County museum to get some HELP

Special to the Telegram

COLUMBUS -- The Platte County Historical Society Museum has been chosen for a Hands-On Experiential Learning Project (HELP) by the Mid-America Arts Alliance.

The alliance is a regional arts organization serving cultural organizations in its member states of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

The Platte County and David City museums are two of 20 museums chosen to participate in the project.

The project provides museums with on-site, affordable learning opportunities that further skills in areas critical to successful museums today.

“We are so pleased to have been chosen for this project,” said Cheri Schrader, director of PCHS. “We try very hard to make our museum a vital part of Platte County. Receiving hands-on training to assist us in our efforts is a real privilege.”

HELP is a program of the alliance’s professional development division that provides institutional advancement, capacity building and professional development opportunities for Mid-America’s constituents. Other Nebraska communities selected for participation are Albion, Aurora, Brownville, Columbus, David City, Franklin, Gering, Holdrege, Kearney, Lexington, Lincoln, Norfolk, North Platte, Ogallala, Scottsbluff, Trenton, Wahoo and Wymore.

Participating museums will concentrate on improvements related to nonprofit governance. Training will be directed to museum trustees as well as museum staff, paid or unpaid, and will focus on essential components of good governance.

The program combines workshops, on-site consultant visits and online tutorials to assist museums in goal-setting and evaluation.

Mid-America subsidizes all workshop travel and a portion of each museum’s attendance at a state or regional museum conference, which will allow them to connect with their peers and other state-wide organizations. The goal of the alliance is to strengthen existing in-state networks and help participant museums build a community to share challenges and solutions.

In Nebraska, HELP is being implemented in partnership with the Nebraska Arts Council and made possible through the generosity of the Nebraska Arts Council, the Cooper Foundation, Sue Renken, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Sen. Ben Nelson.

For more information, contact Schrader at 564-1856 or email her at museum@megavision.com.