Scholarship Program for the Tennessee Association of Museums Conference

Since 2003, Humanities Tennessee has offered a scholarship program for the Tennessee Association of Museums' (TAM) annual conference held every March. This initiative stems from our commitment to provide opportunities for professional and organizational development of Tennessee's museums and humanities community.

The scholarships are available to volunteers without museum-related backgrounds who work for a nonprofit museum or organization that is starting a museum, and that has no paid professional staff. Each scholarship provides two nights lodging and conference registration fees for two people from up to fifteen organizations.

Over the past six years, well over 100 individuals have attended the TAM conference on this scholarship. Once introduced to the museum community by this program, many organizations remain TAM members and continue to attend each year without a scholarship.

The 2009 TAM winners are:

  • Campbell Culture Coalition, LaFollette: Jo Anne Myers, Gerry Myers
  • Dyer County Historical Society, Dyersburg: JD Stephens, Barbara Stephens
  • Dockery Association, Inc., Sevierville: Paul Dockery
  • Matt Gardner Homestead Museum, Elkton: Roosevelt Whitfield
  • Cumberland Homesteads Tower Museum, Crossville: Vicki Houston
  • Nathanael Greene Museum, Greeneville: Randi Nott, Betty Fletcher
  • Dickson Williams Mansion, Greeneville: Kimberly Bublat, Roger Hankins
  • Historic Watertown, Inc., Watertown: Lisa Chesley, Donna Delmas
  • White County Heritage Museum, Sparta: Peggie Hurteau, Bill Hurteau
  • Tom and O.E. Stigall Museum, Humboldt: Jerry Marable, Johnny Cyrus
  • Pleasant Hill Historical Society, Pleasant Hill: Jeanne Chappell-Kingsbury, Chris Gurlick

Each scholarship covers two nights lodging at the conference hotel, registration fees, and conference meals and evening events. The 2009 conference was March 18-20 in Chattanooga.

This year, Humanities Tennessee developed a series of introductory sessions for the conference, specially designed to address the needs of our scholarship recipients and others like them. Session topics covered: "From the Ground Up: Resources for Achieving your Museum's Goals," which details our Community History Development Fund, "Using Community Support: Examples of Meaningful Partnerships," and "Exhibit A: Effective Use of Temporary Exhibits in Small Museums."

The feedback we receive from scholarship recipients reflects how valuable they find their first TAM conference. This is their initial exposure to this wider community network, to available resources, and to practical information such as exhibit design, museum governance, and artifact care. Almost all scholarship institutions remain TAM members and continue to attend year after year enriching Tennessee's emerging cultural and historical institutions.

The scholarship program is announced each January, with an application deadline each February. For questions about the program please contact Melissa Davis at Humanities Tennessee by phone, 615-770-0006, ext. 16, or by e-mail, melissa@humanitiestennessee.org. For questions of TAM, please contact John Lancaster, TAM coordinator, by phone, 1-866-390-3638, or email, info@tnmuseums.org

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