OMA Award Spotlight - COSI
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 2019 OMA Award of Achievement winners throughout the month with our OMA Award Spotlight. We are featuring these Award Winner Spotlights during Arts and Humanities Month to help champion the amazing projects, programs and professionals that make Ohio's museum community strong.
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 2019 award winners!
Today, we'll be featuring our winner for the 2019 award for Best Community Partnership over $500,000.
COSI - 2019 COSI Science Festival
In May 2019, COSI held their inaugural COSI Science Festival – four-days of STEM-inspired programing to bring science to people where they live.
Learners of all ages participated across Franklin County in this celebration of science, with 40,000 people participating in 140 community-based events across the first three days, plus the Big Science Celebration outside COSI on the final day of the festival that featured 130 interactive booths from hands-on partners in science, technology, engineering and math across more than 20 industries.
In addition to the community outreach impact, the sheer number and type of partners involved in the COSI Science Festival is incredibly impressive. COSI successfully partnered with over 100 other organizations--including other nonprofits; museums; federal, state, and local governmental agencies; businesses; universities; restaurants; and more – encouraging them to showcase how science is an element of their everyday lives and businesses. These collaborations resulted in 760 STEM professionals offering hands-on demonstrations.
In order to keep the festival as accessible to as many folks as possible, the majority of the events were free and held at dozens of different locations across 12 central Ohio cities. To make this happen, COSI secured sponsors from 23 companies and organizations.
Truly an event that fully embodied the spirit of community collaboration, the COSI Science festival was officially recognized for its impact on the community in the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate; by the office of the Governor of Ohio, the Ohio House of Representatives, and an official resolution by the City of Columbus. The Ohio Museums Association enthusiastically adds our name to this list.
Did your museum have an innovative and impactful collaboration during the 2020 season? Be sure to nominate it for the 2020 award for Best Community Partnership! Learn more here.
The Team from COSI Accepts the Award During the OMA 2020 Virtual Awards Ceremony
One of the fun features of OMA's 2020 Virtual Awards Ceremony was being able to recognize our honorees "accepting" their award via video message. See below for the COSI award acceptance video.