Welcome to our February edition of "This Month in NYS Museums"! In this newsletter... | | | Investing in Digital: Louis Armstrong House Museum
| | | In 2022, the Louis Armstrong House Museum was awarded $30,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create Mapping Jazz and Hip-Hop in Queens, an interactive digital project that explores the history of jazz and hip-hop. The project will use a multi-platform digital experience including a museum exhibition and a web/mobile interactive to examine how Queens’ prolific jazz community significantly influenced the rise of hip-hop. The platforms will facilitate individual visitors’ experiences as they explore the neighborhoods that cultivated jazz and hip-hop for over a hundred years. | | | | | MANY Board Spotlight: Nickcoles Martinez | | | | | Nickcoles Martinez is an educator, producer, podcaster, and activist, with over a decade of experience working at the intersections of museum education, youth, and workforce development, mentoring, and science. His passion is to engage and support BIPOC students to pursue interests and careers in science and develop strategies for the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in traditionally non-inclusive spaces. Martinez is currently the Assistant Director of Youth Initiatives and manages middle and high school programs, internship experiences, and alumni engagement. He also leads recruitment, community-building, and partnership efforts to increase diversity and promote equity and inclusivity across Youth Programs at the AMNH. | | | | | Letter from Erika: First Vote | | | Dear Friends, Members, and Colleagues, I don’t remember who was on the ballot the first time I voted, but I remember the challenge of finding my polling place - a community meeting room in the basement of an apartment building - on a rainy night in New York City. The room was lit with flickering fluorescent bulbs and the floor was covered with gray linoleum tile. It took the poll volunteer who sat on a metal folding chair behind a metal folding table a long time to find me in a very large register. I signed my name and waited behind a stanchion until a booth with a curtain opened up and someone walked out. Only then was I allowed to cross the room and enter the booth. I remember pushing all the little levers and then pulling the big lever that recorded my vote and opened the curtain.
| | | | | 2023 Awards of Distinction Winners | | | Museums and museum professionals will be recognized at the 2023 annual conference “Finding Center: Access, Inclusion, Participation, and Engagement” in Syracuse, New York this April for their exceptional achievements. The fourteen awards made in 2023 celebrate unique leadership, dedicated community service, transformational visitor experiences, community engagement, and innovative programs that use collections to tell stories of everyone who calls New York home. “New York’s museums and museum professionals are reimagining and reinventing their roles within their communities, how they interpret their stories and collections, and the visitor experience,” said Natalie Stetson, Executive Director of the Erie Canal Museum and MANY Program Committee Co-Chair. “This year’s award winners are outstanding examples for the museum field.” “We were incredibly impressed with the quality and quantity of award nominations this year, which made the review process highly competitive,” said Clifford Laube, Public Programs Specialist at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum and MANY Program Committee Co-Chair. “Museums and museum staff across the state are demonstrating creative thinking and are inspiring institutional change.” | | | | | | | MANY is committed to salary transparency. As of June 1, 2022 all job postings require a salary range. | | | | | Hiring? MANY Organizational and Industry Members post museum jobs for free. For other job posting opportunities, please contact the MANY office at info@nysmuseums.org or call 518-273-3400 | | | | | | | Meet MANY and museum professionals in Syracuse this April as we welcome 100 speakers from across New York State who will share their experiences and offer actionable solutions to help New York's museum professionals successfully meet the challenges they face and achieve progress. | | | | | | | | | Stay in Syracuse Book your accommodation by March 1 to get the discounted rate! Best Western Syracuse Downtown Hotel & Suites Conference Discount Rate: $149/night To make a reservation under the MANY room block, call the hotel directly at 315-425-0500. Rooms are available for Saturday through Tuesday. Syracuse Marriott Downtown Conference Discount Rate: $142/night There are a limited number of rooms available and Saturday, April 14 is sold out. Click here to make your reservation | | | | | | | | The Voices and Votes: Democracy in America exhibition is now available to be installed for six weeks per site at twelve museums in New York State from March of 2024 through January of 2026 to help communities commemorate the Semiquincentennial. MANY is proud to be the designated organizer for the New York State tour of this important exhibition and a national partner of America250. Voices and Votes is adapted from the exhibition American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith currently on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. This traveling exhibition includes many of the same dynamic features: historical and contemporary photographs; educational and archival video; engaging multimedia interactives, and historical objects like campaign souvenirs, voter memorabilia, and protest material. Smithsonian resources available to the twelve museums will include digital learning curricula, preformatted press kits, and other capacity building tools. MANY staff will organize the exhibition travel, and help each museum plan, implement, and evaluate the exhibitions and interpretive programs. | | | | Application closes at 5 PM on Friday, March 17 If you have any questions about eligibility and/or requirements, please email info@nysmuseums.org or call 518-273-3400 | | | Upcoming Virtual Programs | How to Apply for Employee Retention Tax Credit
Friday, February 24 12 - 1:30 PM This webinar is to make MANY members aware of these pandemic relief funds, where they come from, how to apply for them, the process, procedures, challenges and successes the Jorns CARES Act team has experienced with a multitude of organizations (for-profit and nonprofit), and to answer questions members may have to further explore the opportunity to see what each W2 employee has for potential in recovering funds for the employer. Jason will address concerns, objections and offer suggestions and detail the process that has so many of Jorns clients and partners successful in qualifying for hundreds of thousands of dollars to use as they see fit once the IRS sends them their checks. This webinar is free; advance registration required. This program will be recorded and available for MANY members via the Member Resource page following the live presentation. | | | Are you prepared for totality? Partnering for the 2024 Solar Eclipse Friday, March 3 12 - 1:30 PM On Monday, April 8th, 2024, a total solar eclipse will be visible throughout New York State for the first time in almost a century. This webinar will explore how museums across the state are preparing, how you can start preparing yourself, and how, literally, everyone under the sun is a stakeholder in the eclipse. This webinar is free; advance registration required. This program will be recorded and available for MANY members via the Member Resource page following the live presentation. | | | | | Regional Meet-Ups and Roundtable Discussions | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Meet-ups and discussions are free; advance registration required. Limited space available. *Reading this book is not a requirement for participation. | | | Meet-Ups and Roundtable Discussions: Preparing for the Post-Pandemic Museum is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
| | | | | NYS Canal System Tourism Infrastructure and Events Grants
The New York State Canal Corporation, through the Reimagine the Canals initiative, and the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor are offering competitive grant funding to support tourism and recreation along the New York State Canal System including canal waterways and Canalway Trail. The 2023 program will support tourism infrastructure and amenity improvements, and events. The grant program includes two funding categories: - Event Support- award range of $500 to $3,000
- Tourism Infrastructure & Amenity Support- award range of $5,000 to $24,000.
Applicants may apply for one or both categories. Applications are open now through February 24, 2023. Learn more Preservation League of New York State –Preserve New York The Preserve New York grant program is a partnership of the New York State Council on the Arts and the Preservation League of New York State made possible with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, with additional support from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation for projects in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Preserve New York grants provide support to eligible 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations and municipalities in New York State for projects that identify, document, and preserve New York’s cultural and historic buildings, structures, and landscapes. Now in its 30th year, Preserve New York helps fund historic structure reports, condition reports, cultural landscape reports, and cultural resource surveys. This program funds consulting reports only and will not fund capital repairs or construction costs, architectural plans and specifications, schematic designs, or construction documents.
Applications are by Friday, March 31. All interested applicants must submit a pre-application to receive a full application form. Pre-applications are due by Friday, March 24. Learn more New York State's Tourism Return to Work and Meet in New York Grant Programs Aimed to help the tourism industry rebuild from the pandemic by offering state funds for new employees hired in the tourism industry, and for discounts offered by event venues and lodging facilities for events held in New York State. Return to Work: - Employment growth period enhanced to include jobs added from July – September 2022
- Amended program rules applying to economic harm, minimum employees increases, and increased caps
- Clarification of existing guidelines around fiscal year requires a demonstration year-to-year loss of at least 15% with applicants with 25% or greater loss receiving priority
Learn more about Return to Work Meet in New York: - An extended period for program applications to June 30, 2023
- An extended end date for the event to occur until December 31, 2025
- An adjustment to the minimum venue size requirement, allowing for smaller venues
- Flexibility with proof of booking documentation, pre-event
Learn more about Meet in New York | | | From our colleagues... Museum Hue Announces the Launch of HueArts NYS Museum Hue in partnership with Hester Street, announced the launch of the HueArts New York State (NYS) interactive map and directory that includes nearly 130 arts entities led by Black, Latine Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, and all People of Color (BIPOC) throughout New York’s Capital, Central New York, Finger Lakes, Long Island, Mid-Hudson, Mohawk Valley, North Country, Southern Tier, and Western New York regions. HueArts NYS also released the “Brown Paper” outlining the unique contributions, experiences, and challenges of BIPOC-led arts entities across New York’s regions beyond the five boroughs that include a call to policymakers for greater state funding and support essential for them to thrive. Learn more
Museum Platform Survey The Museum at Eldridge Street is changing their admissions ticketing and events platform and are seeking input from other cultural institutions. Take this short survey Genesee Country Village & Museum Saturday, April 1 10 AM - 4 PM Spring Lecture Series: Opening Our Closets – Fashion & Textile History This day of lectures features four exciting presenters with keynote speaker Susan W. Greene, a well-known authority in costume study. Speakers for the day include Brandon W. Brooks (Curator of the John L. Wehle Gallery), Ben Falter (Director of Ontario County Historical Society), Chantal Filson (GCV&M Costume Shop Supervisor), and Keynote Susan W. Greene (Author, Collector, Lecturer, Weaver, Historian). Learn more Saturday, April 29 11 AM - 3 PM Museum Mount-Making Workshop: Headware Calling all collection managers, archivists, curators, museum professionals, and collectors! This workshop will be lead by Curator of the John L. Wehle Gallery Brandon W. Brooks and Gallery Manager Darlene Braun, and will include a brief tour of the Gallery’s historic fashion and textile vaults to see our mounts in action! Learn more | | | | | | | What's happening at your museum? Submit your museum news as a newsletter article! How is your museum growing institutional resources, including welcoming new staff and board members and securing funding for projects, how is your museum working with their community and visitors; and how we use our exhibitions and collections in new ways. The deadline to submit for the March “This Month in NYS Museums” newsletter is March 10. Email meves@nysmuseums.org | | | | | |
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