Mathers Museum receives substantial grant amount

In its quest to explore and exhibit the cultures of the world, the IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures is getting a big boost. The Institute of Museum and Library Services recently honored the museum with a $150,000 grant. To win the grant, the Mathers Museum participated in a prestigious national competition in which only 190 museums out of the 1,000 that applied received funding. The Mathers Museum was one of three museums in Indiana to receive an award.\nThis grant is the largest ever received by the museum to date and the largest amount given by the institute. The money will be used for the museum's first permanent exhibit, What is Culture?, scheduled to open in September 2005. Excess grant money will be used to fund new exhibits as well as increase museum staff. \nLocated on the northeast side of campus at 416 N. Indiana Ave., the Mathers Museum holds over 20,000 objects and 10,000 photographs representing cultures from around the world. The collections help the museum serve the University community by functioning as a teaching facility. \nThe Institute of Museum and \nLibrary Services panel cited community focus as the strongest element of the museum's application, according to a museum statement. In addition, the panel remarked on the museum's ability to "reach different audiences to communicate on different levels, foster learning and answer the needs of lifelong learners." \nThe museum began working on the grant application in January of 2004. While the entire staff worked on the grant, Director Geoffrey Conrad, Assistant Director Judith Kirk, Co-Curator of Exhibits Elaine Gaul, Co-Curator of Exhibits Matthew Sieber, Curator of Collections Ellen Sieber and Curator of Education Abbie Anderson were most intimately involved with the project.\nThe Mathers Museum will designate an area within its pre-existing space for the new permanent exhibit. The other exhibit areas will continue to change to respond to faculty research and allow for masters thesis exhibits. \n"Having the flexibility to constantly change enhances the service we provide to the community," Kirk said. "Even within the new permanent exhibit, there will be changing elements, such as topical display cases." \nWhat is Culture? will include a mixture of materials, mostly objects, but also video and multimedia kiosks. It will be a "multi-sensory" exhibit, with different aspects appealing to the five senses, Kirk said. Matthew Sieber said the exhibit should attract a lot of visitors. \n"(The exhibit will be) very interactive and exciting for the visitor," he said. \nThe exhibit will not focus on history but, instead, present objects from around the world. It will demonstrate how cultures share similar lifestyles, focusing on stages of life and common needs. It will also display a variety of cultures that thrived from hundreds of years ago to the present. \n"No matter where or when people live, they encounter the same problems," Kirk said.\nShe said the exhibit will help people learn by demonstrating how different cultures have approached these problems over the years. \n"(The new exhibit will be a) big change in the education department because of the possibilities it creates for community-University collaboration," Anderson said. \nShe said the exhibit is a "foundation of great things to come."\nThe Mathers Museum staff said they were excited about the prospect of having a permanent exhibit.\n"We hope it will teach people how to learn from the objects in our collection," said Matthew Sieber. "The goal is for people to understand the common needs and life-stages which are the same in all cultures."\n-- Contact staff writer Claire Bletz at cbletz@indiana.edu.