Dear Museum Directors:

Greetings from Washington, DC! I write you today to invite your museum to participate this year in the Blue Star Museums program. For the past eight years, the National Endowment for the Arts has collaborated with Blue Star Families and the U.S. Department of Defense on Blue Star Museums, a program which provides free museum admission to active duty military and their families all summer long. Each year, more than 2,000 museums participate, reaching on average more than 856,000 military members and their families.

To become a Blue Star museum, the process is simple: just follow this link to sign up on-line. Even if you have participated in the past, you must sign up again to participate in 2018. If your institution is already offering a similar program or already offers free admission to all, registering as a Blue Star Museum provides a national platform to showcase your museum to the military community.

After registration, you will receive a welcome email with a link to the Blue Star Museums webpage where you will find information on admissions eligibility and promotional resources to help you share news about this summer program. We would be deeply appreciative if you would join Blue Star Museums 2018. The Blue Star Museums program sends our nation’s military families a clear signal, that the museums of the nation recognize and honor their contributions by opening their doors to share the treasures of the nation with those who have been serving so long and so faithfully. If you have any questions please email bluestarmuseums@arts.gov or call Laska Hurley at 202-682-5451.

Sincerely,

Jane Chu, Chairman
National Endowment for the Arts

PRESS RELEASE

In 2017, the Coby Foundation awarded $556,000 in grants, the highest amount in its 16-year history, supporting projects throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The Foundation, the only one in the United States to focus its funding on the fashion and textile field, supported twenty projects that ranged from artist installations to ethnographic fashion to an exhibition examining shopping for clothing.

The largest grant went to the Penn Museum, the esteemed archaeology and anthropology institution at the University of Pennsylvania. Coby funds will allow for the display of textiles in newly renovated galleries. Featured will be luxury items, Persian silks from the 16^th and 17^th centuries that tell the story of global trade and also works collected from the Turkmen people of Central Asia ($100,000).

From Penn Museum New Textile Gallery: Hand-embroidered women's coat of natural dyed silk and cotton; Turkmenistan, Central Asia, ca. 1890, # 99-24-1.

The Fabric Workshop and Museum, also in Philadelphia, received the second largest grant for Process and Practice: 40 Years of Experimentation, which celebrates its 40^thanniversary by pairing evocative items taken from almost 60 boxes containing process materials from its artists residencies with the finished works that were produced in FWM’s Workshop. Tom Hine wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer that “The opening of its boxes is a gift to Philadelphians” ($90,000).

Other grants for contemporary projects went to the Everson Museum of Syracuse for Sheila Pepe: Hot Mess Formalism ($44,000); the Mattatuck Museum (CT) for Ùtútù, an installation by Nnenna Okore, who used textiles to commemorate the colors and landscapes of her childhood home in Nigeria (5,000); and the Philadelphia Museum of Art for an installation by Korean-American artist Jean Shin, widely acclaimed for her practice of dramatically transforming everyday objects into monumental installations ($30,000). The Parrish Art Museum created a special installation of works by the late Alan Shields, including a publication by curator Alicia Longwell ($45,000): and the Addison Gallery of American Art (MA) mounted Invisible Citings, a collaborative project joining embroidery by Elaine Reichek with sculpture by Jeanne Silverthorne ($20,000). And the Hunterdon Museum of Art (NJ) mounted a group exhibition entitled Intimate Lines: Drawing with Thread that dealt with relationships, gender and identity ($16,000).

From Parrish Art Museum’s “Alan Shields: Common Threads”: Devil, Devil, Love, 1970, Cotton belting, acrylic, beads, thread, and wood, 96 x 194 in., Museum Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Carney Fund, 2007.15.

From Hunterdon Art Museum’s “Intimate Lines”: Daniel Kornrumpf, No Mold Gold Teeth, 2013, Hand embroidery on linen, 42 x 36 in. (detail).

The Coby Foundation supported an unusual variety of fashion-related exhibitions, ranging from a James Galanos retrospective at Drexel University’s Fox Historic Costume Collection in Philadelphia ($40,000) to Fashioning the Women of Weeksville at the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn ($15,000) to the Jewish Museum’s Veiled Meanings: Fashioning Jewish Dress, from the Collection of The Israel Museum, an array of apparel from over 20 countries on four continents ($50,000). The Foundation is also supporting an ambitious exhibition, The Fashions of Fiction from Pamela to Gatsby at the Fashion Archives & Museum of Shippensburg University (PA) ($40,000) and the conservation and exhibition of a contemporary African gown, called Esther, by Nigerian designer Patience Torlowei at the National Museum of African Art ($12,000). Another project consisting of conservation and subsequent exhibition is the textile collection belonging to artist Marsden Hartley at the Bates College Museum (ME) ($19,000).

The Concord Museum’s Fresh Goods: Shopping for Clothing in a New England Town, 1750–1900 considers the shopping habits of Concordians in the 18th and 19th centuries. Visitors will be encouraged to compare their own conventions for consuming clothing to people’s practices in the past ($25,000), while Historic New England’s Head to Toe: Hat and Shoe Fashions showcases 46 hats and pairs of shoes worn in New England from the 1750s to the present, exhibited at the Eustis Estate Museum and Study Center in Milton, MA ($24,000). Both are part of the statewide MASS Fashion collaborative project.

Other 2017 Coby Foundation grants went to the Peabody Essex Museum (MA) for The Last Empresses of China ($40,000), the Textile Museum at George Washington University (DC) for A Nomad's Art: Kilims of Anatolia ($25,000), The New England Quilt Museum in Lowell (MA) for planning the exhibition Quilting the Dark Side($10,000); and Esopus Magazine’s Ernest B. Haight: Sewing and Reaping, which examines Haight’s production of 400 quilts ($6,500).

Founded by Irene Zambelli Silverman in 1994, The Coby Foundation received its major assets after Mrs. Silverman’s death in 1998. The Foundation is interested in projects that combine excellent scholarship and effective interpretation. Projects may be in the arts or humanities, contemporary or historical, but all must have a public benefit. The Executive Director of The Coby Foundation is Ward L.E. Mintz. The Foundation welcomes inquiries for proposals. Consult the Foundation’s website at http://cobyfoundation.org/inquiry/ or write to Mr. Mintz at the following address:

The Coby Foundation, Ltd.
511 Avenue of the Americas, #387
New York, NY  10011
(ward@cobyfoundation.org)

NY Museum Professionals in the Washington, DC office of New York Senator Charles Schumer March 5, 2018 Dear Members, Friends, and Colleagues, Today we are on our way to Rochester to plan for Visioning Change, MANY’s annual conference. The conference is just one month away and the Hyatt Regency Rochester discount is good through this Wednesday, March 7. Today would be a great time to register and book your hotel room. Our new website  makes registration fast and easy. Last week we were in Washington, D.C. for Museums Advocacy Day sponsored by the American Alliance for Museums. We learned some important things about New York’s Museums that made us proud to speak up for our sector. Oxford Economics’ 2017 national report “Museums as Economic Engines”  found that the total annual economic impact of Museums in New York State is $ 5.4 billion dollars -- equal to that of the state’s Agricultural Industries and second only to California in contributions to our nation’s economy.  This week we need you to take action by reaching out to your legislators in Albany in support of the Museum Education Act. With 33,000 people directly employed by Museums in New York, our significant economic impact, and new data about our service to the education field we are well positioned, but the MEA won’t get passed because we think it is the right thing to do. It will get passed when you activate your networks, speak up, and tell your legislators how we impact learning in New York State. MANY’s January 2018 Survey of Education Programs in New York State Museums brought to light important information that we would like you to share with your representatives in Albany. The report is available on our website. Our findings include: 99% of New York museums and 100% of those with annual budgets under $100,000 serve school children at their museums.  75% of New York museums serve school children at another site in their communities. 65% of museums of all budget sizes and 100% of museums with budget sizes between $2,500,000-$5,000,000 develop learning materials for teachers to use in their classrooms; 35% make those materials available on their websites. 100% of those museums with annual budgets between $25,000-$49,999 and 89% of those museums with annual budgets between $1,000,000 and $2,500,000 partner with community service organizations. We need the support of every legislator to create a funding stream that will allow us to serve our mandate as organizations chartered by the New York State Department of Education. Museums could substantially increase the number of students and adult learners we serve if funding was available to support reduced admission fees, bus transportation, web-based curricula, and teacher training. The Museum Education Act would provide funds for these activities. Personalize and localize the message to your representatives. Let them know the difference that museum funding could make in their communities. Not sure who your representatives are? You can use the MANY member map to help find them. I know that museum professionals can act with passion, urgency, and shared purpose. Tell your legislators that you want the Museum Education Act, S.1676-A sponsored by State Senator Betty Little and A. 3892 sponsored by Assembly Member Matthew J. Titone with pilot funding of $5 Million included in the one-house bills that will come to the floor on March 14th. Our strength together can make this happen for all of our museums. Erika Sanger Executive Director 265 River St. Troy, NY 12180 | www.nysmuseums.org | 518-273-3400

Members of the MANY now have access to a variety of exclusive features!
Log-in to your MANY Profile here or join us today.

Member Discussion Forum Subscribe to this member-only forum and receive notifications when your colleagues or MANY share discussion topics and information.  Exhibition & Events Forum Use this forum to share information about your upcoming events, programs, and exhibits. Although the public can see what is posted from a link on our homepage, only MANY members can share their content.  Help us spread the word about all the exciting things happening in New York State museums.  Museum Marketplace  Search the marketplace to find consultants and industry partners to help with your advertising, exhibit design, website/social media channels, collections storage, shipping, event management, conservation, and more! News Updates from the desk of our Executive Director. Events Check our event pages for updates on Meet Ups and workshops as we gather members across the state and in your region.

One Week Left for Early Bird Registration!

Dear Members, Friends, and Colleagues, Take a look at your appointment calendar for next week. Don’t see time set aside to register for MANY’s annual conference? Squeeze 15 minutes between meetings and don’t miss out! There is just one week left for you to take advantage of our early bird registration rate. Come to Rochester, April 8-10 to join the conversation about “Visioning Change” for the future of New York museums and cultural institutions. Click here to register today!

See you in Rochester! Erika Sanger Executive Director

February 7, 2018

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Members,

Yesterday Sheila Healy, MANY’s government relations consultant, and I had the opportunity to attend the Assembly’s Education Committee meeting chaired by Assembly member Catherine Nolan. Guest speaker MaryEllen Elia, Commissioner of Education, shared her 2018 budget priorities and fielded member questions. We then met with Museum Education Act (A.3892A/S.1676A) sponsors, Assembly Member Matt Titone and Senator Betty Little.

The MEA is in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and will be on the agenda for vote next week in the Senate’s Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation Committee. If your Legislative representative is on the Senate’s Cultural Affairs Committee or the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee, it would significantly help our efforts to pass the MEA if you could take a moment before the end of this week to ask them to support the MEA by co-sponsoring the bill and signing on to Assembly member Titone’s budget letter.

Not sure you know your representatives? Use MANY’s member map to check.

We will soon be adding new advocacy tools to our website, including the data from 96 museums and an executive summary from our museum education program survey. Even if your legislator is not on the above-mentioned committees, we need you to speak out on behalf of the MEA.

The message is simple:

• New York State’s museums provide community learning opportunities that share our state’s history, art, and culture.

• 90% of museums in New York State dedicate at least 10% of their operating budgets to education programs but limited resources are a significant obstacle to growth.

• Museums would substantially increase the number of students served if funding was available to support reduced admission fees, bus transportation, web-based curricula, and teacher training.

• The Museum Education Act would provide funds for these activities as well as partnerships with community-based organizations and higher educationinstitutions.

Please be sure to tell your legislators what you do in your museums to work with your communities and your schools. It is important that we help them understand the critical role museums play as community anchors.

Thank you in advance for taking time to help us advance the MEA!

December 22, 2017 Dear Members, Friends, and Colleagues,  As we prepare to pause in our busy lives to celebrate the holidays and the coming New Year, I'd like to thank you for your support in 2017. New members, new grant awards, new advocacy advances, a new strategic plan, and new partnerships are helping to launch MANY into 2018 with a greater capacity to serve museums in New York. With the workforce development grant and project grant award from NYSCA's museum program, we will soon be a staff of three! Our board of trustees stepped up for you with everyone making a donation to our annual appeal. In 2018, we will launch a campaign to raise funds in support of scholarships to attend our annual conference and we hope you will help us help those museum professionals who would otherwise be unable to attend. Together, our voices are stronger than ever before, with a 30% increase in the numbers of members, including 72 new members and 97 organizations who re-joined MANY in 2017.     MANY speaks for every museum equally, regardless of budget size, location, or content area. Many of our members represent New York's history community, almost a third are art museums, and others represent science and wildlife centers, zoos, and gardens. A selection of our members are on the list below; two from each of the ten REDC regions. Capital Region Mid-Hudson Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region Historic Huguenot Street  Olana State Historic Site FDR Presidential Library & Museum Central New York Mohawk Valley Erie Canal Museum Fenimore Art Museum Everson Museum of Art Utica Zoo Finger Lakes New York City Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion Metropolitan Museum of Art Rochester Museum & Science Center Brooklyn Botanic Garden Long Island  Southern Tier Pollock-Krasner House &  Study Center Rockwell Museum of American Art  Oyster Bay Historical Society Finger Lakes Boating Museum North Country Western New York  Akwesasne Museum Burchfield Penny Art Center Adirondack Experience,  The Museums at Blue Mountain Lake Aquarium of Niagara Registration for Visioning Change, our 2018 annual conference, will open on January 16. When you click to register, you will find a new website with an intuitive interface and faster navigation. The key to the new site will be your personal or organizational "log in" that you will create the first time you visit. We are excited by all of the new features our members will be able to access.    There are two potential funding sources that might be able to support conference attendance; we will share more that may follow as we learn about the: NYSCA professional development grants and grants from the The Pomeroy Foundation.  There is still time before the end of the year to donate to MANY. Every dollar you donate amplifies our ability to help you succeed. Wishing you a wonderful New Year!  Erika Sanger Executive Director   Questions about the conference or want a chance to sponsor/exhibit?  email us  at conference@manyonline.org or visit our website

MANY Receives REDC Grant for Administrative Workforce Expansion

MANY is thrilled to announce that we received our first Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) grant for Administrative Workforce Expansion! We would like to thank Governor Cuomo and the members of the Capital Region Economic Development Council for their support of the Museum Association of New York and the New York State museum field.     The grant will allow MANY to hire a Marketing and Social Media Coordinator to manage digital marketing and communications, enrich our service to the field, promote professional development programs, share funding opportunities, and improve economic stability in New York's cultural sector. Thanks to everyone who signed our letter of support and congratulations to all the organizations who received support. You can find the full list of grant awards here.  Erika Sanger Executive Director

The Museum Education Act is seen as an integral part of equity in education statewide.

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and MANY Members, On Tuesday, the New York State Board of Regents unanimously endorsed the $1.6 billion state aid proposal along with their 2018 budget and legislative priorities. We are thrilled to report that for the first time ever the Regents designated the Museum Education Act as a budget priority and proposed $5 million to fund it.   Under their state budget priorities, the Regents describe this new program as:   Expanding Access to Education Programs through Cultural Institutions - Support the Museum Education Act and establish competitive grants to support cultural institutions that seek to establish or improve museum education programs designed to improve and support student learning opportunities, including supporting the development of local curricular aids.   And if this action was not sufficiently awesome on its own, the State Education Department released a video on today of Commissioner MaryEllen Elia's statement about how increasing equity has been the driving force behind everything SED does. In talking about equity, the Commissioner specifically mentions passing the Museum Education Act and linking museum education programs with pre k -12 schools to enable students to learn from the museums' "incredible collections".   We are grateful to Chancellor Betty Rosa, Regent Roger Tilles, Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, Executive Deputy Commissioner Elizabeth Berlin and Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Education Mark Schaming for their support of museums in New York.  But, we're not quite home yet. To get these bills passed in the upcoming legislative session will require your help.  We will soon be sending out new tools to help you call and meet with your legislators. We will also be selecting dates for you to join us in Albany to advocate for passage of the Museum Education Act.   Erika Sanger Executive Director  Museum Association of New York Sheila Healy Government Relations Consultant

Advocacy News from Albany and Washington, DC

December 11, 2017   Dear Members, Friends, and Colleagues, Last week I was honored to present testimony on MANY's behalf at the New York State Assembly's Standing Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts, and Sports Development annual budget oversight hearing to review the impact and effectiveness of NYSCA grants.   I included that museums are one of New York's State's most valuable cultural assets -- attracting visitors from around the world with an economic impact in the billions of dollars. I also detailed how NYSCA plays an essential role in funding our state's museums and cultural organizations and how the anonymous peer review process insures that funding decisions are informed by knowledgeable professionals.   In preparation, we distributed a survey to gather information about funding from NYSCA and the REDC. You can click here to read a summary of the survey results. If you are interested in a copy of my comments or the survey raw data, please let me know and I will be happy to send them to you as pdfs.   Advocating on behalf of New York's museums and cultural institutions is one of the most rewarding things we do. MANY's board and staff are gearing up for the tenth Museums Advocacy Day, February 26-27 in Washington, DC. Museums Advocacy Day is a critical chance to make a unified case to Congress about the value of museums, and a unique opportunity to invest in yourself and build your own advocacy skills.   Registration for this exciting and important event is FREE to MANY members. Send an email to our office to request your registration code. It is not too late to renew your 2017 MANY membership and join us in Washington, DC. Keep checking our website for more information about "Visioning Change" MANY's 2018 annual conference in Rochester April 8-10. We have some information up on the homepage, with more to follow soon.   With thanks for helping us speak out for you, Erika Sanger Executive Director