The Tipton County Museum, Veterans Memorial and Nature Center were big winners last month in the museum world, bringing home eight awards from the Tennessee Association of Museums’ (TAM) annual conference recently held in Clarksville, Tenn.
The 2019 three-day conference brought together museum professionals from across the state to talk about community engagement and to focus on how Tennessee museums can better cultivate valuable community resources while connecting audiences to become a more sustainable institution.
In addition to the workshops and round-table discussions, each year TAM recognizes the outstanding work of Tennessee museums based on six institutional size classes and presents awards of excellence and commendation in 10 categories, including: exhibitions, publications, audio/visual, digital media, education programming, special events, volunteers, special or novelty items, special recognition, and the emerging professionals award.
This year at the conference, the Tipton County Museum was recognized and honored with six Awards of Excellence and an Award of Commendation. The Museum received Awards of Excellence in categories of Special Recognition for its Bat Houses built by Eagle Scout Riley Hull; Special Events for Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day; Temporary Exhibits for Tuskegee Red Tails: Wings for This Man; in Audio/Visual: Film Documentary for its series, “A Moment on Nature,” narrated by Museum Program Specialist Sherl Rose; in Publications for the 2018 May Festival poster painted by Museum Director Barrie Foster and designed by Museum Archivist Sherri Onorati, and in the category of Digital Media: Social Media Page for the Museum’s blog, “Beneath the Dirt,” written by Onorati about the museum’s different artifacts. The Museum’s Summer Camp programs also received an Award of Commendation in Educational Programming. In addition, Onorati was one of four people in the state of Tennessee presented with an Award of Excellence: Emerging Professional Award for her superlative achievements in the museum professional field.
“We are so proud and humbled by these awards,” said Foster. “They don’t just belong to those of us who work at the Museum, but it’s also recognition for the outstanding community support we receive. We couldn’t do what we do without the support of the community and those who so kindly volunteer for us – the Tipton County Veterans Council, the Tipton County Master Gardeners, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Mid-South Sailors who help during Navy Day.”
The Tipton County Museum, located at 751 Bert Johnston Ave., and is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is free.
