international residency program

Highlighting nonprofit organizations and individuals doing stellar work!

Kate McGroarty, a Chicago-based teacher, learned she was the winner of the Museum of Science and Industry’s “Month at the Museum” contest by performing–you guessed it–an experiment. Five finalists (over 1,500 people applied), decked out in requisite safety-first gear, were given test tubes of sodium iodide and were asked to pour them into beakers, only one of which contained hydrogen peroxide (the rest filled with water) and the winner was determined by the ensuing [bubbly] chemical reaction. Kudos for a super-flashy and educational end to an unprecented contest! You can follow Kate’s adventure here.
Bronx Museum of the Arts, newly minted administrators of smARTpower, a U.S. State Department program crafted to bring visual artists to countries around the world including Pakistan, China, Nigeria and Venezuela, where they will collaborate with local artists. This seems like a logical extension of the Museum’s innovative International Residency Program. Although the State Department has reserved the right to final approval of works, it will be interesting to see what, if any, impact this program has on U.S. foreign relations.
In an era of dwindling professional development resources, this is right on time: The Institute of Museum and Library Services, Learning Times, Heritage Preservation and the American Association for State and Local History have partnered to present six free webinars based on the Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action initiative. The seminars focus on supporting collections via media, funder and public outreach and how recipients can fully utilize the Connecting to Connections Bookshelf.