DeGette Announces Federal Grants for Denver Art Museum and Denver Botanic Gardens

DENVER, CO - Today, Congresswoman Diana DeGette (CO-01) announced that the Denver Art Museum and the Denver Botanic Gardens are receiving Museums for America grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to improve accessibility and advance conservation. The Denver Art Museum is receiving $248,183 with $295,354 in matching funds and the Denver Botanic Gardens is receiving $248,766 with $271,795 in matching funds.

"Denverites have enjoyed the Denver Art Museum and the Botanic Gardens for decades, and these grants will help to improve the services available to those who visit," said DeGette. "I look forward to seeing how the Art Museum and Botanic Gardens use these grants to serve their visitors and help more people learn about art and conservation throughout our community."

"IMLS funds have the power to transform how museums engage communities, and the Denver Art Museum is immensely honored to receive this impactful grant. We are all thrilled to embark on a transformative three-year journey, working alongside designers and community members, to imagine new ways of approaching design for accessibility and community engagement," said Heather Nielsen, Deputy Director and Chief Learning and Engagement Officer, Denver Art Museum.

"We are excited to be able to move forward the conservation strategy for alpine plants and ecosystems in North America. Our efforts will bring together work at botanic gardens and plant conservation organizations to better understand alpine species distributions and conservation needs. Alpine plants are particularly vulnerable to climate change and we hope this work will help conserve some of the most at-risk species," said Rebecca Hufft, Associate Director of Applied Conservation.

The Museums for America (MFA) program supports museums of all sizes and disciplines to undertake projects that strengthen their ability to serve the public. Project activities may include exhibitions, educational or interpretive programs, digital learning resources, professional development, community debate and dialogue, audience-focused studies, and/or collections management, curation, care, and conservation.

The Denver Art Museum will use the grant to create a welcoming environment for people of diverse backgrounds, abilities, and perspectives and enable museum visitors with disabilities to access the museum on their own terms. Project activities will include increasing staff's understanding of disabilities to mitigate accessibility barriers at the museum; actively engaging individuals with disabilities to learn from their experiences visiting the museum; convening a working group to generate ideas for accessibility prototypes; fabricating and testing the prototypes; and hosting a community curated showcase. Progress will be adjusted based on findings from a process evaluation, which will help the museum provide a behind the scenes look at community driven design solutions. As a result, the museum will provide a platform for individuals with disabilities to share their stories and expertise in the development of designs that serve disability communities and the museum.

The Denver Botanic Gardens will use the grant to advance work on the long-term care and protection of alpine plants and ecosystems in North America. The team of cross departmental staff will be led by experts in seed conservation, plant conservation science, and scientific data management in collaboration with public garden partners across the country. Project activities will include developing a web portal, increasing conservation seed collections, and managing stored conservation collections. The team will acquire an X-ray machine to conduct a quality assessment of the seed collections currently banked and those collected through this project. Data will be shared with collaborators working in alpine plant conservation and the broader botanic garden community. As a result, the garden will make progress towards the goal of understanding and conserving alpine habitats and plants in North America.

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