ExhibitsUSA and Nebraska Arts Council Partnership Creates New Opportunities for Nebraska Museums

M-AAA | Press Releases | November 14, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 14, 2001

ExhibitsUSA and Nebraska Arts Council Partnership Creates New Opportunities
for Nebraska Museums

ExhibitsUSA has announced the creation of the Nebraska Museums Initiative, a new subsidy program to increase access to high quality traveling exhibitions for museums in Nebraska.

Through a generous grant from the Cooper Foundation in Lincoln, Nebraska and in partnership with the Nebraska Arts Council, the Nebraska Museums Initiative provides funding to cultural institutions in Nebraska to subsidize rental fees of exhibitions toured by ExhibitsUSA. The initiative also provides funding assistance for educational outreach programs including public lectures and gallery talks, art classes, concerts and other events related to the exhibitions. Additionally, funds are available to offset exhibition shipping costs which in rural areas can often exceed the exhibition fee.

Jennifer Severin of the Nebraska Arts Council had a few words about the new program. "The Nebraska Arts Council is delighted to be a partner in support of the Nebraska Museums Initiative with additional funding for the exhibition services of ExhibitsUSA, a program of the Mid-America Arts Alliance. With dozens of quality art exhibitions to choose from at ExhibitsUSA, I am confident that the museums and galleries of Nebraska will want to take full advantage of this great opportunity."

ExhibitsUSA has been at the forefront in developing and distributing affordable, high-quality exhibitions to small and mid-sized institutions around the country for over a decade now and the Nebraska Museums Initiative strengthens ExhibitsUSA's reach in a state where the majority of museums are small and mid-sized.

With a focus on affordable exhibitions and companion outreach activities, the Initiative is designed to give small and mid-sized museums opportunities to strengthen their institutions, extend the exhibition beyond their walls and build long-term community partnerships, thereby strengthening the institutions overall. In a recent, similar project in Illinois supported by the Illinois Arts Council and the William K. Kemper Foundation, ExhibitsUSA stimulated activity dramatically, increasing exhibition usage by 40% over two years.

To schedule an exhibition or for more information on the opportunities provided by the Nebraska Museums Initiative, contact Rachel Saalweachter at 1-800-473-EUSA or emily@eusa.org.

The Nebraska Museums Initiative is supported by the Nebraska Arts Council and the Cooper Foundation and is organized by ExhibitsUSA. ExhibitsUSA was founded in 1988 to create access to an array of arts and humanities exhibitions, nurture the development and understanding of diverse art forms and cultures, and encourage the expanding depth and breadth of cultural life in local communities. Over the past twelve years, more than 12 million visitors in 786 communities in all 50 states and abroad have viewed an ExhibitsUSA exhibition.

ExhibitsUSA is generously supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Louis and Elizabeth Flarsheim Trust, Douglas County Bank/Ross and Marianna Beach, Phillips Petroleum Company, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the H&R Block Foundation, Sprint, the William T. Kemper Foundation, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Cooper Foundation, Maureen and Robert Decherd, the Helen Jones Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

Mid-America Arts Alliance, founded in 1972, is a private, nonprofit arts organization. Today, its activities encompass regional, multi-regional, national, and international performing arts touring programs, traveling exhibitions, and related services.

Mid-America Arts Alliance is located on the World Wide Web at www.maaa.org.