FIVE MUSEUMS HONORED; CURRY STONE DESIGN PRIZE AWARDED
The Norton Museum of Art in Palm Beach, Florida, and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York are two of five museums that, along with five libraries, will be awarded the National Medal for Museum and Library Service in an October 7 ceremony at the White House, reports the Palm Beach Post_. The medal, which comes with ten thousand dollars, is given annually to ten institutions by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent government agency and the primary source of federal support for the country’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. “These ten museums and libraries have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make a real difference in their communities,” institute director Anne Radice said. “It’s a huge honor,” Norton director Christina Orr-Cahall said. “I hope the community looks at this as an acknowledgment of its importance to us and our importance to it.” Typically, legislators nominate institutions, although anyone can do it, said Jeannine Mjoseth, the institute’s public-affairs officer. All types of museums and public and private nonprofit libraries in the United States and its territories are eligible. Seventy-nine museums and thirty-two libraries were nominated.
In other news, according to Artinfo, the Oregon-based Curry Stone Foundation has awarded its design prize to Luyunda Mpahlwa and Mpethi Morojele of the South African firm MMA Architects in recognition of their design for upgrading low-income housing in a Cape Town shantytown. The hundred-thousand-dollar Curry Stone Design prize is awarded annually to an individual or group who has developed a specific design solution to target various environmental issues. The winning plan should have the potential to create beneficial change in the areas of clean water, clean air, clean food, shelter, community health, or peace. Other finalists for the prize this year included Shawn Frayne, Wes Janz, Marjetica Potrc, and Antonio Scarponi.
