The Wiregrass Museum of Art (WMA) has been awarded a significant grant of $75,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)

DOTHAN, Alabama – September 10, 2024 — The Wiregrass Museum of Art (WMA) is thrilled to announce that it has been awarded a significant grant of $75,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), through its Inspire! Grants for Small Museums program.

Seventy-eight small museums will receive funding to serve the public through exhibitions, educational programs, institutional planning, collections management, and other initiatives. In total, FY24 awardees will receive $3,324,571 in federal funding. WMA is the only Alabama institution to receive an Inspire! grant this year. This award will enable the WMA to undertake a comprehensive assessment of its collection care needs over a 20-month period from September 1, 2024, through April 30, 2026.

This substantial grant marks a major milestone in WMA’s efforts to preserve and protect our collection, leveraging the expertise of qualified conservators to conduct an item-by-item conservation survey. The in-depth evaluation will enable the museum’s staff and leadership to develop a strategic collections care plan. Through this project, the museum will identify priority areas for treatment and conservation, as well as inform future facility upgrades, staffing needs, and training initiatives. By investing in a comprehensive assessment, we are committed to safeguarding our collection for generations to come.

”WMA takes seriously our responsibility to care for our collection and we couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity to advance our work in collections care. This is an important step in safeguarding our collection, developing a strategic plan to make our collection more accessible, and to continue our work towards meeting requirements for national accreditation, “says Dana-Marie Lemmer, WMA executive director and curator”.

In the coming months, the WMA’s collections care team, led by Collections Manager and Registrar Paula Haymon, will work with the Museum’s director and professional conservation specialists from the Atlanta Art Conservation Center (AACC) to analyze the physical condition of the collection, identify immediate and long-term preservation concerns, and prioritize needs for future conservation treatments. The team will also give attention to the proper mounting and presentation of each object, including frames and pedestals, to ensure they are exhibited appropriately after treatment.

This work will build on the WMA’s ongoing long range preservation plan, which has included a collections-based risk assessment, participation in the Collections Assessment for Preservation (CAP) program, the creation of a full-time Collections Manager and Registrar position, and the completion of a comprehensive inventory of the museum’s collections, among others.

WMA’s permanent collection is the foundation of the museum’s mission and inspires year-round public programming. The WMA has long been a beacon of creativity and cultural expression, showcasing the talents of both established and emerging artists alike. With more than 700 works of art in its permanent collection, the Wiregrass Museum of Art has significant holdings of 20th-century American art and a growing collection of modern and contemporary art, photography, and southern vernacular art. The WMA is dedicated to supporting and collecting works by Alabama and Southeastern artists.

These works are held in the public’s trust, cultivating a sense of ownership and belonging for area residents; select pieces from the Permanent Collection are on view year-round in WMA’s Marie Saliba and Entrance galleries. WMA is committed to telling diverse stories, highlighting the art and artists of our time, including excellent examples from artists across the nation, and most especially from Alabama and the Southeast.

Inspire! Grants for Small Museums is a special initiative of the Museums for America program. It is designed to support small museums of all disciplines in project-based efforts to serve the public through exhibitions, educational/interpretive programs, digital learning resources, policy development and institutional planning, technology enhancements, professional development, community outreach, audience development, and/or collections management, curation, care, and conservation. Inspire! has three project categories: Lifelong Learning, Institutional Capacity, Collections Stewardship and Access.