Nevada museums have been hit hard by the Coronavirus epidemic. To get you started reaching out to your state representatives and letting them know how badly NV museums are hurting and what they can do to help, we offer this letter template.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear ____,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m writing to you today on behalf of my organization, ___,\na Nevada based museum. I want to share with you some of our achievements in\n2020 and some areas where we could use your assistance. The ongoing COVID-19\npandemic has affected Nevada museums greatly which has a lasting effect on the\ncultural identity of our state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the sudden onset and immediate closure of _____ Museum,\nattendance figures dropped dramatically including visits by students, some of\nwhom have never been to a museum or had an opportunity to learn from one. In\norder to provide support for our community, many of which were in the middle of\nbeing furloughed or laid off, we transformed our exhibits to a virtual platform\nand provided free online resources. These have been used by parents who have\nbecome teachers, adults who are seeking entertainment, learning and solace, and\nteachers who\u2019ve been instructing remotely for one year. These critical and\nessential changes were opportunities for our staff to learn how to produce\nvirtual content including tours and were necessary costs to stay relevant to\nour communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To date, our virtual programming has reached ___\nindividuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From ____ to ___, my museum was closed. We collected no\nadmissions revenue and lost additional contributions from annual fundraising\ncampaigns. We applied for numerous grants that were allocated from the CARES\nAct to National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the\nHumanities (NEH) and Institute of Museum and Library Services and were not\nawarded funds. Fortunately, Nevada Arts Council and Nevada Humanities were\nawarded a portion of NEA and NEH CARES Act funds and we received smaller grants\nthat helped offset general operating costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were fortunate to have received PPP loans. However, staff\nwere still laid off and it\u2019s unclear when we will be able to hire staff again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevada is rich in diverse histories and museums play a major\nrole in preserving those stories for future generations. Many children recount\nmuseum field trips as their fondest memories of elementary school. Studies have\nshown positive effects of exposure to field trips on students\u2019 science test scores\nand proficiency. Effects are largest for Hispanic students and those who\nqualified for free or reduced-price lunch especially those in rural\ncommunities. Currently, Nevada has nearly 100 museums serving all areas of the\nstate from Winnemucca to Boulder City; however, the American Alliance of Museums predicts that a third of museums\nacross the US will close permanently which equates to approximately 33 museums\nin Nevada. <\/strong>This figure will result in permanent layoffs, communities will\nsuffer and students will not have access to the unique object-based and\nexperiential learning museums offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Please explicitly consider museums in the economic recovery\nof the state of Nevada during this crucial 81st<\/sup> legislative session.\nMuseums need your support now more than ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n _____<\/p>\n\n\n\n P.S. Please plan to visit our museum when you\u2019re available. We\u2019d love to show you and your staff a behind the scenes tour of our spaces and collections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You can find out who your local State Assembly Member is and their office address on the NV State Assembly contact info <\/a>page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Assembly Members can also be mailed at the Assembly building at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n [REPRESENTATIVE NAME] You can find out who your local State Senator is and their office address on the NV State Senate contact info<\/a> page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senators can also be mailed at the State Senate at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n [SENATOR NAME] Nevada museums have been hit hard by the Coronavirus epidemic. To get you started reaching out to your state representatives and letting them know how badly NV museums are hurting and what they can do to help, we offer this letter template. NV State Representative Letter Template Dear ____, I\u2019m writing to you today on … Continue reading “Museum Advocacy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":751,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-755","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadamuseums.org\/nma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadamuseums.org\/nma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadamuseums.org\/nma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadamuseums.org\/nma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadamuseums.org\/nma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nevadamuseums.org\/nma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":756,"href":"https:\/\/nevadamuseums.org\/nma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/755\/revisions\/756"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadamuseums.org\/nma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadamuseums.org\/nma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How to contact your NV State Representatives <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
c\/o Nevada Assembly
401 South Carson Street
Carson City, NV 89701-4747 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
c\/o Nevada Senate
401 South Carson Street
Carson City, NV 89701-4747 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"