museum whose mission, is to connect children with their families,... world beyond through discovery learning and creative play. MCM is... Madison Stories

museum whose mission, is to connect children with their families,... world beyond through discovery learning and creative play. MCM is... Madison Stories

TITLE: Public Humanities Fellow, Madison Stories
Organization Description
Madison Children’s Museum (MCM) is a nationally recognized and award winning interactive
museum whose mission, is to connect children with their families, their communities, and the
world beyond through discovery learning and creative play. MCM is an educational leader,
community partner, and source of inspiration for families with children ages 0–12, and serves a
vibrant and diverse community, primarily from Dane County, blending both urban and rural
backgrounds. The museum serves over 225,000 people of all ages each year through its onsite
and outreach offerings. A national leader in sustainable exhibit and program design, MCM
undertakes its work with a decidedly local approach, working with local people, products and
resources, and content that highlights the many unique features of Madison, Dane County and
Wisconsin in all of its work. This sustainability ethic is core to the museum’s principles, and has
distinguished our innovative practices for decades.
Madison Public Library’s tradition of promoting education, literacy and community
involvement has enriched the City of Madison for more than 135 years. The library’s nine
locations throughout the City of Madison are open six days a week (with limited Sunday hours)
and welcome over 2.35 million visits each year. Madison Public Library (MPL) is part of the
South Central Library System, a cooperative network of 52 public libraries in a seven county
area. The System offers a shared online catalog, daily delivery of books and media, and
reciprocal borrowing privileges among libraries. In 2011, Madison Public Library welcomed 2.25
million visitors from Madison, Dane County, and beyond, circulated nearly 4.4 million library
books and media from nine different library locations throughout Madison, facilitated over
721,400 in-library internet uses, and welcomed almost 90,000 children and adults to library
classes and events. Among Wisconsin’s 10 biggest library service areas as defined by the state,
Madison topped the rankings of circulation per capita, accumulating more than 4.7 million
checkouts in 2010, or 17.82 per resident, according to data from the 2010 fiscal year compiled
by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Position Description
The Madison Children’s Museum and Madison Public Library seek an enthusiastic professional
with excellent research skills, experience working with children, teens and families, and strong
understanding of and familiarization with digital media and online publishing platforms to guide
their collaborative Madison Stories project. The Fellow will be responsible for researching and
recommending online publishing platforms, guiding both organizations in selection and
retention guidelines, researching permissions and copyright issues, and planning and
implementing the Madison Stories project, for which both organizations have jointly applied for
a National Endowment for the Humanities Museums, Libraries and Cultural Organizations
Planning Grant. If awarded, the Fellow would work with both organizations and oversee
aspects of this grant from August 2014-May 2015 on behalf of both organizations.
Madison Stories is a humanities and community-based storytelling project designed to engage
local youth in collecting and disseminating important local stories about culture, place and
history from within our own community. These stories will frame important humanities
questions about how local cultures are sustained, how individuals and communities maintain
their customs, and the role that place has in maintaining cultures. A secondary but equally
important outcome of Madison Stories is using this celebration of local culture to address one
of Madison’s significant challenges, a significant racial achievement gap within our local K-12
public schools. Madison Stories will expressly focus on the ways that storytelling about local
place and customs can help build community and pride, while helping participants develop
essential literacy skills.
Both organizations hosted individual Public Humanities Fellows during the 2013-2014 academic
year, and this project is an outgrowth of those efforts.
Qualifications
Excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills
A passion for public humanities, museums and libraries
Excellent organizational and process management skills
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Excellent computer skills and high comfort level with digital media, including digital databases
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
The ability to work both independently and on a team
Positive attitude
Range of humanities research and evaluation methodologies
Please do not contact this organization with questions about the position.
Send an email to the Center for the Humanities at info@humanities.wisc.edu with ‘Public
Humanities Fellowship Inquiry’ in the subject line, or give us a call at 608.263.3412. Thanks!
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o 2014-15 Public Humanities Fellowship Program
Applications due: February 28, 2014