News Category: Museum

Bristol, VA (March 6, 2018) — Pick Along Summer Camp is back for another summer of fun and learning at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum! Children aged 8 to 14 are invited to take part in either beginner or intermediate level classes where your child will not only learn about Bristol’s important role in country music history and its lasting influence on the music of today, but they will also learn basic skills on a stringed instrument!

Children ages 8 to 14 will receive expert instruction on the same style of instruments that were used in the 1927 Bristol Sessions recordings, learning how to play music and fundamental skills in various music styles. Campers will also explore the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, learn about the music of Bristol and our region, receive instruction in singing and dancing, get an introduction to our working radio station, and learn about other concepts and disciplines that make up the rich tapestry of country music. At the end of the week, campers will even perform a brief concert for families to show off their skills!

Pick Along Summer Camp schedulE:

Week 1: Beginner
June 18-June 22

Week 2: Intermediate
July 9-July 13

Week 3: Beginner
July 16-July 20

No previous musical experience is required for beginner level Pick Along Summer Camps, only an interest in music and a desire to learn and have fun! These camps are designed for different levels of experience and anyone interested in our music heritage. Whether your camper knows just a little or absolutely nothing, this is the place to be! Students who have their own guitar, banjo, or fiddle may bring their own instruments or instruments can be rented from the museum.

Class size is limited, so register now to reserve space. Half and full day options are available. Half day classes are Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m.—Noon and Friday 9:00 a.m.—1:00 p.m. Full day classes are Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m.—3:00 p.m. and Friday 9:00 a.m.—1:00 p.m.

There is a 15% discount for students who sign up for multiple weeks. Please inquire about discounts available for families with multiple campers and scholarship opportunities.

The museum’s professionally trained camp staff includes contract and museum staff, along with volunteers. They work together to ensure a fun, safe, and enriching environment for music instruction as well as museum play, theme-related activities and experiments, healthy snacks and friendship-building opportunities for everyone.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER

Rare Stanley Brothers Live Recording from WCYB Radio Farm and Fun Time Show Listed Among Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts

Your Votes Could Help Secure Preservation Grant

CAST YOUR VOTE 

Bristol, VA/Tenn. (January 10, 2018) – A rare transcription disc containing a live broadcast performance of The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys on the former WCYB Radio Farm and Fun Time show has been listed among the Virginia Association of Museums (VAM) Top 10 Endangered Artifacts. Over time, the degradation of the fragile, lacquer disc recording has made it unplayable and its content unaccessible. A public vote will determine if the rare recording can be restored through grant funds from VAM, so the museum is asking for your help in securing enough votes to help them win $5,000 to preserve this valuable piece of American music history.

“We are so excited that this Farm and Fun Time radio transcription disc from our museum collection has been chosen as one of the Virginia Association of Museum’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts,” said Rene Rodgers, Head Curator of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. “This object’s vulnerable condition means that its content is in real danger of being lost forever. This honor from the VAM gives us the chance to receive much-needed funds to save an important piece of American music and radio history. Even better, preserving it means that we will be able to make this recording accessible to others—it’s not every day that you get a chance to hear live Clinch Mountain Boys tracks that have likely not been heard in over 60 years!”

The fact that an original live recording of the Clinch Mountain Boys from Farm and Fun Time still exists is a rarity, because discs used to record radio broadcasts in the mid-20th century are highly unstable. Back then, these recordings were made on lacquer discs with an aluminum core. Over time, the lacquer flakes off and the disc can no longer be played with a stylus. The transcription disc was donated to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in early 2017 by local musician and WZAP Christian radio program director Glen Harlow.

VAM Grant

Thanks to a generous donation from the Blandford Rees Foundation, the VAM’s renowned program will for the first time be able to provide conservation awards totaling nearly $19,000 to the honorees, which will be granted by the Selection Committee or by outcome of an online public voting competition. The pubic is invited to help bestow $9,000 of these conservation awards by voting for their favorite endangered artifact. The two artifacts garnering the most votes will be recognized as the People’s Choice Awards and will receive $5,000 and $4,000 respectfully to conserve their artifacts and care for its continued preservation.

“We’re grateful for the opportunity to take our program to the next level during our milestone 50th Anniversary year and further our mission of helping the museum community succeed,” says Jennifer Thomas, VAM’s Executive Director. “This year’s selected artifacts exemplify the scope and impact of history found across the Commonwealth of Virginia. From an excavated 18th-century merchant ship to a rare radio recording by Ralph and Carter Stanley, some items shed light on the resilience and grace of the human spirit, while others remind us that issues such as women’s rights and voter disenfranchisement are not new. In whole, the artifacts bring history to life. And we are proud that our Top 10 Endangered Artifacts program showcases the important work that collecting institutions undertake every day to care for our collective treasures.”

Public Voting

Ten unique artifacts from across the state and spanning Virginia’s extensive history from the 1700s to the 20th century were chosen following a thorough review process by an independent selection committee of collections professionals from partner organizations Library of Virginia, Preservation Virginia, Virginia Conservation Association, and Virginia Department of Historic Resources. To view the entire list of artifacts and to vote in the People’s Choice Awards, please visit www.vatop10artifacts.org. Voting starts on January 15 and ends January 24, 2018 at midnight.

The People’s Choice Awards recipients and remaining honorees will be recognized during a special reception at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, Virginia, on February 21, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. following Virginia Museums Advocacy Day at the General Assembly. They will additionally be acknowledged at VAM’s Statewide Annual Conference on March 12, 2018 during an awards luncheon to be held at the Hilton Norfolk The Main in Norfolk, Virginia.

About Virginia Association of Museums

Over the past six years, the Virginia Association of Museums has successfully promoted awareness of collections care and the efforts of museums, libraries, archives, and historic sites across the Commonwealth of Virginia and District of Columbia to care for their cultural and historical treasures, which is an expensive and time-consuming effort. In fact, over 150 organizations have benefited from participating and the spotlight that the program has provided has generated extensive publicity, new supporters and volunteers, and access to funding to conserve and preserve their artifacts.

Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts is a project of the Virginia Association of Museums and was originally funded through an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Connecting to Collections Statewide Implementation Grant. Due to its success, the program has been replicated in other states and recognized as one of the most successful outcomes of the Connecting to Collections grant program.

Information about past participating organizations can be found online. Images available upon request and from individual honorees.

CAST YOUR VOTE

Luthier’s Craft: Instrument Making Traditions of the Blue Ridge

Luthiers—skilled makers of stringed musical instruments—are both keepers of tradition and innovators. They carry on the old ways of working wood and string to create beautiful and functional instruments, while also bringing new creativity and technology to the fore in their pieces. The Luthier’s Craft: Instrument Making Traditions of the Blue Ridge is a new special exhibit at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum that explores and documents the traditional arts of fiddle, guitar, banjo, and dulcimer making in Southern Appalachia and the Blue Ridge Mountains. The special exhibit is on display now through March 4, 2018.

“The Luthier’s Craft offers an inside look at the work of master craftspeople, carrying on the instrument-making heritage while also bringing innovation to design and decoration and creating functional works of art,” says Jessica Turner, director of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. “We are excited to be sharing this exhibit with our visitors—by partnering with cultural institutions like the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History and local luthiers, we are able to bring interesting and educational resources to our community, and it is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about local music and craft traditions.”

Featured craftspeople include guitar makers Wayne Henderson, fiddle makers Audrey Hash Ham and Chris Testerman, banjo maker Johnny Gentry, and dulcimer maker Ernest Combs. The exhibit offers visitors a hands-on, interactive exploration of the rich history of this traditional craft. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum will supplement the special exhibit with instruments from and panels about several local luthiers, including Jimmy Edmonds, Kevin Fore, Randal Eller, and Chuck Tipton. The Luthier’s Craft highlights the deep connection between music and craft in the Southern Appalachias.

The Luthier’s Craft was produced by the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with financial support provided by The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, Interlam, Hibco Plastics, and Dr. Mac and Becky Sumner.
Click here for more information.

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum will open its doors free of charge on Saturday September 23, 2017, as part of Smithsonian magazine’s 13th annual Museum Day Live!. With this event, participating museums across the United States emulate the spirit of the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington DC-based facilities, which offer free admission every day, and open their doors for free to those who download a Museum Day Live! ticket. Tickets will be available for download beginning August 25, 2017.

Smithsonian recognizes the extraordinary power of museums, and other cultural institutions, to provide visitors with insight and inspiration. The event represents a nationwide commitment to boundless curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge wherever you are. Over 200,000 people downloaded tickets for last year’s event, and this year’s Museum Day Live! is expected to attract more museum-goers than ever before.

This year, Museum Day Live! will feature special interactive lesson plans created by Smithsonian in partnership with Microsoft using Minecraft: Education Edition. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum will be able to utilize the Smithsonian material-based lesson plans to enhance the Museum Day Live! experience.

“Museum Day Live! is a great opportunity for us to open our doors for free to our community,” said Dr. Jessica Turner, Director of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. “We also take this time to plan activities that will give families a chance to explore together through fun, hands-on experiences. We want to remind our community that museums are spaces to do things as much as they are to see things.”

Visitors who take advantage of a free Museum Day Live! admission to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum may also take in Things Come Apart, a Smithsonian traveling exhibit on display now through October 8 in the museum’s Special Exhibits Gallery. Through extraordinary photographs, disassembled objects and fascinating videos, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service’s Things Come Apart exhibit reveals the inner workings of common, everyday possessions. The exhibit embraces STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) concepts and provides an ideal environment for hands-on experimentation, tinkering, and creative makerspaces. Though support from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee, the exhibit includes three hands-on Activity Kits created by the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation’s SparkLab.

Things Come Apart is an exhibition organized by Todd McLellan and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES).

“We will present some fun STEAM activities including an activity kit from our Things Come Apart exhibit, a MineCraft activity, and a screening of the PBS documentary American Experience: Tesla,” Turner added. “This will be one very cool day to be in the museum!”

Visitors who present the Museum Day Live! ticket will gain free entrance for two at participating venues on September 23, 2017. One ticket per email address is permitted. For more information about Museum Day Live! 2017 and a full list of participating museums and cultural institutions, please visit Smithsonian.com/museumday.

PRINT FREE TICKET

For more information, please visit Smithsonian.com/museumday.

Explore the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for only 90 cents July 25—july 30!

In honor of the 90th anniversary of the 1927 Bristol Sessions, the Birthplace of Country Music Museum will offer a very special 90 cents admission price this week from July 25—July 30, 2017! Celebrate and explore our region’s rich music heritage by taking in a tour of the museum; it’s an amazing opportunity to bring your children before school starts!

Through multiple theater experiences, interactive displays, artifacts and text, the Birthplace of Country Music Museum shares the story of the 1927 Bristol Sessions recordings, explores how evolving sound technology shaped their success, and highlights how this rich musical heritage lives on in today’s music. This is not a stuffy museum experience with a lot of stuff encased behind glass. Kids can belt out a tune in our Sing-Along Station, mix their own tunes at our Music Mixing Station, and put on headphones to check out the sounds of the 1927 Bristol Sessions. One can even peak in on our Radio Bristol staff while they are live on the air!

Visitors are encouraged to take in “Things Come Apart,” the Smithsonian traveling exhibit happening now through October 8 in the Special Exhibits Gallery on the first floor of the museum. Through extraordinary photographs, disassembled objects and fascinating videos, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service’s “Things Come Apart” exhibit reveals the inner workings of common, everyday possessions. Images of dozens of objects explore how things are designed and made and how technology has evolved over time. For example, the individual components of a record player, a Walkman, and iPod illustrate the technical changes in sound reproduction over the years. As a visual investigation of design and engineering, Things Come Apart also celebrates classic examples of industrial design like the sewing machine, the mechanical pencil, and the telescope. Additionally, the exhibit explores ideas about reuse, repair, and recycling.

Does Dad love music? Celebrate Father’s Day with him at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum! Friday, June 16 through Sunday, June 18, 2017 Dads get in for free with your paid admission.

Admission is good for the entire day so you can come early and make a day of it! Take in a few exhibits, perhaps slip out to enjoy lunch at one of Historic Downtown Bristol’s fine eateries. After lunch you may return to explore more areas of the museum and browse one-of-a-kind gifts in The Museum Store.

Happy Father’s Day from the Birthplace of Country Music Museum and everyone at the Birthplace of Country Music!

Click here to plan your visit.

Joining More Than 2,000 Museums Across America to Offer Free Admission To Military Personnel and Their Families This Summer

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum announced the launch of Blue Star Museums, a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to offer free admission to the nation’s active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The program provides families an opportunity to enjoy the nation’s cultural heritage and learn more about their community, especially after a miliary move. This is the second year the museum has participated in the program.

“We are proud to participate as a Blue Star Museum to recognize and honor our active duty military personnel,” said Dr. Jessica Turner, Director of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. “We invite them to bring their families to the museum this summer and enjoy history and the arts in the communities they work so hard to protect.”

“The Blue Star Museums program is a great opportunity for the NEA to team up with local museums in every state in the nation to support our service members and their families,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “It means a lot to offer these families access to high-quality, budget-friendly opportunities to spend time together.”

This year’s Blue Star Museums represent not just fine arts museums, but also science museums, history museums, nature centers, and dozens of children’s museums, including newly participating museums: the Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia; The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Museum in Memphis, Tennessee; the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument in Hagerman, Idaho; and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. Museums are welcome to join Blue Star Museums throughout the summer.

“Whether they want to blast off at the science museum, take a walk though nature, or encounter animals at the aquarium, Blue Star Museums will help service members and their families create memories this summer,” said Blue Star Families Chief Executive Officer Kathy Roth-Douquet. “This fantastic collaboration with the NEA brings our local military and civilian communities together, and offers families fun and enriching activities in their home towns. We are thrilled with the continued growth of the program and the unparalleled opportunities if offers.”

A list of participating museums is available at arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.

About Blue Star Museums

Blue Star Museums is a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America. The program runs from Memorial Day, May 29, 2017 through Labor Day, September 4, 2017.

The free admission program is available to any bearer of the Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), a DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card, which includeds active duty U.S. military—Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, as well as members of the National Guard and Reserve, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps—and up to five family members. Some special or limited-time museum exhibits may not be included in this free admission program. For questions on particular exhibits or museums, please contact the museum directly. To find participating museums and plan your trip, visit arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.

All summer long, Blue Star Museums will share stories through social media. Follow Blue Star Museums on Twitter @NEAarts and @BlueStarFamily, #bluestarmuseums, on Facebook, and read the NEA Art Works blog for weekly stories on participating museums and exhibits.

Museums that wish to participate in Blue Star Museums may contact blue starmuseums@arts.gov or Wendy Clark, NEA Director of Museums, at clarkw@arts.gov.

This is the latest NEA program to bring quality arts programs to the military, veterans, and their families. Other NEA programs for the military include the Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network.

About the National Endowment for the Arts

Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. Visit arts.gov to learn more about NEA.

About Blue Star Families

Blue Star Families is a national, nonprofit network of military spouses, children, parents and friends, as well as service members, veterans, and civillians dedicated to supporting, connecting, and empowering military families. With our partners, Blue Star Families leverages data-driven insights to curate resources for military families, including career development tools, local community events for families, and caregiver support. Each summer since 2010, Blue Star Families has engaged tens of thousands of volunteers and served more than 4 million military family members. Blue Star Families also works directly with the Department of Defense and senior members of local, State and Federal government to bring the most important military family issues to light. With Blue Star Families, military families can find answers to their challenges anywhere they are. Visit bluestarfam.org for more information.