. Admission is free. Caption and image courtesy the National Museum of the American Indian.

Can we go further back? Where did you grow up? What was it like to grow up there? Where did you go to school? 

A little town called Divernon, Illinois, for the most part. I traveled around a lot, but that’s where I graduated high school and I got there around middle school so that’s where I claim. It was peaceful. It was very, I would say it was mono-cultured though and so when I graduated I went into the Air Force. That was my first time being around a diverse group of people living and working together. I think that meant a lot in my early adulthood and where that has brought me today. The military offers people a lot of different things but I think that [the military has a] certain respect for diversity. You get used it [diversity] really quickly and learn to appreciate it because you really need to operate well in the military. With so many different perspectives, the military facilitates diversity in a way that you often don’t find even in many corporate settings.

Did your 18-year-old self imagine that you would be where you are today?

The first thing that comes to mind is more of an identity question because I am gay and married now, next year it will be ten years, so no I don’t think so that kind of image of what life could be like for a gay man didn't exist when I was growing up. I think that really speaks to how quickly things can change in legislative terms and in the process of world and world affairs, for me to be where I am at right now and not just in terms in of being in NYC because I always thought I would be in a more cosmopolitan place than where I grew up.

Do you have any key mentors or someone who has deeply influenced you? Can you tell me about them?

Yes, I won’t mention his name but there is a person very close to me, a very successful business person and I think that he approaches careers and business decisions in a very pragmatic way and so for me to be able to model that behavior has been beneficial to me and I think well as reciprocal as me being a mentee. He helped me a lot in the process guiding me in my career. Do I believe that a mentor relationship is beneficial? I certainly do.

What was the last book you read? 

I have a tendency to pick up a bunch and put them down, so multiple ones, but I like to try to go back and pick up classics. Villette by Charlotte Bronte is what I was reading last.

MANY staff lent a hand at the Water/Ways installation workshop at the Erie Canal Museum on June 27 with representatives from host sites to learn how the pieces go together. Carol Harsh, Director of the Museum on Main Street Program for the Smithsonian Institution (pictured front right) led the workshop.

Dear Members, Friends, and Colleagues,

The Museum Association of New York is so very proud to announce that last week we helped the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse install Water/Ways, the first Smithsonian Institution Museum on Main Street (MoMS) exhibition in New York State. MoMS exhibitions are designed to share the resources of the Smithsonian and act as catalysts for community conversations. In partnership with state-wide service organizations, MoMS invites small museums to participate in a national exhibition program and create education programs and cultural events that center on local culture and history.  

Water/Ways explores the connections between human beings and water—focusing on the environment, culture, and history. Each host museum will add to the Smithsonian’s exhibition with an exhibition from their collections to tell the story of the importance of water in their own communities. MANY has partnered with NY Folklore to develop folk arts programming that will infuse the Water/Ways exhibition with local stories. NY Folklore Director Ellen McHale shared with me what she thought about the importance of our partnership:

"History" is a moving target as it can be what happened 200 years ago, and also what happened 20 years ago. Too often, the lens of history is conceived of narrowly - omitting the voices of women, children, the poor, people of color, immigrants, marginalized groups of all sorts, etc.  My goal, and the goals of my folklore and museum colleagues, is to infuse the nationally focused exhibition with local voices, to provide relevance for today's current audience demographics while including the overarching humanities themes of the exhibition. For the story of water in New York State, it is very important to include the voices of our Native populations who have important connections to water and who have maintained residency in our communities from before European colonization and into the present day. It is also important to include the voices of our most recently-arrived residents."

There are six museums where you will be able to see the Water/Ways exhibition in the next ten months. To learn more about Water/Ways click here. The exhibition opened to the public at the Erie Canal Museum on June 29 and will open at Wells College in Aurora in partnership with the Aurora Masonic Center and the Village of Aurora Historical Society on August 24, at Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village on October 5, and at the Chapman Museum on November 23. In 2020, the exhibition opens at the Hudson River Maritime Museum on January 11 and at its final New York venue, the East Hampton Historical Society on February 29. 

I hope you will find time in your schedule in the coming months to visit these museums, see the exhibition, and participate in the programs. Generous funding and support from our sponsors allowed us to produce a coloring book for family audiences and an app by OnCell that shares information about exhibitions and programs. 

This may be the first of the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street traveling exhibitions in New York, but it won’t be the last. Stay tuned for more information about how your museum may qualify as a MoMS site and can partner with MANY as a host site forDemocracy in America: Voices and Votes coming to New York in 2024 and 2025. 

With many MANY thanks,

Erika Sanger

Executive Director

Water/Ways has been made possible in New York State by the Museum Association of New York. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress. The New York tour of the Water/Ways exhibition is made possible by the Museum Association of New York. The exhibition and programming was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, Hadley Exhibits, Inc., the New York State Canal Corporation, the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor and the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Corridor. Folk Art programming is sponsored by New York Folklore, and supported by the New York State Regional Economic Development Initiative, a program of Governor Andrew M Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Gaylord Archival, On-Cell, are among our in-kind donors.  

When you think of sharks you might not think of them swimming in New York’s ocean waters. But at the new $158 million, 57,000+ square foot home of the New York Aquarium on Coney Island built for Ocean Wonders: Sharks! visitors can see the diverse and surprising marine wildlife that exists right off New York’s shores. The New York Aquarium is part of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and has been a partner in their 120 year-long effort to save wildlife. The creation of this new exhibit space is a collaborative effort in a shared goal to further the WCS work by establishing Ocean Wonders as a public engagement entry point.

The beautiful world created in Ocean Wonders connects the intriguing fascination of sharks and the important conservation needed to protect them and other marine wildlife. The New York Aquarium has seen a 70% growth in the number of visitors since Ocean Wonders opened last June and they ask New Yorkers during and after their visit to work with the Aquarium to protect, conserve, and celebrate through conservation actions that begin at home. 

Ocean Wonders: Sharks!  No need to hold your breath for this sea dive. The Coral Reef Tunnel lets you explore a colorful reef, while blacktip reef sharks, fish, and zebra sharks swim around you. 

Photograph courtesy New York Aquarium.

 

Shark Appeal

The WCS says that Ocean Wonders: Sharks! “will drive awareness of the importance of sharks to the health of the world’s ocean; educate visitors about the severe threats sharks face; and inspire guests to protect the surprisingly diverse and beautiful marine wildlife here in New York.” The exhibition allows visitors to get up close and learn about sharks while supporting the WCS as they work to save sharks around the world. The New York Aquarium uses the appeal and fascination of sharks as an accessible entry point for visitors to learn about the diverse marine wildlife that is closer to home then they might think. It challenges visitors to understand and take action around lifestyle decisions that can have a positive impact on wildlife in New York waters.

Ocean Wonders: Sharks! has a popular appeal. The Coral Reef Tunnel, dubbed “highly Instagramable,” is a visitor favorite across all demographics. If you type #nyaquarium into your Instagram search, you’ll see an astonishing number of coral reef tunnel images and probably more pictures than you can scroll through. Most images are perfectly posed and others include quotes from the song “Baby Shark,” but most are images of what you find behind the glass -- over 115 marine species and 18 different species of sharks and rays. Other sections of the exhibition include a series of experiential spaces that focus on the role sharks play in maintaining healthy marine habitats, the threats that sharks face from fisheries, and data that support that sharks are indeed found throughout the world, and in New York. Visitors learn that sharks aren’t so far away and that the diversity of this group, its ancient lineage, and highly evolved adaptations are what makes the shark so intriguing- even if you don’t have a great interest in marine life. 

A sand tiger shark leads the way in the Ocean Wonder: Sharks! Exhibition. Photograph by Julie Larsen Maher, New York Aquarium

Conservation Through Connection

The Canyon’s Edge gallery gives visitors the ability to look deep into the depths of the ocean. New York is home to Hudson Canyon, the largest submarine canyon on the Atlantic Coast. The New York Aquarium is working to have it named as a National Marine Sanctuary. Here visitors might catch a glimpse of a sand tiger shark or a nurse shark resting along the sandy ledge. Canyon’s Edge creates a sense of awe and wonder and allows visitors to stare past its well-lit foreground into the deep blue. Your eyes catch the light as it's disrupted by a passing sandbar shark or a cownose ray. Their movements and the calm water current that has created this resting sandy ledge is meditative. Sharks are an ecologically important component of the diverse wildlife found all around New York. 

Looking out beyond the sandy ledge at Canyon’s Edge. 

Photograph courtesy New York Aquarium

Swimming the Swim

In addition to raising awareness about the ecological conservation for sharks, the Ocean Wonders exhibition wants to educate the public about environmental threats to marine wildlife. Ocean Wonders used to build public awareness for marine wildlife conservation through educating the public about the threats of plastic pollution and ways that they can minimize their impact. “There are threats of pollution and overexploitation that threaten New York’s waters and that Aquarium visitors can take action to minimize in their own lives…” said John Delany, Director of Communications for the New York Aquarium. The New York Aquarium leads by example by drastically reducing the amount of plastic used on site, and ensuring that seafood served is sustainably sourced. For more information about these conservation efforts please visit the Wildlife Conservation Society, https://www.wcs.org/. 

Along the boardwalk. The exterior of the new $158 million, 57,500 square foot exhibit building on Coney Island. Photograph courtesy New York Aquarium.

Through Our Eyes: Milestones and Memories of African Americans in Yonkers at the Hudson River Museum illustrates more than 100 years of Yonkers history in photographs and objects. The exhibition is organized into different themes. Each theme displayed like a gallery wall in a family’s home, telling the stories that are often overlooked in traditional museum exhibitions. Since August 2018, Christian Stegall has been working with the Yonkers community to create the exhibition. He spent seven months researching and interviewing Yonkers residents to gather and share their stories. With help from community leaders, the exhibition quickly grew and presents over 700 photographs depicting everyday life. 

Christian moderated a roundtable discussion with Arya Henry (Manager, Youth and Family programs at Hudson River Museum) on Making Your Museum a True Reflection of Your Community at the Museum Association of New York 2019 Access and Identity annual conference in Cooperstown, NY. Christian is the Hudson River Museum’s Samuel H. Kress Interpretive Fellow. This fellowship is awarded to only six museums nationwide each year with the goal of diversifying the next generation of art museum professionals. 

The exhibition is on view at the Hudson River Museum through November 3, 2019.

Starting this September, the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor is expanding their Erie Canalway Impact Grants.

New Funding

The new grant program includes smaller grants that range from $2,500 to $12,000 that will fund programming, interpretation, trail development, and pre-engineering and design plans. While multiple project applications are encouraged, these impact grants cannot be used to fund the same project repeatedly. There are no exclusions for previously funded projects by the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor or through NY Canal Corporation, although first-time applicants are highly encouraged. These one-year long grant investment grants are available for projects that take place within the boundaries of the National Heritage Corridor. Those eligible to apply are 501c3 Non-Profits, municipalities, and federally recognized Native American Tribes. 

What types of projects are they looking for? 

Corn Hill Waterfront and Navigation Foundation – Ride & Glide Tour Series 

“We love to see projects submitted in partnership,” says Andy Kitzmann, Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Assistant Director. Previously funded projects include the Corn Hill Navigation and the Sam Patch Erie Canal Boat Tours that partnered with the Rochester City School District to develop and implement a 4th-grade curriculum that featured STEM materials that students learned right on this replica 1800s packet boat. 

The project was developed in conjunction with the zoo, the local BOCES, and the Rochester City School District. It is a great example of four different entities coming together, focusing on STEM, and using the Canalway. 

Other examples include the study on the old Erie Canal kayak launches by Montgomery County. The grant funded the research to turn the informal kayak launches into formal, ADA compliant, offer parking, etc. The new grants will fund this type of pre-development work. 

2020 will also be another busy year for important anniversaries like the Women’s Suffrage Centennial in Seneca Falls and the ongoing celebration of the Erie Canal Bicentennial (2017-2025). Projects that commemorate these anniversaries are also encouraged to apply.

Other ideas?

• Links to the Canalway’s environmental resources

• Programs that focus on STEM

• Programs that get people out on the water and raise awareness of the recreational resources that the canal has to offer

• • Like projects with a recreational focus (kayaking or cycling)

  • Or get people out and enjoying the Canalway trail

Programs like “Kayak Through History” at the Schenectady County Historical Society, or “Tuesdays on the Tow Path” at the Chittenango Boat Landing Museum that use the canal to promote recreation in creative ways have both been previously funded by the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. 

Mr. Kitzmann also encourages programs or projects that focus on STEM-based education that can help fill the gap in the canalway’s interpretation. “Science, technology, engineering, and math that’s what the canal is all about. It’s an exercise in engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, geology, math, surveying, and more.”

First Time Applying?

If you’re new to grant applications or new to an organization that has an ideal project for this funding, potential applicants should contact Andy Kitzmann. “We encourage people to call in and bounce their ideas off me and ask questions,” Mr. Kitzmann said. “It’s helpful for people because it gives them a sense of where our priorities are and we can make links between what their projects are and what we’re looking to accomplish with our grant program and find those commonalities.”

Important Grant Information

• Grants range from $2,500 - $12,000

• A 1:1 match is required

• Projects and programs must take place within the boundaries of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor

• Project timelines are 1-year in length

• Funding applications are open to 501c3, municipalities, and federally recognized Native American Tribes

• Grant applications will open in September 2019 

• Grant applications must be postmarked or hand-delivered by 4 PM, Friday, October 18, 2019.

• Grant awards will be announced in January 2020

Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Map 

Further Reading/Resources

Andy Kitzmann, Assistant Director, Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor

(518) 237-7000 ext. 201

andy_kitzmann@partner.nps.gov

Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Grants

https://eriecanalway.org/resources/grants

An Award Winning Approach

https://eriecanalway.org/resources/preserve-plan

Previously Funded Projects

https://eriecanalway.org/application/files/1415/5146/3963/2019_Erie_Canalway_Grant_Program_Awards_FINAL.pdf

Case Studies

https://eriecanalway.org/find-resources/case-studies

Sugar boiling pots and slave cabins, Whitney Plantation

When I was young, teachers at PS 110 in Manhattan tried to teach me that America was a “Melting Pot.” As I learned about my friends, classmates, neighbors, and how my family came to this country, that phrase lost its sensibility. My grandmother never opened a cookbook and my mother embraced the ever expanding frozen food aisle. I learned about the people who shared my world through their music and food ways and was fortunate to be surrounded by an endless supply of sounds and flavors to nourish my heart and my body. I came to learn that there is no single American culture, no one American story, and no giant simmering vessel in which it is possible to reduce and blend our complex history.

At the recent AAM conference in New Orleans, museum professionals shared their struggles, successes, and expertise. Many sessions were focused on AAM’s Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion initiatives. The city of New Orleans was an ideal place to have discussions about how museums can use culture and art as our tools to amplify awareness, encourage social activism, and grow economic development for our communities.  With my mind full of new ideas and my belly full of the evidence of the food culture, I thought how might we create a recipe for the future of our museum community? How do we become professionals and places where we not only educate but are educated by our communities?

In museums, we are comfortable with being educators. Now it is time to figure out how we allow ourselves to be educated. If we keep sharing our successes and our learning, we might just succeed together. It may be hard to find the right place to begin or how to start opening doors. Change is inherently subversive and someone will be disappointed no matter what you do. You may even do something “wrong” but at least you know you have done something.

A “melting pot” was never an apt metaphor for the United States. There was always and will continue to be too many flavors, colors, and textures for us all to homogenize into one single dish. And if we agree that authentic experiences matter, and the recipe for our future is about inclusion, wouldn’t you much rather be eating jambalaya?

Thank you for your support, e

Erika Sanger

Executive Director, MANY