The Center for Digital Experiences at Pratt Institute offers pro-bono content strategy, usability testing, data analysis, information architecture, and/or user experience design for nonprofits, museums, and libraries. The Center for Digital Experiences is seeking community partners for course-based UX projects in Spring and Fall 2020.

From streamlining your website’s navigation to making sense of your analytics, Pratt students will bring an empathetic, user-centered mindset to improving digital interfaces. Projects range in length from 8-15 weeks depending on the course and the nature of the project and will typically include dedicated teams of 3-5 students supervised by an expert member of the Pratt faculty.

All projects are offered at no cost but will require a moderate degree of involvement to ensure that your practical needs are satisfied while also providing a valuable educational experience for students. This involvement typically includes one or two meetings with the students during the semester and attendance at students’ final presentations at the end of the semester. 

For more information about each project opportunity and sample projects from past semesters, visit https://prattdx.org/services/

To apply please fill out a project proposal form: https://prattdx.org/services/submit-project-proposal/

Please direct questions to kwatson8@pratt.edu

About the Center for Digital Experiences at Pratt Institute

The Center for Digital Experiences is a faculty-led, student-driven User Experience (UX) design, research, and strategy consultancy and academic research lab within the School of Information at Pratt Institute. Pratt DX includes students and faculty across all of the School of Information’s graduate programs but is most closely affiliated with the MS in Information Experience Design

The William G. Pomeroy Foundation is now accepting applications for $1,000 need-based scholarships to attend the Museum Association of New York’s 2020 annual conference.

These grants are available to 501(c)(3) historical societies or cultural museums in New York State with annual budgets of $100,000 or less. Eligible organizations cannot have attended MANY in the past two years.

To apply, visit: https://www.wgpfoundation.org/apply-for-grant/. The application deadline is Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020.

Each organization may only receive one Professional Development Grant per year. The $1,000 grants are to be used for the following:

• Membership in Museum Association of New York (MANY) if not already a member.
• Registration and travel related expenses to attend the 2020 MANY conference if haven’t attended in the past two years.
• Membership to join New York Council of Nonprofits (NYCON) if not already a member.
• Any remaining funds can be used toward one other professional development opportunity of your choice.

Grantees must provide a final report about their professional development experiences by the end of the calendar year, 2020.

The Erie Canalway will be calling for Heritage Award of Excellence nominations from municipalities, community groups, private entities, and non-profit organizations in January 2020. This prestigious award recognizes and celebrates significant places that make the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor a more vibrant place to live, work, and play. Please consider nominating your own great place and sharing this within your networks. The hard work, creativity, and dedication that goes into creating these places have a tremendous impact on the Canalway Corridor and deserve to be celebrated.

You can learn more about the program here: eriecanalway.org/get-involved/awards

If you have any questions, please contact Erie Canalway program manager, Miyoko Fulleringer, 518-237-7000 #202, miyoko_fulleringer@partner.nps.gov.

On Sunday, December 15 at 11:30 a.m. sharp, in the best tradition of the fire service, an FDNY ladder truck will bravely rescue Santa from his perilous perch on top of the New York City Fire Museum. Once safely inside, Santa will take gift requests and pose for photos. Christmas carols will be performed live by John Clacher’s Fire House Band on the 3^rd floor. It is free to watch the rescue, and admission to sit with Santa inside the Museum is $10. Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.nycfiremuseum.org, by phone 212-691-1303 or in person at the Fire Museum’s gift shop. Children of all ages are invited to attend!

The New York City Fire Museum, located in a 1904 firehouse at 278 Spring Street, is the official museum of the FDNY. Proceeds from the Annual Santa Rescue benefits their fire safety education program designed to teach children how to prevent fires within the home and how to stay safe and escape should one occur.

Our friends at the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries have released their Call for Proposals for the AAMG 2020 Annual Conference to take place next June at the University of Kansas. This year's theme is Risk & Bravery: Action and Response in the Academic Museum. They invite you to submit through their online portal found at: https://www.aamg-us.org/wp/2020-annual-conference/call-for-proposals/

Submission Deadline: January 6, 2020

The New York State Archives is pleased to announce its Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) grants for 2020-2021. The new DHP Grant Guidelines and Application are now available on the NYS Archives website http://www.archives.nysed.gov/…/documentary-heritage-progra…

Application deadline is Tuesday, January 14, 2020 for projects to be carried out from July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021.

The Documentary Heritage Program is a statewide program established in 1988 by the New York Documentary Heritage Act (Education Law, Section 140) to provide financial support and guidance to not-for-profit organizations that hold, collect, and make available New York State's historical records.

Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) grants are designed to build a more comprehensive and equitable documentation of New York State’s history and culture by supporting projects that identify, survey, collect, arrange, describe, and make available records that relate to groups and topics traditionally under-represented in the State’s historical record.

For more information about DHP grants, please review the Applying for a Grant and FAQ pages.

For assistance, contact us at:

Email: DHS@nysed.gov or

Phone: (518)474-6926

Learn more about additional funding opportunities from the New York State Archives and the New York State Library, along with free support services for collecting institutions from Documentary Heritage & Preservation Services for New York (DHPSNY).

Le Moyne College Arts Administration Program Announces the First Annual

IMPACT AWARDS Celebrating Arts & Culture

Le Moyne College's Impact Awards celebrate those who work behind the scenes to produce, present, curate and/or teach the arts. These awards focus on recognizing the leaders, managers, teachers and community leaders who help to ensure art makes it to the eyes and ears of the communities they serve.

February 24, 2020 
Reception 5:30 p.m. | Award Presentations: 6:30 p.m.
W. Carroll Coyne Center for the Performing Arts | Le Moyne College
Tickets: $10 per person (purchase here)

Learn more here

The Russian History Museum opened a new special exhibition. Revealing the Divine: Treasures of Russian Sacred Art presents over 160 liturgical and devotional objects created in the Russian Orthodox tradition.

Intricately painted icons, richly embroidered vestments, glittering chalices, hand-illustrated books, ornamented Easter eggs – these objects and many more provide insight into the importance of sacred art in the religious life of Russia and the Russian diaspora.

Visit our new exhibition at the Russian History Museum!

On view through November 3, 2020.

Applications for the American Alliance of Museums' Museum Assessment Program (MAP) in the areas of Education & Interpretation, Board Leadership, Organizational, Collections Stewardship, and Community & Audience Engagement are due December 1.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has announced our new funding.

What’s happening?

• Two new Assessment types will be offered: Education & Interpretation and Board Leadership. Learn more about MAP assessment types here

• The existing Organizational, Collections Stewardship, and Community & Audience Engagement assessments are getting fresh updates

• DEAI (diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion) components will be integrated into all assessments

• Museums will have more time to complete the Self-Study Workbook and activities, which will be spread throughout the year long process

• Museums will have more touch points with the Peer Reviewer throughout the process

• New activities and tools will help move museums from increasing awareness to taking action and implementing change

• Enhanced training and peer-to-peer engagement for the Peer Reviewers

• Adjusted fee scale, but still low cost and affordable for smaller institutions

What’s not changing? The tried and true core structure of MAP—the self-assessment, site visit by a peer, and a recommendation-laden report—remains in place.

Learn more: https://www.aam-us.org/programs/accreditation-excellence-programs/museum-assessment-program-map/