CAM Alerts are notifications for members and supporters of the California Association of Museums regarding state or federal issues affecting museums. If you have any questions, please email CAM at cam@calmuseums.org.

As a result of the 2005 hurricane season, communities along the Gulf coast have suffered a tremendous loss of natural and cultural heritage. Some museums have been destroyed and many others have experienced damage to or loss of collections. There is an urgent need to not only assist these institutions to reconstruct and stabilize their collections but also to provide support until their communities can be rebuilt and financial support systems re-established.

In light of this great tragedy, the American museum community is joining together to support our colleagues as they work to care for damaged collections and to restore the vital educational, cultural, and economic roles of their museums. In recognition of National Arts and Humanities Month fourteen national, regional and state museum associations are collectively sponsoring an initiative which asks their member museums to participate in "Museums Helping Museums” during October.

Please feel free to contact Celeste DeWald, Executive Director, at the CAM office at (831) 471-9970 or cam@calmuseums.org with any questions or comments you may have about this nationwide relief effort.

HOW MUSEUMS CAN HELP

During the month of October, museums are asked to consider:

• Donating a portion of the admissions
• Offering visitors the option to add a contribution to the regular admission fee
• Erecting a donation box for contributions from the public
• Donating a percentage of the museum shop sales
• Participating in another way

All funds collected will go to an assistance fund established by the Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC), and will be distributed according to policies established by the SEMC Board of Directors.

Assistance will be available to museums of all types, including art, history, science, children’s, zoos, aquaria, and gardens. To reduce the administrative burden, funds cannot be designated for a specific type of museum. This is an opportunity for the entire museum field to recognize the irreplaceable contribution that all museums make to their communities and to assist in the long recovery process.

It is recognized that some museums will not be able to participate due to their own financial challenges or legal restrictions on their ability to collect funds. In addition, many museums throughout the country have offered to provide support in the form of personnel and supplies to affected institutions. Those offers are being catalogued by the American Association of State and Local History (AASLH) while we await information from affected institutions about their needs. For additional information about AASLH's efforts go to https://www.aaslh.org/katrina.htm.

HOW MUSEUMS CAN PARTICIPATE

• Access a sample press release at http://www.aam-us.org/sp/mhm/press.cfm and use it to prepare your own announcement for distribution to local media outlets.
• Register your institutions name and method of participation in an on-line form at http://www.aam-us.org/sp/mhm. The American Association of Museums (AAM) will publicize to national media outlets the list of participating museums across the country and CAM will contact California media outlets. To be recognized in this nationwide and statewide publicity effort, please register your museum before October 31, 2005.
• Send all contributions in the form of a check made payable to:
  SEMC - (with Hurricane Katrina Fund on the memo line)

And mail the contribution to:
SEMC
P.O. Box 9003
Atlanta, GA 31106-1003

SPONSORING ASSOCIATIONS

Associations jointly sponsoring this initiative include:

For more information about museums in the affected area, please visit AAM’s website at www.aam-us.org.