Sixteen-County School Service Program
The Children's Discovery Museum in Grand Rapids will build on recent enrollment momentum and further increase participation with its School Service Program, which takes down the economic barriers for visiting school groups. The Legacy grant will fund more educators and facilitators, curriculum development, scholarship aid, transportation assistance, art and teaching supplies, and the addition of a new exhibit to the museum.
Schools in the sixteen rural Minnesota counties of Aitkin, Becker, Beltrami, Carlton, Cass, Clearwater, Crow Wing, Hubbard, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Morrison, Saint Louis, Todd and Wadena do not have resources to provide creative out-of-the-classroom extended learning for their children. Many students are culturally and educationally deprived. The vast distance from large cities most often denies these children the rich creative offerings of a metro area. Poverty is endemic in northern Minnesota, and many children are at great risk. More than 15 % of children in each of these counties live in poverty. The rate is even higher in Aitkin and Itasca counties - topping 26% in some areas.
Michele Callahan is Director of Administrative Affairs at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA). In addition to her duties as director of administrative affairs, she also manages board relations for the museum and serves as a staff officer on the MIA Board of Trustees as its Assistant Secretary. Ms. Callahan has been with the MIA since 1995, and has worked in museum administration for over 25 years.
Joanne Jones-Rizzi currently serves as the Director of Community Engagement at the Science Museum of Minnesota. She joined the Science Museum as a program and exhibit developer for the award-winning exhibit RACE: Are We So Different? Ms. Jones-Rizzi began her career in 1985 as an exhibit developer and cultural program leader at the Boston Children's Museum. She has more than 25 years of experience in exhibit design and community engagement and collaboration.
Lyndel King has been director and chief curator at the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota since 1981. She is also an adjunct professor in art history and professor of museum studies. Prior to her work at the Weisman, Ms. King worked as director of exhibitions and museum programs for Control Data Corporation and as an exhibition coordinator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Children's Museums Grants. $500,000 the first year and $500,000 the second year are for a competitive Arts and Cultural Heritage Grants Program-Children's Museums. The board of directors shall solicit proposals and award grants to children's museums for projects and programs that maintain or promote our cultural heritage.
- School class enrollment from December 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013 will increase from 2,611 children to 3,650 ( 40 % ) over the previous year's seven-month period.
- A significant majority of teacher rating scores will average 4.5 or higher on questions asked in the Written Teacher Survey Form ( 1 being the lowest, and 5 being the highest score ).
- At least one new elementary school class from each of our six additional service counties will be enrolled. A 30-school goal identified in 2011 has proven to be unrealistic.
- At least 10 new elementary school classes from our core ten-counties will be enrolled.
- A DVD and website video to increase long-distance participation via technology will be produced. Over the next two years, these tools will help boost outlying school enrollment.
- CDM met the 40% enrollment growth objective with nearly 1,000 additional participants over the same 7-month period the previous year. Program enrollment reached 3,527 individuals.
- A majority of average teacher rating scores reached 4.5 or above (5 out of 9 questions).
- CDM enrolled one new class from each of these six new target counties - Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Todd & Wadena. A school group from Blue Earth county was also served.
- Exceeding the objective of 10, CDM enrolled 14 classes/schools within the ten-county core service area that have not participated in the past.
- Our new CDM website was up and running in June.
- Prospectes for a new core exhibit have been set in motion with the acquisition of a 3,000 piece Wizard of Oz collection valued at $250,000. A new Oz exhibit will open in June 2014 in time for the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Wizard of Oz.
Directors: Jerome Miner, Carole Erickson, Pamela Miner, Laura Nikkel, Jeffrey Borg, Corinne Jacobson, Melanie Jacobson