Sustaining Museum Educators during a Global Pandemic

FAIN: AH-274867-20

Seward House Museum (Auburn, NY 13021-3929)
Jeffrey Ludwig (Project Director: May 2020 to October 2021)

Retention of the only two full-time education positions currently staffed at the Seward House Museum for the development of digital learning materials and expanded public access to digital archives.

The Seward House Museum is seeking NEH CARES funding in order to maintain two mission critical staff positions in our education department, the Director of Education, and the Education and Outreach Coordinator. Since staff is the foundation of our operations, their knowledge, creativity, and commitment are instrumental as we confront the COVID-19 crisis. The education department has been and will continue to develop digital and on-line content which will have a long-lasting impact. In fact, they have already increased their efforts to digitize materials and curate them in new ways, increasing accessibility to diverse stay-at-home audiences during this time of isolation. NEH funding now would sustain these key education positions and allow the Museum to provide innovative approaches to the humanities as a whole as we continue to promote excellence in leadership, fiduciary responsibility, and provide programming that reaches wide and diverse audiences during this extraordinary time.