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October
31, 1997
Mel
Fisher Maritime Heritage Society
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mel
Fisher Maritime Museum Earns Top State Grants
Key
West’s Mel Fisher Maritime Museum was recently awarded
two prestigious grants from State of Florida Museums
Grants-in-Aid program, coordinated by the Department of
State, that reinforce its position as the Southeast’s
leading maritime museum.
The
Mel Fisher Maritime Museum was ranked second in the
state for general operating support funding, receiving
$56,250. The state’s award will allow the museum to
expand its already vibrant educational programs, support
its summer internship programs, maintain its skilled
staff of museum professionals, and reduce or eliminate
class fees.
“General
operating support is the single most important grant an
institution can receive,” reports Dr. Madeleine
Burnside, executive director of the Mel Fisher Maritime
Heritage Society, which operates the museum. “It
allows an institution funding for activities that are
traditionally not glamorous enough for corporate or
private foundation funding.”
While
the museum’s final ranking was second in the state, it
received three votes for first place from the
professionals evaluating the applications. Museums
receiving such awards from the State of Florida must
demonstrate outstanding ongoing performance in virtually
all areas of operation and services. The application
process takes into account the care and maintenance of
collections, educational programs offered, and the
quality of exhibitions.
“It’s
a tremendous honor to be ranked number two in the
state,” says Melissa Kendrick, the museum’s director
of finance and development. “This is a real indication
of the field’s respect for the programs and efforts
undertaken by this institution.”
In
addition to the general operating support grant, the Mel
Fisher Maritime Museum was also awarded a $35,000 grant
for public education exhibitions. The funding will be
used for reinterpretation and reinstallation of a
permanent exhibition entitled The
Last Voyage of the 1622 Fleet. The exhibition will
use artifacts and treasure recovered from the
shipwrecked Spanish galleons Nuestra
Señora de Atocha and Santa
Margarita to illustrate the cross-cultural exchanges
between Native Americans and the Europeans who journeyed
to the New World.
The
eleven-year-old Mel Fisher Maritime Museum contains the
richest single collection of 17th-century maritime and
shipwreck antiquities in the Western Hemisphere. Among
its recent activities was the development of the first
national traveling exhibition in this country devoted to
the transatlantic slave trade.
The
panel’s recommendations now go to the office of the
Secretary of State, Sandra B. Mortham, for her approval.
The funds will be disbursed in January of 1998.
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