OMA Award Spotlight - Spring Hill Historic Home

With the Emmy's red carpet now a few weeks in the past, it's official - Awards Season is upon us! Here at OMA, autumn also kicks off our awards season, with nominations for the Annual Ohio Museums Association Awards accepted through January 29, 2018.

The Ohio Museums Association’s Annual Awards are all about Ohio – more specifically the museums in our great state and the wonderful museum professionals who work in and for them. 

The OMA Awards are divided into two sections: the Awards of Achievement, and the Visual Communication Awards. Learn more about these two categories and how you can nominate your museum on the OMA Awards page.

Recognizing excellence in Ohio museums during Arts and Humanities Month

To help celebrate October as Arts and Humanities Month, and to kick-off the call for nominations for this year's OMA awards, we'll be highlighting our 2016 OMA Award of Achievement winners throughout the month with our OMA Award Spotlight. 

The Awards of Achievement are presented to reflect the outstanding quality and caliber of work by Ohio museums and their professionals in two categories: Institutional Achievement Awards and Individual Achievement Awards.

Nominations for these awards are incredibly detailed. This in-depth process helps to illustrate how these institutions and individuals have gone “above and beyond” the normal call of duty to support their institution, serve their public and advance the cause of the museum community.

Each year, the review panel is overwhelmed by the outstanding projects, innovative programming and dedication to our field as exhibited in each of the institutional and individual nominations. Congratulations again to each of our award winners! 

Today' we'll be featuring our winner for the 2016 award for Best Exhibition under $500,000.

Spring Hill Historic Home - Mourning Arvine Wales: Death in the 1800s

Mourning Arvine Wales: Death in the 1800s was a divergent exhibition for Spring Hill Historic Home, not only in subject matter, but in the wide range of educational programming developed to complement the exhibit.

For two months, the house was put into mourning for past resident Arvine Wales, with programming that included a five-part lecture series on mid-1800s mourning and spiritualism, special tours, and a mock funeral.

Scheduling the macabre exhibit in the fall not only allowed Spring Hill to explore the subject during Halloween season, the timing also meant featuring the exhibit and adding special programming during the museum’s two-day Fall Festival.

Mourning Arvine Wales demonstrates the institution’s ability to remain relevant in adapting its 19th-century history to effective engagement with 21st-century audiences, with a 121% increase in walk-in guests during the exhibit, and approximately 633 guests receiving exhibit-related programming during the two-month event.

Mourning Arvine Wales illustrates what is possible when incredibly limited funds combine with unlimited imagination and dedication.



Did your museum have a spectacular exhibit during the 2017 season? Be sure to nominate it for the 2017 award for Best Exhibition! Learn more here.

 

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