A federal agency said it has awarded $402,400 to cultural institutions in Hartford and Middletown to help them improve their visitor experience, hire staff and preserve collections.
The competitive grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which will be matched with more than $546,000 from the museums themselves, will go to:
• Harriett Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford, $150,000: Staff at the center, named after the author of famed anti-slavery novel ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ will design a new, audience experience in its main exhibit, the Stowe House, to replace its traditional guided tour.
• Amistad Center for Art & Culture, Hartford, $141,200: The center, located at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, will hire an education associate to design and manage visitor and educational programming based on African culture and art. The center will also use a consultant to evaluate its audience and programs.
• Davidson Art Center, Middletown, $111,173: The Wesleyan University center will digitally photograph as many as 5,000 photos and prints in its collection for eventual public viewing online. The images represent European and American artists from as far back as the 15th century.
Other Connecticut museums that received money from the IMLS’ $25.6 million grant round include:
• Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, $182,671: Mystic will develop multimedia pieces for an upcoming exhibit on whaling.
• Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, $136,615: Peabody will buy collections-storage cabinets for parts of its invertebrate zoology collection.
• Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, $82,914: The museum will inventory and re-catalog its collection of approximately $10,000 art objects.
