Connecticut

Connecticut Humanities has awarded a $3,998 Quick Grant to the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum in support of a new exhibition entitled, From Corsets to Suffrage: Victorian Women Trailblazers, which opened to the public on May 16, 2019.

The Glebe House Museum announces a grant from ION Bank Foundation in the amount of $1000 to help support their Summer Experience Programs for children. Thanks to the ION Bank Foundation’s support the Glebe House has several full and partial scholarships to offer to children whose families may not be able to afford the enrollment fee. This year the programs will span Colonial and Victorian life in Woodbury where children will experience innovative, exciting, enriching and fun activities, and limited to only twelve in a group.

The Society of American Registered Architects (SARA) awarded David Scott Parker Architects with a SARA Award Design of Merit for professional design excellence for the Greenwich Historical Society's reimagined campus. Now in its 24th year, the prestigious awards program celebrates the work of architects selected from a pool of hundreds of new projects throughout the region by an esteemed jury. The awards were presented at a reception this month at Battery Park in New York. Earlier this year, the Greenwich Historical Society was recognized with an award for Preservation Excellence from the CT Trust for Historic Preservation. The Greenwich Historical Society's newly restored campus was opened in October, 2018 and features new exhibition galleries, a visitor center, café, museum store, substantially larger library and archives and gardens inspired by renowned members of the American Impressionist Art Colony who lived studied and worked at the site of the campus.

Mystic Seaport Museum announced today proposed changes to its grounds that will advance the museum’s role as a leader in the maritime heritage field. The three projects include construction of an underwater research and education center in partnership with the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration (GFOE), the expansion of public display of its watercraft collection, and construction of a restaurant and boutique hotel.

The Fairfield University Art Museum is pleased to announce they have recently been awarded grants from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Robert Lehman Foundation. The Samuel H. Kress Foundation awarded the museum $19,750 for Driving Engagement with the Kress Collection: Publication and Outreach Project, which will develop a series of educational initiatives designed to increase academic and public engagement with the works of art in the museum’s Kress Collection. The Robert Lehman Foundation awarded the museum $6,000 in renewal of their support of the Edwin L. Weisl, Jr. Lectureships in Art History for the upcoming academic year. Scholars from around the country will deliver lectures on the sculptor Auguste Rodin, Japanese lacquerware, and the Cuban artist Manuel Mendive, among other subjects.

The Bruce Museum’s capital expansion project has received a $15 million lead gift from William L. Richter. The gift, the largest to the campaign to date, will support construction of the new art wing. A longtime resident of Greenwich, Richter is co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. The centerpiece of the New Bruce is a three-story, 40,000 square-foot addition that will more than double the size of the current Museum, offering more space for both art and science. Designed by the prestigious New Orleans firm of Eskew + Dumez + Ripple, the building will open directly onto Bruce Park and feature a delicate striated façade of cast stone and glass inspired by the surfaces of Connecticut’s rock quarries.

The Mark Twain House & Museum is pleased to announce that novelist David Baldacci and his wife Michelle have made a gift of $1 million to the museum. Baldacci, a member of the museum’s board of trustees since 2012, specified that the restricted gift be used to support expanded programming and strategic initiatives. A portion of the gift will establish a challenge grant encouraging others to donate to the museum.

The Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum and The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of Connecticut held a groundbreaking ceremony on May 15, 2019, for a new education and visitor center planned for the historic, 18th-century campus. The new building, designed in an architectural style that complements the adjacent historical houses and Colonial Revival Garden, will strengthen WDS’s mission of historic preservation and education and enable the museum to offer year-round programming to Connecticut school children and the public. A $25,000 planning grant received from Connecticut Humanities will enable WDS to create a dynamic new exhibition and orientation experience for visitors that will include: an exhibit showcasing some of the recent archaeology work at WDS; an expanded new interpretive panel of the Webb Family and property; and a video on the histories of the museum and the NSCDA-CT.

The Connecticut Trolley Museum has received a $50,000 grant from the state Department of Economic Development, which it says it will use to complete the restoration of a historic trolley car. The car was built in Springfield in 1922 by the Wason Co. and ran until 1929 on the line from Torrington to West Winsted. After service on that line was discontinued, the car was used in New Haven until 1948. The car then ran for several years on the museum’s track until the 1980s, when its condition worsened. work will include repairing the steel frame, installing a new floor and roof, restoring interior woodwork, reconditioning electrical and air systems, and overhauling the car’s four motors.

On July 14th, 2019 Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine celebrated one year since our grand re-opening last summer. Old New-Gate had been closed since 2009 for a large restoration project that included stabilizing the historic guardhouse and other repairs. Re-opening nine years later put us in a unique position; we had lots of community members who had been waiting (im)patiently to come see the site, and we had lots of community members who had forgotten about Old New-Gate. The successful restoration of the guardhouse was a big step in keeping Old New-Gate open to the public for years to come. Further restoration projects completed in the past year include window replacement/repair and painting of the visitor center, replacement of both large prison gates, roof replacement and painting of the exteriors of Viets’ Tavern (1760) and exterior work on two cottages on the property.

Following the lead of its sister museums in the State Historic Preservation Office -- Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine and Prudence Crandall Museum -- the Henry Whitfield State Museum is working with Capture, LLC to create a 3D interactive tour of the Whitfield House interior as well as exterior aerial views of the site. The footage will be used in a variety of ways, such as providing a virtual tour to visitors who cannot climb stairs to the museum’s upper floors or to those who cannot visit the site at all, illustrating the view of Long Island Sound from the house’s second-floor corner window, and being a resource for architects in future restoration planning.

The William Randolph Hearst Foundations awarded the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum $75,000 for General Education; The Leir Foundation awarded us $50,000 per year for four years for an overall grant of $200,000 in support of our Sculpture Garden, and the National Endowment for the Arts awarded us $30,000 for a new teen initiative, One Work, Many Voices.

Maine

Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations (Trustees), governing board of the Woodlawn Museum, along with project team members recently celebrated the completion of the first phase in their facilities upgrade project on the 180-acre historic estate. Water, sewer, power, and communications have all been upgraded over the last few months. Improvements include a new water line, stormwater mitigation, three-phase power, improved fire safety, and data and communications upgrades.

Arts & Humanities Grants, a partnership between the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Arts Commission, support innovative community projects that have BOTH arts and humanities components. Recent awardees: Maine Maritime Museum  - $950 for "Maritime Music: A Celebration of Music's Relationship with the Sea." Seashore Trolley Museum  - $1,000 for "Arts Integration and Renovation of Nagasaki Tram #134.

Massachusetts

The Boston Children's Museum has received a $342,000 two-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Research in the Formation of Engineers program. This grant, entitled Design and Development: Engineering and Empathy Pre-K/K, will support development and research of activities for prekindergarten (pre-K) and kindergarten (K) classrooms that integrate engineering and empathy. The museum will partner with researchers at Education Development Center|Center for Children and Technology (EDC) and local Boston prekindergarten/kindergarten classroom teachers throughout this project.

The Armenian Museum of America is one of 100 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 each through Cummings Foundation's "$100K for 100" program. The Watertown-based organization was selected from a total of 574 applications during a competitive review process. The funding will be used to strengthen the Museum's visitor experience, particularly as it relates to exhibitions exploring the Armenian genocide and resultant diaspora community. Dispersed over a four-year period, the grant award will allow the Museum to expand its current display that focuses on the Armenian Genocide.

The Fitchburg Historical Society announced on Monday, April 8, 2019 that it received $1,000 in funding from the Fitchburg Cultural Council in support of its public programs. $500 was received to support the popular Annual Holiday House Tour and an additional $500 will underwrite the cost of creating a walking tour of the Memorials and Monuments of Fitchburg's Main Street. The next Holiday House Tour is scheduled on Saturday, December7, 2019: it is the Historical Society's most important annual fundraiser. It also provides an opportunity for the general public to discover some of some of Fitchburg's most beautiful and interesting homes.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) announced that the MassArt Art Museum (MAAM), Boston's new free contemporary art museum, will be opening in February 2020. Formerly known as the Bakalar & Paine Galleries, the space will reopen after extensive renovations with a new name and brand and an expanded mission. The renovation is supported by MassArt's UNBOUND capital campaign, which raised $12.5 million to fund the project. The MassArt Art Museum will continue the Bakalar & Paine Galleries' legacy of offering an accessible contemporary art experience for all audiences and partnering with emerging and established artists to bring fresh, diverse perspectives to Boston. The renovation project to fully transform the 15,000 square foot museum space within the original 1906 campus building is being led by designLAB Architects and Dimeo Construction. The renovations will improve public access to the museum with a new front entrance on Huntington Avenue, as well as an elevator and enhanced visitor amenities.

The Rose Art Museum has announced that three major works have newly entered the museum's permanent collection. The most recent acquisitions purchased with funds from museum endowments include Betye Saar's mixed media assemblage Supreme Quality (1998), Ralph Coburn's multi-part painting Random Sequence Participatory Composition (1962), and Joe Overstreet's monumental sculptural painting untitled (1972) from the Flight Patterns series. These important works add further depth to the Rose's outstanding modern and contemporary collection and join new and significant works by Cuban artist Zilia Sanchez and American artists Kay Rosen and Adam Pendleton that have been added to the permanent collection within the last two years. 

The Harvard Art Museums are pleased to announce an extraordinary gift of 70 sketchbooks by internationally renowned artist Otto Piene (1928-2014); the gift was made by poet and author Elizabeth Goldring, the artist's wife. Dating from 1935 to 2014, the largely unpublished sketchbooks reflect interdisciplinary, cross-media experiments from Piene's long career in the Boston area and abroad, including both realized and unrealized projects. In keeping with the museums' history and ongoing commitment to training and research, the next Stefan Engelhorn Curatorial Fellow in the Busch-Reisinger Museum (2019-21) will soon be appointed to study and catalog this new gift. The gift also includes a selection of pens, the primary medium Piene used for his sketches, including the Magic Marker brand; these will be held in the Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art (CTSMA) and will play a key role in the long-term preservation of Piene's sketchbooks.

The Harvard Art Museums have also received a $1 million gift from George Ho (A.B. '90), Henry Ho (A.B. '95), and Rosalind "Sasa" Wang to establish the Ho Family Student Guide Fund, which will support research and training for the museums' Student Guide program. The museums' Student Guides-now known as Ho Family Student Guides-are Harvard undergraduates who are trained to design and offer unique, thematic tours about select objects for university and community audiences. The Ho Family Student Guide Fund will underwrite the Student Guide program, providing financial support for needs ranging from compensation and training to research opportunities that will foster the development of each guide.

The Fitchburg Art Museum (FAM) has officially launched a new, updated brand identity to reflect the Museum's current mission, recent revitalization, and increased commitment to the community. This new brand is an articulated goal in FAM's 2016-2020 Strategic Plan and reflects the new direction the Museum has taken over the last five years. The new FAM brand represents a fresh approach to design, messaging, text, and images, and is anchored by its new red, black, and white logo. The design of the logo emphasizes the FAM acronym, which expresses the Museum's inclusive approach to our members, visitors, partners, and community - everyone in the FAMily. The design also reflects the City of Fitchburg with its architectural and industrial strengths, and its red color. Red is the official color of Fitchburg (Go Red Raiders!). The logo also appears in a Spanish language version, as part of FAM's Bilingual Museum Initiative, to better serve our city's 30% Latino residents.

The Barr Foundation, based in Boston, the largest private foundation in Massachusetts, this week announced that it granted $7,775,000 to 27 Massachusetts nonprofits to support ongoing programs and capacity building, as well as new initiatives. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: $75,000 to conduct Phase 1 of a two-phase consultant-led DEI assessment. Trustees of Reservations: $200,000 to develop signature, equitable, and climate-resilient parks on the Boston waterfront.

The Nichols House Museum was awarded a $125,000 matching capital grant from Mass Cultural Council's Cultural Facilities Fund for its Collections Conservation Project. The project will update the Museum's climate control system, and also address building improvements that include window restoration, interior storm windows, and attic floor and rear ell insulation, all in support of long-term preservation of the building & collection, as well as increasing energy efficiency. The Museum has also received an anonymous grant in the amount of $158,500 to close the gap on fundraising for the $408,000 project once the MCC grant match has been raised. Project implementation begins this fall.

The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company recently donated $5,000 to Fisher House. Executive Director of Fisher House Boston Jennifer DeLuca received a $5,000 donation personally delivered by Captain Commanding LTC Charles McCarthy, Jr. The Fisher House Foundation builds comfort homes where military & veterans' families can stay free of charge while a loved one is in the hospital. 

This June the Mass Cultural Council designated Gore Place part of the Universal Participation (UP) Network by virtue of the organization completing the Innovation and Learning Network (ILN) series of workshops. The UP Network includes the organizations that are a growing cohort of leaders and innovators in the field who serve to inspire other organizations. UP Designated organizations have demonstrated a commitment to learn, take action, and embrace inclusivity as a core organizational value and possess organizational behaviors that reflect the aspirations of the UP Program.

The First Religious Society and the Museum of Old Newbury drew up a purchase agreement of a weathervane c. 1725 created by Shem Drowne, a fine example of American folk art and an important part of the fabric of Newburyport for a dozen generations. The two institutions stated that the Drowne weathervane would remain in Newburyport in perpetuity and would be on exhibit at the Cushing House, headquarters of the museum. Funds for the purchase of the weathervane by the museum were awarded by an anonymous donor.

Rhode Island

The Preservation Society of Newport County has received a $50,000 grant from the National Trust of Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. The Preservation Society will assist efforts to preserve Newport's God's Little Acre, a nationally significant burial ground, in collaboration with the City of Newport's Historic Cemetery Advisory Commission. God's Little Acre contains approximately 200 professionally carved headstones dating from 1800 and earlier for freed and enslaved Africans. This substantial collection of colonial-era headstones is notable for its size and elaborately carved detail crafted during a time when African graves were typically left unmarked in the United States. The grant will provide critical funding to conserve approximately 30 colonial-era slate headstones in one of the oldest and most intact African burying grounds in the United States.

After three years of planning, research, and 'kid-testing,' Providence Children's Museum is set to launch its Creativity Initiative on June 28, with dedicated new exhibit space and high-quality maker experiences designed to spark creativity in the community and inspire Rhode Island's kids to be innovators in the 21st century. New exhibits will open each season, with a series of hands-on workshops complementing the theme of each exhibit, giving little innovators a chance to explore in the new Innovation Lab and Maker Studio.

New England

Congratulations to The Mark Twain House and Museum and the Maine State Museum receiving reaccreditation from the American Alliance of Museums.

The following NEMA members received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts:

• Hill-Stead Museum, $10,000, Art Works - Literature
  To support the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival.
• Florence Griswold Museum, Inc., $20,000, Art Works - Museums
  To support the exhibition Fragile Earth: The Naturalist Impulse in Contemporary Art, and an accompanying catalogue.
• Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum Inc., $30,000, Art Works - Museums
  To support One Work, Many Voices, a teen engagement program in a contemporary art museum.
• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Inc., $25,000, Art Works - Museums
  To support an artist-in-residence program.
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, $35,000, Art Works – Museums
  To support the exhibition Quilts, Coverlets and the American Experience.