ADVOCACY

Lawmakers in Harrisburg have almost finished hammering out a budget. The work that remains is mostly procedural; the Senate needs to sign the budget bill and present it to the Governor for signature. Legislation that authorizes the appropriations also needs to be in place. It is not highly unusual for our budget to be incomplete on July 1, but we are in budget limbo for now, maybe until September. Spotlight PA frames the situation in this article.

PA Museums has looked closely at the budget bill. How did museums do? Here is where the numbers land:

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's (PHMC) budget for its operations is at $22,417,000, and while that is a 3% increase over last year's budget, it falls $1,088,000 short of what Governor Shapiro's budget proposed that included a 7% increase to carry its current costs along with $390,000 for expenses related to opening the new State Archives.

The PHMC's Cultural and Historical Support grants line item remains flat funded at $2 million.

Funding in the Department of Community and Economic Development's (DCED) agency budget, Marketing to Attract Tourists - Zoos, was flat funded at $1 million.

The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts' (PCA) Grants to the Arts line item, which supports art museums in Pennsylvania with operational funding along with other grants programs, was flat funded at $9,590,000.

America250PA's new line item for $2.5 million is part of the new budget.

Thank you to all of our members who joined us in calling for an increase in funding for museums in the last weeks of the budget process.

After July 18 PA Museums expects there will be an announcement from DCED and the Governor's Office about the grant awards in the DCED's COVID 19 ARPA PA Arts and Culture Recovery Program, a $15 million one time grant program that included museums and historical organizations in its eligibility guidelines. We will share the list of awardees as soon as we see it; if you follow us on social media, look there. If social media is not your cup of tea, it will be published in the next issue of Tapestry as well.

PA Museums is watching for bills that may effect the way museums do business. There is currently a House bill and a Senate memo circulating called Michael's Law that is meant to improve access for people with disabilities. We welcome feedback from our membership about it; PA Museums is sometimes invited to offer opinions on bills like this from policy leaders.

PA Museums strongly supports SB228, a bill about how museums and history organizations can deal with unclaimed or abandoned property and loans,, and we will be encouraging lawmakers to consider it in the Senate State Government Committee so that it can move forward in the process to becoming enacted.

FEDERAL LEVEL

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) has sent out a Save the Dates notice for its annual AAM Invite Congress to Your Museum effort. Please click here to learn more.

SUPPORT FOR YOUR MUSEUM

HISTORICAL & ARCHIVAL RECORDS CARE (HARC) GRANTS FROM THE PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL AND MUSEUM COMMISSION (PHMC)

The PHMC began accepting applications for the Historical & Archival Records Care (HARC) grant program on May 1. The application deadline is August 1, 2023.

Funding is available to historical records repositories such as: historical societies; libraries; universities; local governments; and school districts for collections care, including surveying; inventorying; preserving; arranging; and describing historical records significant to Pennsylvania, as well as for records reformatting and equipment.

Visit the HARC webpage for more details. 



AMERICAN LATINO MUSEUM INTERNSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP INITIATIVE

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced a new grant program with an August 7 deadline.

AMERICA250PA INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS AND PROJECTS

Check out this opportunity from America250PA for Infrastructure Improvements and Projects.

PA MUSEUMS IN THE NEWS

Delawareonline had the scoop on the new museum plans for the First National Bank in Philadelphia.

Yahoo News picked up the story of Beaver Area Heritage Foundation's national and statewide awards, and PA Museums gets a shout out.

The Herald Standard celebrated Kennywood Day at the Senator John Heinz History Center.

WHYY had a look at exhibits at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from Drexel University's Atwater Kent collections.

Old Cars Weekly explored the Tucker story at the AACA Museum in Hershey.

Technical.ly interviewed Gina Winstead, VP of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.

The Herald Standard covered happenings at Washington County's museums.

The Art Newspaper reported on the ongoing investigations into museum thefts from the Everhart Museum in Scranton and at least 19 other institutions.

FastCompany delved into the esoteric end of developing a new logo at the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History.

The Senator John Heinz History Center, the Andy Warhol Museum, and the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh will offer free admission in August.



MEMBERSHIP

The Hagen History Center in Erie is looking for a Curator of Education. If your organization has a job to post with PA Museums, please review our guidelines and contact us. You can also complete and submit your job posting on our easy-to-use form.

The Centre County Historical Society invites the public to attend a day of programming about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) at Poe Valley State Park on July 30. This free event will feature educational content, authentic camp cuisine, and exhibits in partnership with the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and William Marcum, a local historian and research authority on the Poe Valley CCC Camp.

On July 1 Google's long-lived Universal Analytics rode into the sunset. Google Analytics 4 is the new tool many of us will use to see who, how, why, and when visitors are using our websites. We discovered that a third of the visitors to our jobs page are between 25 and 34 years old. PA Museums recently went through the process of switching over if you are looking for someone to talk with about it.

Our friends at the Pennsylvania Parks and Forest Foundation invite museums and historic sites, especially those with outdoor spaces, to participate in Healthy Lands Week September 23 - October 1. This is an opportunity to engage volunteers and the public in outdoor programs or a cleanup day on your own terms and join in a joint marketing effort that will be well-promoted.

RECOMMENDED

The American Association for State and Local History shared an update on planning for the 250th.

Salon explored what neglect of natural history collections in museums looks like.

The Museum Association (UK) published a blog about how government support of museums in Scotland is now tied to paying museum employees a living wage.



PA Museums | rusty.baker@pamuseums.org

pamuseums.org