Couldn’t make it to the NEMA fall conference? Missed the panel you were dying to see? For the first time ever, NEMA has taped several sessions and provided them free of charge on their website for download. Run, don’t walk, and listen to all of …
Following up on those essential skills from Museos Unite, here’s an opportunity to get some free management training. Project Management Webinars from Boston University Upcoming webinars are listed at the top, but scroll down for other titles. A few to highlight: What You Must Know …
Welcome to Week 2 of the Museums in the News roundup!
Probably the biggest museum news of the week comes from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Curators there removed a video art installation of an ant-covered crucifix after complaints from, among others, the Catholic League and members of Congress. It’s a complicated, controversial issue, and the first few links below are just the tip of the iceberg. If you know of any other good articles, drop a line in the comments.
Ant-covered Jesus video removed from Smithsonian after Catholic League complains
Gallery vows ongoing protest against Smithsonian
The GOP and the artist who spoiled yet another Christmas
Pulled from National Portrait Gallery, Video Emerges Elsewhere in Washington
Gay Portraiture Exhibit Sparks Funding Debate
Some other exciting news this week that isn’t currently related to museums, but hopefully will be soon: Picasso’s electrician reveals artist’s ‘treasure trove’
Art in the Time of Midterms: Museum as Democracy and the MCA’s New Show. Very, very good and thoughtful exhibition review.
Let’s Exhibit Interest in Troubled Museum (Jack Diem Museum of Natural History in Fort Wayne, IN)
Museum Looking for Soldiers’ Stories (Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum in Waterloo, Iowa)
O’Keeffe Museum Hopes to Shed One “Canna” (Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Edgar Degas masterpiece stolen more than three decades ago going home to France (Malraux Museum, Normandy, France)
Noah’s Ark and Tower of Babel to be built at Kentucky Amusement Park (Creation Museum, Petersburg, Kentucky)
Watch this YouTube video. The first time I watched it, I thought: oh, how lovely. What a joyful experience in the middle of the stress of holiday shopping and the cold sterility of a shopping mall food court. The second time I watched it, I …
The Image Permanence Institute, an NEH-funded organization based out of the Rochester Institute of Technology, is hosting a series of free webinars addressing a variety of conservation issues. The next webinar, “Managing the Storage Environment in the Southeast Region,” is on December 15th, from 2:00 …
Some excellent breaking news from the American Association of Museums: the Institute of Museum and Library Services has been re-authorized by the Senate’s HELP Committee.
The IMLS is a federal grant-funding organization that provides support for museums and libraries. Their authorization (ie permission to exist) has been on the docket for many months now, and in these economic times everyone was a little worried.
No longer! Nice to have some good news. I can’t find a link to the AAM’s announcement anywhere, so I’m just going to copy it over here. If any of the senators on the committee represent you, PLEASE take a few minutes out of your day to write them a thank you email. (Hey, even if they don’t represent you, a nice thank you never goes awry!)
I’ve linked each senator to their contact information.
Senate HELP Committee Scheduled to Consider IMLS Reauthorization WEDNESDAY, December 1
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is set to consider S. 3984, the Museum and Library Services Act of 2010 (that will reauthorize the Institute of Museum and Library Services), on Wednesday, December 1, at 9:45 a.m. The nomination of Susan Hildreth to be the new IMLS Director is also slated for Committee consideration. See the Committee Hearing Notice.“This bipartisan bill contains language proposed by the museum field, including support for state needs assessments, conservation endowments, interagency collaboration, and a framework for increased state-wide coordination and federal-state partnerships,” said AAM President Ford W. Bell. “It represents a field-wide effort over many months and years, and I am so grateful to my colleagues in the museum field for working so collaboratively to get us where we are today.”
If the bill is approved by the Committee on Wednesday, it would next move to the full Senate for a vote on passage, and then to the House of Representatives. IMLS Director nominee Susan Hildreth would only need to be approved by the full Senate to become the next IMLS Director.
Bell noted the uncertainty about whether the reauthorization bill would be enacted in the final days of the 111th Congress. “Considering all the ‘must-pass’ items on the Congressional agenda, we must do all we can in the next few days and weeks to urge the Senate to pass this bill.”
What can you do?
If you have a close connection to your U.S. Senator and he/she sits on the Senate HELP Committee, please contact them at this time to encourage them to become a cosponsor of S. 3984 and to vote in favor of the bill during Committee and Senate floor consideration. You can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senator’s office.Senator Jack Reed introduced S. 3984 along with original co-sponsors Burr, Enzi and Harkin on November 29, 2010. If you are represented by one of these Senators, please call and thank them for their support of museums and efforts on this bill.
Members of the Senate HELP Committee (http://help.senate.gov/):
(listed alphabetically by state)Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
John McCain (R-AZ)
Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Tom Harkin, Committee Chairman (D-IA)*
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD)
Al Franken (D-MN)
Richard Burr (R-NC)*
Kay Hagan (D-NC)
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK)
Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA)
Jack Reed (D-RI)*
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT)
Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
Patty Murray (D-WA)
Joe Manchin (D-WV)
Michael B. Enzi, Ranking Member (R-WY)**Original Cosponsor of the bill