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 their humanities programming.
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 ten years 200 individuals from dozens of organizations across the state have attended the TAMconference 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 2012 TAM winners are:
- Bemis Historical Society: Brenda Jackson, Joel Jackson
- Discovery Museum of West Tennessee: Lynne Mann, Sara Mann
- Elkton Historical Society: Ed Corlew, David Van Dyke
- Etowah Historical Commission: Sandy Brewer
- Granville Museum: Patty Barlow
- Matt Gardener Homestead Museum: James Sanders
- Pleasant Hill Historical Society: Jack Martin
- Smith County Heritage Museum: Dee Ann Oberle
- Union County Historical Society: Linda Waller, JV Waller
Each scholarship covers two nights lodging at the conference hotel, registration fees, and conference meals and evening events.
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.
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 Debbie Shaw, TAM coordinator, by phone, 1-866-390-3638, or email, info@tnmuseums.org
