CAM E-NEWS 9/27/2006

CAM e-News is a biweekly, electronic newsletter for members and supporters of the California Association of Museums (CAM). If you have any questions or suggestions regarding future editions of CAM e-News or any of our programs, please email CAM at editor@calmuseums.org.

CAM e-News is supported in part by a grant from Associated Foundations, Inc.

FIND YOUR MUSE... Be a member of the California Association of Museums! CAM is the only professional association specifically addressing the needs and interests of California's museums and relies on membership dues to support its programs and services. Membership benefits and fees are available at http://www.calmuseums.org/membership.F

CAM CONFERENCE PRELIMINARY PROGRAM AVAILABLE AND REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

CAM is pleased to announce that the preliminary program schedule is now available and registration is open for Charting a Course: New Models for Times of Change, the next statewide museum conference in Long Beach, California, February 21-24, 2007. Like 2006, this conference will bring together a diverse group of museum professionals from across California for a stimulating and enjoyable exchange of ideas, perspectives, and resources. Long Beach's waterfront will be the backdrop for a notable conference with the newly expanded Museum of Latin American Art, the Aquarium of the Pacific, and the Long Beach Museum of Art hosting evening events. A limited number of registration scholarships for the 2007 CAM conference are available. To apply, see http://www.calmuseums.org/conferences_and_workshops/2007scholarships.html and complete the online application form. Applications must be completed online by Friday, December 8, 2006.

For additional information, including the entire conference program, featured speakers, and registration and hotel details, please see http://www.calmuseums.org/conferences_and_workshops/2007overview.html or contact the CAM Office at (831) 471-9970 or admin@calmuseums.org. We hope to see you in Long Beach!

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

EXHIBIT HALL, SPONSORSHIPS, AND ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES FOR 2007 CAM CONFERENCE STILL AVAILABLE!
If you are interested in becoming an exhibitor, advertiser, and/or sponsor, space is still available! The Vendor and Consultant Prospectus (190 KB) is available at http://www.calmuseums.org/conferences_and_workshops/Vendor_Consultant_Prospectus.pdf. This prospectus is for consultants and museum vendors who wish to showcase or advertise their products and services at the conference or support this professional development program through sponsorships. Please feel to contact the CAM office at (831) 471-9970 or admin@calmuseums.org if you have any questions.

SECOND ANNUAL MUSEUMS FREE-FOR-ALL, OCTOBER 1
In a joint effort to present the arts and culture to the diverse and myriad communities in Southern California, the Museum Marketing Roundtable announces the second annual "Museums Free-For-All" on Sunday, October 1, 2006. The following twenty museums—presenting art, cultural heritage, natural history, and science—will open their doors wide and invite visitors free of charge (excluding parking and special ticketed exhibitions): Armory Center for the Arts; Autry National Center's Museum of the American West; California Heritage Museum; California Science Center; Craft and Folk Art Museum; Fowler Museum at UCLA; The Getty Center; Hammer Museum; Japanese American National Museum; Laguna Art Museum; Long Beach Museum of Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Museum of Television & Radio; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Tolerance; Norton Simon Museum; Orange County Center for Contemporary Art; Pacific Asia Museum; Skirball Cultural Center; and Southwest Museum of the American Indian. For more information, visit www.museumsla.org.

ORGANIZATIONAL GRANT PROGRAM APPLICATIONS NOW ACCEPTED BY L.A. COUNTY ARTS COMMISSION
The Los Angeles County Arts Commission (LACAC) is now welcoming applications for the 2007/2008 Organizational Grant Program (OGP). Awards will support activities that build artistic and administrative capacity and enhance community access, taking place between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009. Museum-related categories within this grant program include increasing accessibility of the arts for Los Angeles County residents and strengthening organizational capacity for arts organizations. All applications must be submitted electronically through eGRANT, and how-to workshops are required for new and previously declined applicants. For more information regarding eGRANT, see http://www.lacountyarts.org/grantapplicants.html. Grant guidelines and contact information can be found at http://www.lacountyarts.org/grant0708guidelines.pdf [Excerpted from the California Arts Council California Arts Update – September 11, 2006.]

NEW FEDERAL TAX PROVISION AFFECTS FRACTIONAL OR PARTIAL GIVING TO MUSEUMS
According to a New York Times article on September 13, 2006, President Bush signed a pension bill on August 17, 2006 that included a federal tax provision that may harm the ability of art museums to acquire new artworks. The tax-law change affects fractional or partial giving, a practice under which donors could take generous tax deductions over many years before contributing masterpieces from their private collections. Such deductions are significantly reduced under the new law. To read the full article, entitled Museums Fear Tax Law Changes on Some Donations, see http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/arts/design/13gift.html. (Requires NY Times subscription.)

THE SUSTAINABLE NONPROFIT RELEASES ARTICLE ON FUNDING LANDSCAPE FOR MUSEUMS THINKING ABOUT GOING GREEN
The Sustainable Nonprofit has released the first of a series of articles that will explore museums and green design. The current article is entitled, "Green" Money: The Funding Landscape for Museums Thinking About Going Green. It describes some of the implications and considerations for museums thinking about going green. To read the complete article, visit http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/10004294/tsn/greenmuseum. To browse more Sustainable Nonprofit articles, visit: http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/10000674/tsn/arch.

CALIFORNIA COUNCIL FOR THE PROMOTION OF HISTORY ANNUAL CONFERENCE TO TAKE PLACE IN SAN JOSE, OCTOBER 26-28
From Adobe Bricks to Adobe Bytes: Historical Transformations in California is the theme for the 2006 conference of the California Council for the Promotion of History (CCPH), which will take place October 26-28 in San Jose, California, at the historic St. Claire Hotel. New State Archivist Nancy Zimmelman will kick off the conference as the plenary session speaker, speaking on the topic of archives in the digital age. To view the entire conference registration packet, visit http://www.csus.edu/org/ccph/Conference/2006RegPacket.pdf. For more information, visit http://www.csus.edu/org/ccph/Conference/index.htm or contact the CCPH office at (916) 278-4296 or ccph@csus.edu.

SONOMA COUNTY MUSEUM RECEIVES PARTNERSHIP FOR A NATION OF LEARNERS IMLS/CPB GRANT
CAM would like to congratulate the Sonoma County Museum and the Sonoma County Library. Together with the Rural California Broadcasting Corporation (KRCB) in Rohnert Park, they received $243,450 for the Partnership for a Nation of Learners Community Collaboration Grant. The grant will allow the partners to teach more than 200 Latino youth to find their own voices through writing, art, and radio and television production. By focusing attention on the positive aspects of Latino life and culture and by building skills, the partners aim to decrease self-destructive behavior by Latino youth. The Partnership for a Nation of Learners (PNL), a leadership initiative of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded thirteen Community Collaboration Grants across the country. For more information on the Partnership for a Nation of Learners Grant, visit http://www.partnershipforlearners.org/.

RAND HOSTS FREE POLICY FORUM IN LOS ANGELES ON OCTOBER 5
The RAND Corporation is hosting a free policy forum on October 5 in Los Angeles. The program seeks to engage a high-profile group of Los Angeles arts visionaries to provide analytical knowledge, local expertise and artistic and cultural leadership for the discussion. The forum will discuss how to best bring Los Angeles' diverse arts players together to create a unifying vision that makes the most of the city's cultural assets. Admission is free, but advance registration is required due to limited seating. To register, visit http://www.rand.org/events/policy_forum/la_arts/register.html.

FIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEES APPOINTED TO NATIONAL MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES BOARD, INCLUDING KEVIN STARR FROM CALIFORNIA
The U.S. Senate confirmed five presidential nominees to serve as members of the National Museum and Library Services Board which advises the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The nominees include Kevin Starr, State Librarian Emeritus of California; Katherine Berger, Trustee of the Berger Collection Educational Trust; Karen Brosius, Executive Director of the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia,South Carolina and member of the Association of Art Museum Directors; Ioannis (Yannis) N. Miaoulis, President and Director of the Museum of Science, Boston; and, Christina Orr-Cahall, Director of the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida. For more information about the National Museum and Library Services Board visit the Institute’s Web site at http://www.imls.gov/about/board.shtm.

INTRODUCTORY FOUNDATION FUNDRAISING COURSE OFFERED BY THE FOUNDATION CENTER ON OCTOBER 3
The Foundation Center is hosting a basic fundraising workshop on October 3, 2006 in San Francisco. Designed for beginners, this course shows how to identify potential funders and prepare to seek grants for an organization. Course fee is $125, enroll online at http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/10004419/.

FIELDSTONE ALLIANCE RELEASES GUIDE THAT RELIES ON THE ARTS FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE
The Fieldstone Alliance released The Creative Community Builder’s Handbook: How to Transform Communities Using Local Assets, Arts and Culture, a guide by Tom Borrup designed to show how culturally-based projects can play a role in creating change in communities. The guide distills research and emerging ideas behind culturally driven community development and includes case studies and six concrete steps for assessing, planning and implementing creative community building projects. To learn more about the guide, please visit http://www.fieldstonealliance.org/productdetails.cfm?SKU=069474&disccode=NBCCBH.

IMLS MATCHING GRANT APPLICATIONS DUE OCTOBER 1 FOR CONSERVATION PROJECT SUPPORT
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is accepting grant applications to the agency’s FY 2007 Conservation Project Support (CPS) program. The purpose of the CPS program is to help safeguard the collections housed in the nation’s museums so that current and future generations can learn from and gain access to the rich artistic, cultural, and scientific heritage represented by those collections. To achieve this purpose, IMLS awards matching grants to help museums identify their conservation needs and priorities and to help them ensure the safekeeping of their collections by implementing sound conservation practices. Application deadline is October 1, 2006. For grant details, deadlines, and technical assistance conference call information, see http://www.imls.gov/applicants/grants/conservProject.shtm.

2007 MUSEUMS AND THE WEB CONFERENCE CALL FOR PARTICIPATION DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 30
The 2007 Museums and the Web conference, to be held April 11-14, 2007, in San Francisco, is looking for participants for their upcoming conference. Anyone delivering programs that use digital cultural content or designing cultural tourism and educational online programming is encouraged to present their work at this conference. See details at http://www.archimuse.com/mw2007/.

SPECIAL CELEBRATION PLANNED TO RECOGNIZE EDWARD H. ABLE, JR’S MUSEUM LEADERSHIP
Irene Hirano, Chair, AAM Board of Directors and Executive Director and President of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles announced that a special celebration to acknowledge Ed Able and his accomplishments during his term as President & CEO of the American Association of Museums (AAM) will be held at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC on Wednesday, November 1, 2006 at 6:30pm. A book of memories will be presented to Ed at the event. For more information or to request an invitation, see http://www.aam-us.org/ablecelebration/.

ANNUAL CAN CONFERENCE REGISTRATION DISCOUNT AVAILABLE FOR CAM MEMBERS
Through October 5, CAM members can register for Building Strong Nonprofits, the 15th Annual Conference of the California Association of Nonprofits (CAN), at the Early Bird rate of $149. The conference will take place in Los Angeles on Thursday, October 26 and Friday, October 27, 2006. A full program description can be found at http://www.canonprofits.org/buildingstrongnonprofits/index.html#_Concurrent_Half-Day_Workshops. For more details about the conference, contact Kathy Crabb, Director of Communications, at (213) 347-2070, ext. 209 or kcrabb@CAnonprofits.org.

Get the Word Out in CAM e-News!
Please email the CAM office at editor@calmuseums.org to list any announcements pertaining to professional development programs, grant opportunities, or related opportunities in future editions of CAM e-News and on the CAM web site. Since it is not possible to include all the details of an announcement, please include a phone number, web site address, or email address so interested parties can get additional information. Please do not exceed a limit of 150 words per listing. All announcements are subject to editing by CAM personnel.