Photo by Dusty Kessler, courtesy of @camstl
CAM
The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is one of four organizations in Missouri to receive an American Rescue Plan grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
As museums emerge from the pandemic’s shadow, money from a federal agency seeks to help the institutions become places of healing. The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAM) has been awarded a $36,524 American Rescue Plan grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
“We are over the moon about this,” says executive director Lisa Melandri. “This grant was really meant to think about the kind of stress that has been caused by Covid-19, not just for the museum but the communities the museum serves.”
That aligns with CAM’s mission. The monies will be used to support three interconnecting projects that engage in community outreach, elevate the visitor experience, and foster collaboration and inclusivity.
Funding will support Collective Impact, the museum’s multi-year project with Creative Reaction Lab, a nonprofit that works to mobilize Black and Latinx youth to become leaders. Using the grant, CAM will reach out to include other organizations in its community.
“It will be CAM working with the Boys & Girls clubs, and other neighborhood partners,” says Melandri. “There will be art projects at the end, but they will be designed and conceived by the youth involved, and may take the shape of community-wide posters or public artworks that engage you.”
The grant will also allow the museum to join the Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies, a nationwide museum consortium that wants to improve guest experience by providing audience data about what people look for when visiting museums. “What can you do to change the way you greet your visitor, and what questions can you ask when they come through your front door that makes it a more accessible or inclusive experience?” asks Melandri.
The third component will provide funds for all museum staff to undergo trauma-awareness training. “This is about making sure we have as much awareness as possible, and being able to make the visitor experience as comfortable and safe and inclusive as possible,” says Melandri, who notes that the need for this kind of approach has always existed. “But I think it’s certainly true we had a duel pandemic. We had the pandemic of systemic racism alongside the health pandemic, and all of these things brought to the fore that it’s always been essential for us to be able to think about the neighborhoods in which we live in.”
IMLS, the primary source of federal support for libraries and museums, awarded more than $15 million in grants to 390 institutions across the country to address needs exacerbated by the pandemic. Besides CAM, three other Missouri groups received funding. They include $49,828 to Curators of the University of Missouri-Columbia (School of Information Science and Learning Technologies), $49,213 to the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, and $23,452 to the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis.
Founded in 1980, CAM has a budget of $2.8 million and typically sees 40,000 visitors annually. Although the number dipped due to pandemic protocols, it is inching up to about 40 to 50 percent capacity. The museum is free and open Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Reserved timed tickets are encouraged, and masks are required.
