NEWSLETTER
Grant will fund expansion of the Museum’s online programming and digital content
Astoria, New York, June 23, 2020 — The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded a CARES grant in the amount of $296,490 to Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) to greatly expand the Museum’s capacity to offer humanities content to a broad public via new and ongoing digital programming. The funds will allow the Museum to reach diverse communities around the world by developing new content, supporting existing online projects, and building a new website that will unite all of MoMI’s activities. The award will also help the Museum retain and rehire staff affected by the COVID-19 crisis and to prepare for the safe reopening of the building.
“We are excited and grateful for this recognition from the National Endowment for the Humanities,” said Carl Goodman, Executive Director of Museum of the Moving Image. “This will allow us to continue serving a diverse audience with humanities-rich content related to the study and appreciation of the moving image from an historical and contemporary perspective. Further, it will sustainably extend our reach beyond our physical facility to an unprecedented degree.”
The NEH Cares grant will help fund the following projects:
• The Silent and Early Sound Film Era Collection, an online exhibition with essays and artifacts from the Museum’s collection related to the emergence of cinema, developed with an NEH cataloging and digitization grant, will be expanded and restructured for greater visibility and accessibility.
• The Astoria Studio, an online exhibition about the historic studio complex, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a part of the history of Museum of the Moving Image, will be redesigned for greater visibility and accessibility. Video clips and audio recordings will be incorporated into the presentation.
• The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952–2016, MoMI’s acclaimed online exhibition that explores the relationship between politics and advertising—an educational resource used by millions of visitors, comprising scholars, teachers, students, and the general public since 2000—will undergo a technical upgrade and be updated through the 2020 presidential election.
• The Pinewood Dialogues, an archive of audio recordings and transcripts of programs beginning in 1989, featuring influential actors, directors, and scholars, will be updated and revised. The Museum has scores of existing audio recordings and transcriptions from its live events, which will be reviewed and added to the archive.
• Reverse Shot, the Museum’s online magazine of film criticism, will expand its purview and content, including in-depth essays, interviews with filmmakers and scholars, streamable short films, and new online symposia.
In addition to supporting the curatorial work of the projects above, the grant funds will be used to improve the Museum’s technical infrastructure. “This NEH support will allow the Museum to reach more people than ever before," said Director of Curatorial Affairs Barbara Miller. “Providing remote access to on-site exhibitions, live-streamed events in our theaters, and museum tours that support our education and community-engagement programs will help to expand the devoted local and international audiences who have come to expect the rigor and richness of our programming and publications."
About the National Endowment for the Humanities
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at www.neh.gov.
About Museum of the Moving Image
Museum of the Moving Image's mission is to advance the understanding, enjoyment, and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. Though devastated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Museum continues to fulfill its mission online through: live conversations with artists, filmmakers, scholars, media educators, and other industry professionals; articles published in MoMI's online film magazine Reverse Shot and science and film resource Sloan Science & Film; educational initiatives including online courses, video tutorials, virtual field trips, and open calls for youth media; access to the Museum's collection; and the online presentation of a range of films—including acclaimed new release features and award-winning science shorts, plus archived video of Museum events, and more. For more information, visit www.movingimage.us. Follow MoMI on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
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Press contact: Tomoko Kawamoto, tkawamoto@movingimage.us or 718 777 6830.
Museum of the Moving Image is housed in a building owned by the City of New York and has received significant support from the following public agencies: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; New York City Council; New York City Economic Development Corporation; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Institute of Museum and Library Services; National Endowment for the Humanities; National Endowment for the Arts; and Natural Heritage Trust (administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation). For more information, please visit www.movingimage.us.