Friday, April 4, 2025
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Museums

Museum-of-Contemporary-Art-Chicago
Museums

Museum of Contemporary Art Awarded $2.5M from The Andrew Mellon Foundation

Vickie Moore , 

With the announcement that it is receiving the largest foundation grant in its history, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has recently said the $2.5 million award from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will enable the museum to take continued action in its mission to elevate contemporary art and artists, while accelerating the museum’s commitments to the values of IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and access), during the challenges presented by the COVID pandemic. The MCA is one of 12 mid-sized cultural institutions across the country awarded funding from the Mellon Foundation’s new Art Museum Futures Fund, based in part on the vital function the museums serve in meeting the needs of their communities and their admirable response during the pandemic.

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Barrens-Topminnow
MuseumsSummer 2020

Shedd Aquarium Boards New Guests in Support of Conservation Efforts

Isaac Jacobs

Even though it may be closed to visitors, the Shedd Aquarium has invited new guests to the institution in an effort to further its important conservation efforts this spring. Joining with Tennessee Aquarium earlier this year, Shedd launched a new effort to safeguard the endangered Barrens Topminnow (Fundulus julisia) from extinction. Welcoming six individual fish from the species, Shedd began a head-start program for the fish, listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in October 2019. In the short time since its launch, the effort has already marked an important milestone.

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Adler-Planetarium-Exterior
Museums

Adler Planetarium Employs Idle Museum Equipment and People Power to Aid in Fight Against COVID-19

Vickie Moore ,  , 

During its closure, the Adler Planetarium is doing their part to help the people of our planet during this unprecedented crisis. From utilizing equipment that now sits idle for scientific research and PPE production, to pushing a message about the importance of social distancing out to our community, the Adler staff and volunteer team have been busy working together against COVID-19.

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Par-Excellence-Redux-at-Elmhurst-Art-Museum
ArtMuseumsSpring 2020

The Art of Golf

Isaac Jacobs , 

Back in the summer of 1988, 18 Chicago painters and sculptors assembled at the School of the Art Institute to design and build what has become one of the most wildly popular exhibitions it has showcased to date. In a fully immersive experience that melded art and recreation, these artists designed a unique indoor 18-hole mini-golf course comprised of stations as disparate as they were creative.

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U-505-75-Stories-Exhibit
MuseumsSpring 2020

The Stories They Tell

Isaac Jacobs , 

History is all about storytelling, conveying not only facts and figures but facets of daily life, hopes, dreams and the very ethos that surrounded an event or time of interest. These are the meat and bones of truly meaningful stories of the past, stories that not only depict ideas about a historical period or event, but those that convey the very humanity of those central to the period’s focus. One of the best ways to tell such stories is through access to a physical place, ephemera or items stemming from the period or time in question. Examining such items and spaces offers a first-hand look at how a historical subject lived, their chief concerns, their daily life and the culture in which they lived.

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Eclipse-Fest-for-Citys-Skywatchers
ArtsMuseums

Adler Planetarium Throwing Chicago Eclipse Fest for City’s Skywatchers

Vickie Moore

On August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse will be visible in parts of the United States for the first time since 1979. In Chicago, at 11:54 am CST, the Moon will start to block our view of the Sun, covering up to 87 percent of it by 1:19 p.m. The last time Chicago was this close to the path of totality (when the Moon blocks the Sun completely) was 92 years ago in 1925. In celebration, the Adler Planetarium is throwing a giant block party, inviting everyone to come together to experience this rare celestial event as a community, and making it possible by offering free general admission to all.


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Zooniverse-Awarded
ArtsMuseums

Adler Collaborative Zooniverse Awarded Google Global Impact Prize

Vickie Moore

Adler Collaborative Science Initiative Zooniverse Awarded Google Global Impact Award Zooniverse, a nonprofit collaboration led by the Adler Planetarium and the University of Oxford, is a world leading ‘citizen science’ platform that has already given more than 900,000 online volunteers the opportunity to contribute to science by taking part in activities including the discovery of planets, classification of plankton and researching old ship’s logs for observations of interest to climate scientists. The unique initiative has been awarded a $1.8 million Google Global Impact Award that will enable Zooniverse to make setting up a citizen science project as easy as starting a blog. It could even lead to thousands of innovative new projects around the world, accelerating the pace of scientific research. The award, which supports the further development of the Zooniverse, will net the Adler $400,000 in support of the Zooniverse platform.

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