Application Deadline Extended: April 15 – Urban Environmentalism Training

Workshop Dates 
Online Sessions: May 9-11, 2022
In-person Experience: May 15-17, 2022

Program Overview
The Museum’s Office of Strategic Partnerships is pleased to announce the official launch of a new professional development training focused on Urban Environmentalism. Using the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum’s Urban Waterways project as a model, participants will explore how cultural organizations and museums can engage local communities in exploring and documenting the ongoing relationship of communities and their environment through the lens of waterways and other environmental resources to consider how these histories impact actions in the present and communities’ visions of and movement toward equitable, sustainable futures.

Over the course of the training, participants will design an action plan for their own organization that will detail a community concern or need they see an opportunity to address, explore potential organizations and community members they would like to partner with, consider applicable forms of documentation needed as part of the process, and explore the anticipated results of their collaborations. Participants will present their action plans to their peers and invited Smithsonian guests as part of the concluding session in Washington, D.C.

About the Workshop
The training will be a hybrid model offered partially online. Over the course of the workshop, participants will engage in 18 hours of virtual learning sessions, engagement with guest speakers, peer-to-peer coaching, and development and refining of individual action plans delivered through the Smithsonian edX and Zoom platforms. In addition to the virtual learning environment, participants will also engage in approximately 12 hours of in-person engagement in the Washington, DC area, which will include a tour of the Anacostia River by boat as well as site visits to the Anacostia Community Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

 Eligibility Criteria
The training is geared towards museum professionals who are from community museums or cultural organizations committed to developing programming that engages community members and partner organizations in conversations about the connection of local history, community health, equity, and the environment.

• Eligibility requirements for participation are open to all museum professionals with at least 2 years of professional museum experience.
• Participants will need to have access to a device with Zoom capabilities and a reliable internet connection. We recommend that participants use a computer equipped with a microphone and webcam for full participation during virtual learning sessions.
• SI requires that all workshop participants (staff, presenters, and cohort members) must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 with an FDA authorized (or, for international participants, a WHO-recommended) COVID-19 vaccine, or have an approved reasonable accommodation granting an exemption from vaccine requirements. Requirements regarding COVID-19 testing and face masks during the training will be determined prior to the start of the course.
• Smithsonian staff/current contractors are eligible to apply but preference will be given to staff from small to mid-sized museums and cultural centers, servicing underserved populations. Students strictly enrolled in full-time academic programs, without any affiliated and/or current museum work are not eligible.

Tuition
Due to the financial stress that some institutions may be experiencing as a result of COVID-19, NMAAHC’s Office of Strategic Partnerships has decided to waive tuition fees ($1,000 value) for all selected participants in 2022. Tuition includes the training itself (virtual sessions and the in-person experience); workshop texts and course materials; admission and transportation to all offsite excursions in the Washington, DC area; breakfast and lunch during the in-person experience, as well as a group dinner on the first night in Washington, DC.

For more information: https://nmaahc.si.edu/connect/strategic-partnerships