The Harrington Foundation Extends Gift to Texas Panhandle Museums

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 9, 2004

Contact: Sarah McGreer
sarah@maaa.org

The Harrington Foundation Extends Gift to Texas Panhandle Museums

The Don and Sybil Harrington Foundation has awarded its fourth $50,000 grant to support the Texas Hands-On Experiential Learning Project (HELP) at six museums in the Texas Panhandle. This most recent gift brings the Foundation’s total contribution to $200,000.

Texas HELP, a joint effort of Mid-America Arts Alliance and the Texas Association of Museums (TAM), supports professional development for a total of eighteen small museums across Texas. The project is having a profound impact on the way the organizations are serving their respective, largely rural, communities.

“Every year we detail the achievements, improvements, and professional growth among these Panhandle museums with tremendous pride,” said Edana McSweeney, Co-Director of HELP. “Thanks to the generosity of the Harrington Foundation, the project is on course, and the community service, enthusiasm, and diligence of the museum participants has been exceptional. We are grateful to the Foundation for its leadership and support in making this training possible in the region.”

The Harrington Foundation was founded in Amarillo in 1951 by oilman Donald D. Harrington and his wife, Sybil B. Harrington. Its interests include hospitals and health care agencies, cultural programs, higher education, youth agencies, social services, and civic affairs, and it concentrates its funds in Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle. The Foundation was restructured as of January 1, 1988, from a private foundation to a public-supporting organization for the benefit and under the control of the Amarillo Area Foundation.

Jim Allison, president and CEO of the Amarillo Area Foundation and The Don and Sybil Harrington Foundation, said that the grant will allow the museums of the Panhandle to preserve the region's history and sense of community.

"We're delighted to support a project that invests in the cultural assets of the Panhandle region," Allison said. "I look forward to watching the continued development of these institutions through their involvement in the Texas HELP program."

The Harrington Foundation funds cover the costs of providing booster meetings, on-site consultations, and evaluation and orientation meetings for six of the seven museums in the HELP Panhandle Plains region during the course of the four-year project. At each meeting, museum directors are given information, resources, and access to consultants in their particular area of focus for the year. Areas that have been targeted for improvement include marketing, volunteerism, fundraising, and exhibition design. Participants hope that their newfound knowledge will strengthen their museums and make them more inviting, accessible, and relevant to their communities. In addition, the grant allows each institution to host a traveling ExhibitsUSA exhibition, giving them a hands-on opportunity to utilize their burgeoning skills.

“The museums are keenly aware of the lasting impact that this project will have on their institutions, from their daily operations to their ability to mount exciting new exhibitions of their own,” said Brian Crockett, HELP Co-Director. “Texas HELP has allowed participant museums to set their sights on a level of museum excellence and professionalism that heretofore seemed out of their reach.”

The participating museums in the Foundation’s region are Childress County Heritage Museum, Childress; Collingsworth County Museum, Wellington; Deaf Smith County Museum, Hereford; Swisher County Museum, Tulia; Wolf Creek Heritage Museum, Lipscomb; and XIT Museum, Dalhart.

Scurry County Museum, Snyder, is outside the Foundation’s geographic region of focus but also participates in the Panhandle HELP program. Identical HELP programs are underway at eleven museums in the Gulf Coast and East Texas regions.

Mid-America Arts Alliance is a nonprofit organization that supports and stimulates cultural activity primarily in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. M-AAA originates and manages regional, multiregional, national, and international arts and humanities programs. Major support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, participant state arts agencies, and leading foundations and corporations. For further information, visit the Mid-America Arts Alliance Web site at www.maaa.org or contact Sarah McGreer at sarah@maaa.org.

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