 – As one of five museums and five libraries, the Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) will be presented with a 2010 National Medal for Museum and Library Service…){kind=link}
(PNAN-MS) – As one of five museums and five libraries, the Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) will be presented with a 2010 National Medal for Museum and Library Service by First Lady Michelle Obama in a White House ceremony on Friday, December 17. On hand to accept the award from MMA, will be Director Betsy Bradley, Roy Campbell, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees and textile artist Gwen Magee, who is the designated community member.
Established in 1994, the National Award for Museum Service and the National Award for Library Service, established in 2000, recipients of the awards are chosen for their innovative approaches to public service, and for their success in improving communities and making a difference in people’s lives. All types of museums, from anthropological to zoological, fine art to folk art, rural, large, and small are eligible for the award. Public and private nonprofit libraries are eligible to receive the award, and nomination of libraries of all sizes is encouraged.
The Mississippi Museum of Art will receive a $10,000 prize to help raise public awareness of the good work the institutions are doing in their communities. The other recipients are: Conner Prairie Interactive History Park, Fishers, Indiana; Explora, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, California; the New York Botanical Garden, New York, New York, Nashville Public Library, Nashville, Tennessee; Patchogue-Medford Library, Patchogue, New York; Peter White Public Library, Marquette, Michigan; Rangeview Library District and Anythink Libraries, Adams County, Colorado; and the West Bloomfield Township Public Library in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan.
For Mississippi’s Gwen Magee, who is the honoree of the Artistic Excellence Award for the 2011 Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, she has also worked very closely with the Museum’s staff said, “The staff’s commitment and dedication to diversity, to regional artists, to education, to collaboration and to excellence is unparalleled. No artist could ask for more.”
For more information on IMLS, which is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums, see www.imls.gov.