Cultural News

For the concluding Cultural News of 2019, we share some of the highlights that made it a great year for our practice because so many clients and projects embraced diversity, creativity, youth empowerment, human rights and open minds. Looking ahead – the public trust in museums and the cultural sector depends on these values.

This month’s issue features the completion of the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History redevelopment. Three major new galleries and two investigative labs have been opened to the public.

This month's issue of Cultural News features the International African American Museum (IAAM) that held its groundbreaking ceremony Friday, October 25th at 10 a.m. The overflow crowd included friends and supporters from over the nearly twenty years the IAAM has been in development. Honored guests included Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC), Congressman Joe Cunningham (D-SC), Governor Henry McMaster (R-SC), Mayor John Tecklenburg (Charleston, SC), former Charleston mayor Joe Riley, and Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr (Freetown, Sierra Leone). The IAAM will tell the story of the hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans who were taken from West Africa, entered North America in Charleston, SC, endured hardship and cruelty, and then contributed so significantly to the greatness of America and the world. The Museum will honor the site where these enslaved Africans arrived and thousands died, tell their untold stories, and in doing so, will promote compassion and empathy among all people. “I argued that this had to be an African American museum,” said Congressman Clyburn. “It cannot just be about the institution of slavery. It has to be about what African Americans are, can be, and will be.”

The September issue of Cultural News features Turkey’s first major contemporary art museum. Turkey opened the country’s first-ever permanent home for contemporary art, Istanbul’s Arter in September. About half of the 1,300 pieces in the collection are works from Turkish artists, with the rest coming from Europe, Asia, and elsewhere. The newly opened museum is free to the public.
Read more about our work with Arter.

The August issue of Cultural News features a new Parks Canada visitor centre, which officially opens this week at the Green Gables Heritage Place in Cavendish, P. E. I. The new centre opens up a world of stories about the woman who created one of Canada’s most famous literary characters.

The visitor centre focuses on the life of author L. M. Montgomery, whose most famous novel, Anne of Green Gables, introduced the character of Anne Shirley to the world in 1908. Anne’s bravery and charm, and her passion for friendship, imagination, community, and natural beauty endeared her to readers all over the world.

The July issue of Cultural News features the celebration of 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. 50 years ago from Saturday, July 20, man first landed on the Moon. Throughout July, museums and cultural organizations from around the world have been celebrating and marking the occasion with programs, exhibits, and showcasing their best moon artifacts. The Aga Khan Museum marked the anniversary with a Moon Landing Festival, including a giant illuminate sculpture of the moon by British artist Luke Jerram. The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum shared the national collection and expertise of staff, the museum sparked conversations exploring the legacy of Neil Armstrong’s first small step and contemplating the next giant leap. The Life Science Centre‏, England, celebrated 50 years of the Moon landing with a week of events, including mini performances about the landing. Some guests even had a chance to touch a genuine Moon rock! The Museum of Nature in Ottawa marked lunar landing's anniversary with glowing 'supermoon'. In case you missed all the exciting #Apollo50th celebrations—or if you'd like to relive some of the fun—check out the ASTC’s roundup of how science centers and museums around the world commemorated the anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

James Durbano with the Big Sky Observatory describes the moon landing as a singular moment in human history. "I think that's mankind's, human kind's greatest achievement ever! Or at least to date. It'll be topped when we eventually land on Mars. I think was humanity's greatest achievement so far and it's the 50th Anniversary and I think it's time we go back! (to the moon.)"

The June issue of Cultural News features the launch of the Ayala Museum's YouTube channel.

This month, the Ayala Museum—an iconic modern art and cultural history museum in the heart of Manila’s Makati Business District— premiered the first of a new mini-documentary series on their YouTube channel.

“Locating the Filipino” is the first film in the series ATIN: Stories from the Collection (“Atin” means “ours” in Filipino). The Ayala family’s ties to Manila go back to the 1800s. Through the Ayala Museum, they champion and promote Philippine heritage and culture. This film series is part of their innovative “Museums-on-the-Go” initiative, which complements the museum’s extensive physical collection of art, historical artifacts, and other exhibits. If you enjoy this illuminating film, please subscribe to see the rest of the series.

Read more about our work with the Zobel / Ayala family in Manila.

This month's issue of Cultural News features the fantastic news that Lonnie G. Bunch III is set to take the helm at the Smithsonian Institution. The organization, a public-private partnership that has established and maintains many of the best-known museums in the U.S., unveiled its next secretary at a news conference Tuesday: Lonnie G. Bunch III, the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, will take over the day-to-day administration of the Smithsonian's 19 museums, 21 libraries and the National Zoo — among other operations.

Gail Lord, President of Lord Cultural congratulated Lonnie saying "Your appointment signals a new day for Museums in America and around the world".

This month's issue of Cultural News features the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History which opened the doors to its spectacular new home in the campus’s Biological Sciences Building. “This is not a traditional bones-and-stones natural history museum—although it does have plenty of both,” says Maria Piacente Lord’s lead on this project. “Everyone agreed that we were going to elevate the visitor experience, and find new ways to tell stories about our planet. Working with a tier-one research institution also meant we had a rare opportunity to connect the public directly to the very latest ideas in the natural sciences.”

For Women’s History Month, we took the opportunity to write tributes to many of the inspiring and amazing women we work with across the cultural sector. Our company's president and co-founder Gail Lord posted stories to LinkedIn all through March about mentors, innovators, and trailblazers our team has had the pleasure to work with or meet. Follow these links to find out more about some of the many women we admire so much.

This month's issue of Cultural News features the North American tour of Mandela: Struggle for Freedom. This one-of-a-kind exhibition on the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela tells a story of racism, oppression, resistance and reconciliation that changed the world forever – and continues to be relevant today. Read more about this and other news in the February issue of Cultural News.

In this edition of Cultural News, we look ahead to an exciting year of conferences and events. Members of our team will be speaking at a variety of conferences in Canada, the United States, Bermuda, Denmark, and elsewhere around the world. Meet our team and join us for presentations and conversations at AltCon2019, the Building Museums Symposium, the International Conference of National Trusts, the American Planning Association National Planning Conference, the Canadian Museum Association National Conference, the American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting & Museum Expo, and the Ecsite Annual Conference. We look forward to meeting, and hearing from you in 2019.