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December 2014 / January 2015

Forum Monthly 

E-newsletter

VAM News 

Happy Holidays from VAM!
green-wrapped-present.jpg Thank you for making 2014 one of our best years yet! We are proud of what we've accomplished this year, including another fantastic lineup of professional development opportunities for our community, a successful northern Virginia conference, a rollout of a new association management system and website, as well as our new free student membership initiative! We accomplish everything we do with only 2 full time staff and 2 part-time staff, and with the support of our governing council and many volunteers. We are excited to see what 2015 will bring and for you to be a part of the excitement. Please consider a year-end gift to VAM - we always welcome your donations and of course as a 501c3, your donations to VAM are always tax-deductible.

From collections management to technology trends, there's a VAM workshop for everyone on your staff. 
VAM 2015 is Right Around the Corner
It's hard to believe, but soon we'll be asking #HaveYouSeenUsLately? That is our theme for the 2015 VAM Annual Conference, being held March 7 - 10 in at the Omni Hotel in Richmond, VA. Our preliminary conference brochure has been posted online, along with a registration form for you to download. Online registration begins in early January. Learn more and plan to join us!

Richmond is for Museum Lovers: VAM 2015 Annual Conference
Richmond is for Museum Lovers: VAM 2015 Annual Conference

SAVE THESE DATES FOR ADVOCACY

Mark your calendar for Thursday, January 15th, when we'll once again be at the State Capitol in Richmond, along with our partners in advocacy, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Consider attending one or more of our advocacy day events:
9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. - Reception with Legislators
12:00 p.m. - Gallery Recognitions
1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. - Legislator Visits
The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Museums Advocacy Day in Washington, DC will take place February 23 - 24, 2015. New this year! As partners in this effort, VAM members attend for free (this represents a savings of $75). Contact Jennifer for details.
In This Issue
VAM News
Member News
Member Kudos
Hails and Farewells
Professional Development Opportunities
More Museum News
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From the National Model Aviation Museum (Muncie, IN)
Does your museum have model airplanes by William Ostenberg?

In the mid-1980s the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) Museum, located in Reston, VA (now called the National Model Aviation Museum and located in Muncie, IN) accepted model airplanes on loan from Susan Henn, the daughter of William Ostenberg. Two of these models are missing from the museum's collection.  The museum staff at the time were untrained and had a habit of loaning models from the collection to other groups and museums without documentation. Most likely, if they loaned these to another museum, it would have been on the East Coast, probably near Reston, VA during the years 1987 and 1995. The museum is hoping that these two models are out there somewhere and would appreciate if you could check your collections to see.

To learn more, or with questions, please contact Maria VanVreede, National Model Aviation Museum Collections Manager at (765) 287-1256, ext. 508.
Deadlines
Member News

OnCell-TourSphere (a VAM business member) has partnered with Google Field Trip to provide quality "stories" to Field Trip users. With over 1 million downloads to date, Field Trip is an excellent way to learn about what's around you and is available as a downloadable native app in Google Play and the Apple App Store.
 

Student Athlete Achievement Award Finalists
The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum held their 10th Annual Student-Athlete Achievement Awards Banquet on Sunday, December 7. The event honored some of the state's great student-athletes. Four students were awarded Student-Athlete of the Year awards: Emma Haupt, a senior at Frank W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach, Sara Vigen, a senior at South Lakes High School in Reston, Mark Lawrence, Jr., a senior at Mills Godwin High School in Henrico, and Bryan Moon, a senior at Tabb High School in Yorktown.

Historic St. John's Church Foundation has signed a contract to replace the roof of the famous building. The $222,000 contract with Saunders Roofing of Richmond includes replacing the church roof, the parish hall roof and the boiler house roof. "All are leaking," said Sarah F. Whiting, the foundation's executive director, "all will be replaced with copper."

The Office of Historic Alexandria (OHA) is seeking the public's cooperation with an ongoing historical research project at Fort Ward Park, located at 4301 West Braddock Road in Alexandria. Specifically, OHA seeks to identify images that may exist in private hands that provide photographic evidence of once-standing gravestones in the city parkland. Those who suspect they may have such photographic evidence of gravestones in Fort Ward Park may email
[email protected] or call 703.746.4399 for more information.

Easy navigation, integration of social media and responsive design are hallmarks of a new generation of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation website, www.historyisfun.org, launched this fall. Its website recorded 1.25 million visits last year.

A fire in November claimed two wigwams at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has embarked on a $600 million campaign to both reinforce and re-imagine its role in the 21st century as a leader in history education and historical preservation.

Member Kudos

Henricus Historical Park announced that Charles L. Grant, executive director (and VAM council member) has been elected Lieutenant Governor of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Virginia (VASCW). The society was established to recognize the importance of American colonial history, commencing with the settlement of Jamestown on May 13, 1607 and leading up to the Battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775. Membership of VASCW consists of adult male descendants from an individual who served in the colonial militia or British army or held high civilian office during the colonial period.

Just shy of its 8th anniversary, the National Museum of the Marine Corps has welcomed its 4 millionth visitor. When David Hiteshew, a retired Middletown, Ohio teacher now working with Nowak Tours, stepped inside the Museum's doors with an Ohio 8th grade tour he had no idea his visit would be so eventful. "I'm actually a trainee with Nowak on this tour and it's my first visit to the Museum. I'd say it's now one of my favorite museums..." Hiteshew said.

The Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation recently presented awards for heritage conservation efforts. Among the honorees were the Salem Museum's Preston Papers, a 2014 Virginia's Top 10 Endangered Artifact. Congratulations!

Philanthropist David M. Rubenstein will donate $10 million to Montpelier, the historic Orange, Va., home of the nation's fourth president, James Madison.

After being vacant for 33 years, the Beacon Theatre in Hopewell's downtown area won the Honor Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation by the Virginia Society AIA after years of struggling to renovate and restore the building.

On November 22, 2014, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Director Alex Nyerges was honored by the French government as Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres), a prestigious international association of leaders recognized for their contributions toward promoting international relations with France. Nyerges is an executive committee member of the French Regional & American Museum Exchange (FRAME), a formal collaboration of museums comprising 13 cities in France and 13 museums in North America. VAM is the administrator for FRAME in North America. John Forsythe, FRAME's coordinator for North America, and Jennifer Thomas, VAM's executive director, were on hand for the ceremony.

We are pleased to announce that Martha Katz-Hyman has been selected to receive one of the 4 'Humanitarian of the Year Awards' presented by the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. The award will be presented to Martha on February 26, 2015. Congratulations, Martha!

BackStory with the American History Guys, a program of Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH), has been awarded two major grants: $125,000 from The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, its fifth grant for the program; and $200,000 from The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, their first-ever grant for a public radio program.

The Hermitage Museum & Gardens has been awarded a grant from Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. that will assist with a 6,000 square foot wetlands restoration project on the west side of its property. The Hermitage will use the restored wetlands to provide wetlands enrichment educational tours (WET) for students from grades three through six in the public school system. The $5,000 grant is being funded through the Keurig Green Mountain Employee Community Grant Program and will cover almost half of the budgeted cost of the project.

The Edith Bolling Wilson Birthplace Foundation received a Community Facility Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Program. The grant amounted to $20,000 with a $17,000 match from the Foundation totaling $37,000. Funds were used to purchase museum equipment including three new computers, a copier, office chairs, digital camera, video camera, projector, etc. In addition to office equipment, a professional media presentation for the museum and an audio presentation for the Bolling Home were acquired through the grant funds.

On December 6, 2014, a prehensile-tailed porcupine was born at the Virginia Zoo. After several days of close observations, animal care and veterinary staff were not comfortable with the level of care that first-time mom Cayenne was giving the youngster, so after much internal discussion as well as consultation from experts at the National Zoo, it was decided to remove the baby from the parents and hand-rear it.  The birth of this unique animal illustrates the Virginia Zoo's breeding and conservation success.

An important matching challenge grant of $600,000 from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation will support ARTshare, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' digital technology and education initiative. As a statewide art museum dedicated to enriching the lives of all Virginians, this project will extend the museum's impact by making its collections accessible across the commonwealth and around the world. VMFA will have one year to raise an additional $600,000 to meet the challenge.

Chairman Emeritus and former President and CEO of Colonial Williamsburg Colin G. Campbell and his wife, Nancy N. Campbell were presented with Preservation Virginia's President's Award for their lifelong devotion to historic places. "The President's Award was established to honor excellence and commitment to the goals of Preservation Virginia's founders. When we bestow this honor, it is an opportunity to acknowledge people who have embraced the transformative nature of historic preservation to strengthen communities, the Commonwealth and the nation." Cross said, "We are truly grateful that together Colin and Nancy Campbell have become a powerhouse for which no challenge is too great or too small."

From the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects:  

  • Kathleen S. Kilpatrick, Hon. VSAIA, has received the Architecture Medal for Virginia Service, the Society's most prestigious public presented jointly with the Virginia Center for Architecture. Kilpatrick was honored for her service with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 1995-2013 and her leadership as current Executive Director of the Capitol Square Preservation Council.
  • The College of William and Mary's Muscarelle Museum of Art, designed by Carlton Abbott, FAIA, received the Society's Test of Time award. The building's most notable feature is the ingenious trombe wall, which incorporates monumental tubes filled with colored water, which are changed several times a year. In addition to the wall being a work of art it also functions as a solar energy collection system.
  • Additionally, Richmond architect Lori Garrett, AIA was honored with the Award for Distinguished Achievement. Garrett is senior principal and vice president at Glav� and Holmes Architecture (a longtime VAM member). 

 

Hails and Farewells

deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA, has chosen John B. Ravenal as the institution's new executive director, beginning January 2015. John will be leaving his post as the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for his new position. Congratulations, and best of luck, John!
 

Susan Schoelwer

George Washington's Mount Vernon recently announced the appointment of Dr. Susan P. Schoelwer to the position of Robert H. Smith Senior Curator. Schoelwer has served as Mount Vernon's curator since 2010. In that capacity she has overseen the recent refurnishing and reinterpretation of George Washington's "New Room," the reinstallation of the greenhouse slave quarter, and several special exhibitions in the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center. 

Preservation Virginia announced that 17th-century historian, James Horn, D.Phil, will join their team to oversee fundraising, ongoing archaeological fieldwork, the collections development, educational programs and operations at Historic Jamestowne. Dr. Horn comes to us from the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. 

 

On November 3, 2014 Corey Thornton joined the team of the MacArthur Memorial as curator. Corey formerly served as curator of history for the Portsmouth Museums, from 2007 to 2014. Prior to 2007 Corey served as a museum services supervisor and later educator at the Children's Museum of Virginia, 2002-2003. He later became the assistant curator for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum and the Lightship Portsmouth Museum (2003-2007), before promotion to curator.
 

Hossein Saidid, CFO

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has appointed Hossein Sadid as the new chief financial officer. His oversight will include accounting/finance, budget, human resources, procurement and the Agency Risk Management and Internal Control (ARMICS) program. The CFO works in partnership with the director and other division heads to provide leadership, strategic direction, and management.

The Virginia Commission for the Arts welcomes a new administrative assistant and events planner, Anne Atkinson. Anne has worked in the arts in the Commonwealth for over 26 years.  

Professional Development Opportunities
January 20 - 27, 2015

AAM Webinar: Takin' it to the Streets: Successful Models for Museum Outreach
2:00 - 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The Virginia Forum will be held at Virginia Commonwealth University, March 12 - 14, 2015

The Renwick Gallery, the Smithsonian Intuition's craft museum, will be hosting a symposium entitled "The Craft Museum: Ideals and Practice" on March 13, 2015 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC. The Keynote will be Sir Christopher Frayling, former Rector, Royal College of Art.

ALHFAM Conference 2015
June 19 - 23, 2015 in Williamsburg, VA
More Museum News
From the Washington Post: The Smithsonian unveiled a $2 billion plan that would re-imagine the Mall in Washington DC in what has been described as the biggest project considered for the Mall in more than a century. 

From ABC News: New York's American Museum of Natural History Evacuated due to Smoke

From the Wall Street Journal: When the Art is Watching You

From the Washington Post: Hirshhorn ends docent program, telling volunteers that they are no longer needed
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