National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Creative Director Awarded American Alliance of Museums Fellowship
MEDIA CONTACT:
Will Jones
(513) 333-7558
(513) 288-4834
wjones@nurfc.org
Jamie Glavic
(513) 333-7511
(513) 802-7355
jglavic@nurfc.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CINCINNATI, OH (March 31, 2017) – National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Creative Director Jesse Kramer has been awarded an American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Fellowship for the AAM Annual Meeting & Museum Expo in St. Louis, Missouri, May 7-10, 2017. The AAM Fellowship Program is designed to nurture greater inclusivity—for the benefit of museums, museum professionals, and the diverse audiences they serve—by supporting the professional development of individuals from underrepresented or marginalized groups.
AAM has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community. Representing more than 35,000 individual museum professionals and volunteers, institutions, and corporate partners serving the museum field, AAM stands for the broad scope of the museum community.
Each year AAM presents fellowships to individuals who have made contributions to their workplace in areas such as diversity, accessibility and inclusion within the museum field. The 2017 AAM Annual Meeting theme, Gateways for Understanding: Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion in Museums, served as the prompt for this year’s fellowship applicants. Applicants nationwide had to answer how their participation will stimulate a rich conversation around the theme, how their participation at the conference will contribute to their professional growth, and how they plan to apply knowledge from the conference in their work or academic studies.
“Thank you to my colleagues for encouraging and supporting me to apply for the AAM Fellowship Program”, says Jesse Kramer, Creative Director. “I’m truly honored to represent the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, emerging museum professionals, and LGBTQ museum professionals at this year’s conference.”
“Jesse is an artist – but first and foremost, he is an agent for change,” says outgoing National Underground Railroad Freedom Center President, Dr. Clarence G. Newsome. “Jesse’s dedication, commitment, and enthusiasm for this institution, its mission, and the betterment of the museum field is awe-inspiring. He is truly deserving of this award.”
The AAM Annual Meeting & Museum Expo in St. Louis, Missouri is May 7-10, 2017.
###
ABOUT THE NATIONAL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD FREEDOM CENTER
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened in August 2004 on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Since then, more than 1.3 million people have visited its permanent and changing exhibits and public programs, inspiring everyone to take courageous steps for freedom. Two million people have utilized educational resources online at freedomcenter.org, working to connect the lessons of the Underground Railroad to inform and inspire today’s global and local fight for freedom. Partnerships include Historians Against Slavery, Polaris Project, Free the Slaves, US Department of State and International Justice Mission. In 2014, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center launched a new online resource in the fight against modern slavery, endslaverynow.org.
