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MUSEUMS AND COMMUNITIES NEWS
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Hammer Museum
Los Angeles, CA
The Hammer Museum's diverse group of Visitor Experience Representatives (pictured above in the lobby of the Hammer with Mark Bradford's
Finding Barry) welcome and connect visitors to the museum. The 90 VERs, all students from local universities, collectively speak 22 languages and come from a variety of academic backgrounds.
Read more about the VERs below.
Image courtesy of the Hammer Museum
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Museums and Communities News is our roundup of stories demonstrating the myriad ways AAMD member museums serve their communities.
AAMD Museums: We Want Your Stories! If you have a story you'd like us to consider for Museums & Communities News please contact Alison Wade.
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Living, Learning and Working at Burchfield Penney Art Center
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| | Sherman W. Washington (left) presents Victor Bartello with the Southeast Works Employee of The Year Award. |
The Burchfield Penney Art Center, in partnership with One Accord Cleaning Services, were recently honored by Southeast Works for exemplary practices in hiring, training and supporting people with disabilities.
Southeast Works provides support throughout Western New York to help people with developmental disabilities lead productive, independent, and fulfilling lives. Southeast Works annually acknowledges community partnerships that result in work.
"So many people at the Burchfield Penney reach out to my staff on-site to let them know they're are doing a great job. Working together on this journey we've maintained a high standard of service infused with relationships, encouragement and training to support those with disabilities in reaching their goals," said Sherman W. Washington, One Accord sales/operations manager, honored as Business Partner of the Year. "Our investment of time, effort and patience have resulted in sustainable outcomes."
"This was our first opportunity to work with an independent contractor and the New York State Industries for the Disabled (NYSID) to develop a program," said William Menshon, Burchfield Penney facilities manager. "The One Accord staff provides first-rate service and the exchange has added a valuable dimension to our workforce. Most of them have overcome tremendous obstacles to become employed. We're honored to be a part of their inspiring stories."
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The Color of My World at the Speed Art Museum
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Video:
Home of the Innocents and the Speed Art Museum
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The Speed Art Museum is currently presenting an exhibition in collaboration with Home of the Innocents, a private, non-profit agency that provides the skills and opportunities by which vulnerable children and their families may improve their lives. The exhibition, The Color of My World, features artwork created by young women who have experienced trauma.
Over the course of four weeks, Speed staff members worked with the young women to create collages and poems. Through an examination of how color and shape can convey emotion, the participants experimented with different collage techniques. Drawing upon their personal stories, the group created beautiful works by interpreting their experiences through an art-making process that resulted in impactful collages.
"A lot of our kids have been through...trauma that they can't verbalize," says Theresa Judd, Child Development Sepcialist at the Home of the Innocents. "Art gives them a way to express how they are feeling and to get through that diagnosis, and give them a coping skill."
Color of My World is part of the Speed Art Museum's Wall Together project that partners museum with local art organizations or non-profits to create art that will be exhibited at the Speed's satellite space, Local Speed.
Click the image above to watch a very moving video about the collaboration between the Speed Art Museum and the Home of the Innocents.
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Museums for All is a new initiative, developed by our colleagues at the Association of Children's Museums and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, to offer free or reduced admission to visitors with Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. Museums for All is a way to broaden a museum's visitor base, and reach out to underserved communities.
Museums that register will offer individual admission fees ranging from free to $3.00 to individuals and families presenting EBT cards. Other restrictions apply; click the link below to learn more.
We strongly urge US art museums to participate in Museums for All!
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Art Therapy and Education at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
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| | Donor Michel de la Chenelière, museum director Nathalie Bondil, and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard at the November announcement of the Michel de la Chenelière International Atelier for Education and Art Therapy. |
A $5 million donation from Michel de la Chenelière will bring the complex's area up to over 38,000 square feet and fund partnerships to develop art therapy programs with Concordia University and the Douglas Institute's eating disorders program. The museum will also continue current school and community programs such as The Museum Shares, which aims to open the museum to immigrants and refugees, seniors, people with disabilities, and other groups who normally may not have access to the museum.
"It's incredibly bold of a museum to say we recognize we have space and collections, but we need help in delivering programs," says Rebecca Duclos, dean of Concordia University's faculty of fine arts.
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Creative Aging at The Phillips Collection
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| Creative Aging: Art and Wellness
The Phillips Collection and
Iona Senior Services |
The Phillips Collection is highlighting their ongoing partnership with Iona Senior Services in the exhibition Art and Wellness: Creative Aging. The exhibition shows artwork created in the museum's ongoing collaboration with Iona, a nonprofit organization that provides services for the DC metropolitan area's older adults, along with their families and caregivers.
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Visitors to Art and Wellness: Creative Aging.
Image courtesy of The Phillips Collection
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The Phillips' partnership with Iona encourages individuals with memory impairment and physical challenges, and their caregivers, to connect with each other through conversations in the Phillips galleries. The art therapy component of the program follows at Iona, with participants create artworks that reflect their previous discussions in the galleries.
View a video slideshow of this program by clicking on the image above. Art and Wellness: Creative Aging is on view through December 27, 2015.
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Visitor Experience Representatives Bring Diversity to the Hammer
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| VERs at the Billy Wilder Theater box office.
Photo courtesy of the Hammer Museum. |
The Hammer Museum's Visitor Experience Representatives (VERs) are 90 diverse ambassadors, all students at local universities, that welcome and connect visitors to the museum.
VERs protect art inside the galleries, check-in visitors at entrances, sell memberships, answer questions, and facilitate programs and events. The diverse group of VERs, all students from UCLA, UCLA Extension, and Santa Monica College, come from many academic backgrounds - roughly 26% come from science backgrounds and about 37% come from humanities backgrounds. VERs speak a combined 22 languages, allowing a large demographic of non-English speaking visitors to feel welcomed at the Hammer.
"I like interacting with the public because everyone is viewing art through a unique lens," says VER and UCLA student Madeline M. "Since the Hammer is free, it is more accessible to everyone and I find that people are very appreciative and often eager to share their opinions."
The program also helps the VERs develop new skills of their own. UCLA student Sebastian G. says he has "learned to be more receptive and accepting of other people's perspectives on art and life in general."
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Community Impact Map
The Walters Art Museum
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| | Each dot on the above map represents a school that utilized the Walters Art Museum's education services in FY2015. |
Baltimore, MD
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Click the map above to view a list of all 316 schools served by the Walters Art Museum, a map of schools served by median household income, and more detailed regional maps.
AAMD's mapping project provides a vivid illustration of museums' reach across their communities.Participation is free and available to all AAMD members, including museums in Mexico and Canada.
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