News and Updates
MUSEUM LOAN NETWORK AWARDS 20 NEW GRANTS
TO CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
From American and Egyptian Artifacts to Toys and Chinese Porcelain, Latest Survey Grants Will Expand Scope and Depth of the MLN Directory
(Cambridge, MA) March 19, 2003 – The Museum Loan Network (MLN) has awarded grants totaling $348,870 to 20 institutions in 15 states, funding the long-term loan of objects of cultural heritage between museums of diverse size and discipline, and enriching the cultural vitality of communities across the country. This latest grant cycle will support the exchange of more than 138 objects and fund the research and cataloguing of over 16,000 objects, 1,500 of which will be included in the MLN’s online directory – an illustrated online database of over 8,500 objects available for long-term loan to museums.
Since its inception in 1995, the MLN has awarded 288 grants to 207 institutions in 151 cities in 50 states and territories, bringing the total funding awarded to $4.5 million. Over the past eight years, the MLN has funded and facilitated innovative collaborations between different types of institutions throughout the United States. Through two complementary components—the MLN grant programs and the MLN Directory—the Museum Loan Network provides museums with an opportunity to enhance their permanent collections and present long-term exhibitions that are meaningful to their audiences.
"Nearly half of the grants awarded in this latest round are survey grants. The far-reaching impact of these grants is demonstrated by the impressive range of objects that will be researched and identified for the MLN Directory," comments Lori Gross, director of the Museum Loan Network. "The Directory is a unique resource and serves as a shared permanent collection for museums nationwide, enabling communities across the country to benefit from the breadth and scope of the objects surveyed."
The February 2003 survey grants will provide for the cataloguing and research of a large number of works currently in storage and identify a diverse collection of objects that will be added to the MLN Directory, including: Jack T. Franklin photographs documenting the Civil Rights movement from the African American Museum in Philadelphia; ancient Egyptian objects from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; set and costume designs from the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum; late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century toys from the Strong Museum in Rochester, NY; and Chinese porcelain from Winterthur, an American Country Estate, in Delaware.
In addition to supporting the research and cataloguing of objects, this MLN grant cycle will also fund the exchange and installation of works between institutions in all regions of the United States. These latest implementation grants demonstrate the broad range of collaborations that the MLN supports and include: the Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences in Peoria, IL, for the loan of the “Peoria Falcon,” a historic thousand-year-old copper artifact from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, for a period of three years; the Semitic Museum at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, for the loan of Ancient Israeli objects from the Bade Museum at the Pacific School of Religion, CA, and the Free Collection of Wheaton College, IL, for a period of five years; The Baltimore Museum of Art for the loan of four paintings by Henry Ossawa Tanner from the Des Moines Art Center, IA; and The Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA, for the loan of 29 documents and artifacts relating to the birth of aviation from the MIT Museum, MA, and the Wright State University Libraries, OH, for a period of two years.
MLN travel grants provide museums with an opportunity to travel to prospective lending institutions to research and identify objects for potential loan. The February 2003 MLN travel grant recipients include: Save Ellis Island!, Inc. in Gladstone, NJ, to travel to several institutions in the Tri-State Region to explore loans of photographs and medical artifacts related to the immigrant health experience from 1902 to 1951; the St. Hope Corporation/40 Acres Art Gallery in Sacramento, CA, to travel to institutions in Chicago and New York to explore the loan of objects created by 20th-century African-American artists; and the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum in Brunswick, ME, to travel to the American Museum of Natural History, NY, to explore the loan of objects from Inughuit collections acquired by Peary and MacMillan.
Building on its continuing success, the Museum Loan Network has also implemented a range of new initiatives that extend the scope and impact of its grant programs, including: Virtual Exhibitions of MLN-facilitated projects on the Museum Loan Network Web site, which allow viewers to navigate through innovative installations supported by the MLN at museums throughout the United States; Museum as Catalyst for Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Beginning a Conversation, a publication documenting a series of MLN-hosted meetings in 2000/2001 between leaders from different disciplines to explore a number of interrelated issues, challenges, and opportunities affecting collaboration and today's museums; and "Museums, Composers, and Communities," a successful pilot program supported by the Museum Loan Network in partnership with the American Composers Forum, which seeks to bring new music and the creative energy of composers directly into museums and their communities, creating a new model for interdisciplinary collaboration.
Museum Loan Network grants are awarded on a semi-annual basis. The next deadline for application is May 2, 2003.