Four Virtual Programs at State Museums in January 2021

(DOVER, Del. — Dec. 21, 2020) — Cross-stitching, the wreck of the DeBraak, artist Francis Barraud and forgotten presidents will be explored in virtual programs streamed live on the Web by Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs museums during the month of January 2020. All programs are free and open to the public. Go to the following for additional information and reservation instructions: https://history.delaware.gov/2020/12/21/hca-programs-jan-2021.

Photo of Steven Mumford as Francis Baurraud
Museum interpreter Steven Mumford will portray the artist whose painting of a dog staring into a talking machine became the trademark of the Victor Talking Machine Company. The program, “Francis Barraud: His Master’s Voice,” will be streamed live from the Johnson Victrola Museum on Jan. 22, 2021.

Live virtual-programs in January 2021

Saturday, Jan. 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30, 2021
“Stitching on the Light: A Virtual Stitch Along.” Online program developed by Madeline Golden, former Zwaanendael Museum historical interpreter, in which participants create a cross-stitch embroidery featuring Lewes-area lighthouses. On Jan. 2, 9, 23 and 30, portions of the cross-stitch pattern and instructions will be posted on the museum’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. On Jan. 16 at 3:30 p.m., Golden will conduct a cross-stitch workshop streamed live via Zoom and on the museum’s Facebook page. 302-645-1148 or mailto:zmuseum@delaware.gov.

Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021
“The Wreck of the DeBraak.” Virtual program explores the history of the British warship DeBraak which sank off the coast of Lewes in May of 1798 only to be recovered by treasure hunters nearly 200 years later. 3:30 p.m. 302-645-1148 or mailto:zmuseum@delaware.gov.

Friday, Jan. 22, 2021
“Francis Barraud: His Master’s Voice.” Virtual living-history performance from Dover’s Johnson Victrola Museum in which historic-site interpreter Steven Mumford portrays artist Francis Barraud whose painting of a dog staring into a talking machine became the trademark of the Victor Talking Machine Company. 6 p.m. 302-739-3262 or mailto:JVmuseum@delaware.gov.

Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021
“Forgettable/Forgotten Presidents and How the Presidency Has Evolved.” Virtual presentation from the New Castle Court House Museum in which historic-site interpreter Bob Vander Decker explores the presidents of the Continental Congress through the ratification of the Articles of Confederation and U.S. Constitution. The program will explain why there have been 62 men elected to the office of president but Joe Biden is only listed as number 46. 1 p.m. 302-323-4453 or mailto:NCCHmuseum@delaware.gov.

Administered by the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, the five museums of the State of Delaware—the John Dickinson Plantation, the Johnson Victrola Museum, the New Castle Court House Museum, The Old State House and the Zwaanendael Museum—tell the story of the First State’s contributions to the history and culture of the United States. Through tours, exhibits, and special programs, the museums shine a spotlight on Delaware’s unique history and the diverse people who came to live there. The museums are accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The New Castle Court House Museum and the John Dickinson Plantation are partner sites of the First State National Historical Park. The Old State House is located on the Dover Green, another partner site of the park. Go to the following for a long-term calendar of division-sponsored events.

Picture of the Logo of the American Alliance of Museums

 

The Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs is an agency of the State of Delaware. The division enhances Delaware’s quality of life by preserving the state’s unique historical heritage, fostering community stability and economic vitality and providing educational programs and assistance to the general public on Delaware history. The division’s diverse array of services includes operation of five museums, administration of the State Historic Preservation Office, conservation of the state’s archaeological and historic-objects collections, operation of a conference center and management of historic properties across the state. Primary funding for division programs and services is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, a federal agency. However, the contents and opinions expressed in the division’s programs and services do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Department of the Interior.

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Contact:
Jim Yurasek
Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
Phone: 302-608-5326
E-mail: Jim.Yurasek@delaware.gov
Web: http://history.delaware.gov


“Stitching On the Light: A Virtual Stitch Along”

-Online program from the Zwaanendael Museum during January 2021-

(DOVER, Del. — Dec. 18, 2020) — During the month of January 2021, the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes, Del. will be conducting the online program “Stitching on the Light: A Virtual Stitch Along” in which participants create their own cross-stitch embroidery featuring likenesses of Lewes-area lighthouses including the Harbor of Refuge, Delaware Breakwater East End, and Fenwick Island lighthouses. Cross stitch is a form of needlework in which X-shaped stitches are used to form a picture.

On Jan. 2, 9, 23 and 30, portions of the cross-stitch pattern and instructions will be posted on the museum’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. On Jan. 16 at 3:30 p.m., former Zwaanendael Museum historical interpreter Madeline Golden will conduct a cross-stitch workshop streamed live via Zoom (registration required by going to the following hyperlink: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zlK-SCGcSVSLFFiD7HDMfw). The workshop will also be streamed live on the museum’s Facebook page. “Stitching on the Light: A Virtual Stitch Along” is free and open to the public. For additional information, contact the Zwaanendael Museum via e-mail at zmuseum@delaware.gov or by telephone at 302-645-1148.

The Zwaanendael Museum was built in 1931 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the state’s first European colony, Swanendael, established by the Dutch along Hoorn Kill (present-day Lewes-Rehoboth Canal) in 1631. Designed by E. William Martin (architect of Legislative Hall and the Hall of Records in Dover), the museum is modeled after the town hall in Hoorn, the Netherlands, and features a stepped facade gable with carved stonework and decorated shutters. The museum’s exhibits and presentations provide a showcase for Lewes-area maritime, military and social history.

The Zwaanendael Museum is administered by the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, an agency of the State of Delaware. The division enhances Delaware’s quality of life by preserving the state’s unique historical heritage, fostering community stability and economic vitality and providing educational programs and assistance to the general public on Delaware history. The division’s diverse array of services includes operation of five museums which are accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, administration of the State Historic Preservation Office, conservation of the state’s archaeological and historic-objects collections, operation of a conference center and management of historic properties across the state. Primary funding for division programs and services is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, a federal agency. However, the contents and opinions expressed in the division’s programs and services do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Department of the Interior.
 

Picture of the Logo of the American Alliance of Museums logo

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Contact:
Jim Yurasek
Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
Phone: 302-608-5326
E-mail: Jim.Yurasek@delaware.gov
Web: http://history.delaware.gov


Delaware’s 22nd annual Chautauqua: “Women’s Work: Campaigning for Social Change” on Sept. 10, 11, 19 and 20, 2020

-All activities to be presented free via Zoom; registration required-

(DOVER, Del.—Aug. 31, 2020)—In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment which granted women the right to vote, Delaware’s 22nd annual Chautauqua—“Women’s Work: Campaigning for Social Change”—will be presented virtually from the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes on Sept. 10, 11, 2020; and from the New Castle Court House Museum on Sept. 19 and 20, 2020.

NOTE: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 Chautauqua programs will not be conducted in front of a live audience but will instead be streamed live via Zoom. Each of the Chautauqua’s programs is free and open to its first 100 registrants. A complete listing of activities and registration instructions are available by going to https://history.delaware.gov/22nd-annual-chautauqua/.

“Women’s Work: Campaigning for Social Change” will demonstrate the passionate efforts of suffragists striving toward one goal—earning the right for women to vote and participate equally in the nation’s political, social and economic life. Through theatrical enactments by both individuals and groups, lectures and musical performances, virtual viewers will be immersed in the women’s suffrage movement and experience the impact that it had on Delaware and its people. Activities will be capped with performances by actor-historians from the American Historical Theatre portraying the noted suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt; and a concert by the Women’s Orchestra Project.

As a compliment to the 2020 Chautauqua, identical versions of the display “Nothing Less: Delaware, Women’s Suffrage, and Equal Rights” have been installed at the Zwaanendael Museum and the New Castle Court House Museum. Created by Delaware Humanities, the displays include two, three-sided columns featuring information and images on the suffrage movement in Delaware from 1848 onward. The displays will remain on view until the Chautauqua has been completed. Go to the following for information on visiting the museums in keeping with Gov. Carney’s Phase II reopening guidance issued in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Chautauqua takes its name from a series of adult education programs that were first held at a campsite on the shores of Lake Chautauqua in upstate New York during the late 19th century. Chautauquas spread throughout America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries bringing speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day to a wide cross-section of the nation’s rural and small-town population. Circuit Chautauquas (also known as Tent Chautauquas) were an itinerant manifestation of the movement. Programs would be presented in tents pitched in a field near town. After several days, the Chautauqua would fold its tents and move on to the next community. The popularity of Chautauquas peaked in the mid-1920s, after which radio, movies and automobiles brought about the gradual disappearance of the movement by the 1940s.

Reborn in the 1970s as a vehicle for humanities education, modern Chautauquas are organized around a core program in which re-enactors take on the personas of celebrated historical figures, educating and entertaining audiences as they bring the past to life. Modern Chautauquas have been presented annually in Delaware since 1999 featuring a wide variety of historical figures including Martin Luther King Jr.; Mark Twain; Woodrow Wilson; Teddy Roosevelt; Abraham Lincoln; Amelia Earhart; Dolley Madison; Eleanor Roosevelt; Edgar Allan Poe; the Lone Ranger; John Philip Sousa; and Delaware’s own Pvt. James Elbert, Maj. Allen McLane, F.O.C. Darley and Clifford Brown.

“Women’s Work: Campaigning for Social Change” is co-sponsored by the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs’ Zwaanendael and New Castle Court House museums, the Lewes Chamber of Commerce and the New Castle Historical Society. Partial funding is provided by a grant from Delaware Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Photo of the Delaware Humanities logo
The Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs is an agency of the State of Delaware. The division enhances Delaware’s quality of life by preserving the state’s unique historical heritage, fostering community stability and economic vitality and providing educational programs and assistance to the general public on Delaware history. The division’s diverse array of services includes operation of five museums which are accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, administration of the State Historic Preservation Office, conservation of the state’s archaeological and historic-objects collections, operation of a conference center and management of historic properties across the state. Primary funding for division programs and services is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, a federal agency. However, the contents and opinions expressed in the division’s programs and services do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Department of the Interior.

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Contact:
Jim Yurasek
Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
Phone: 302-608-5326
E-mail: Jim.Yurasek@delaware.gov
Web: http://history.delaware.gov


EVENT CHANGE OF VENUE—Delaware’s 2020 Chautauqua changed to virtual format

(DOVER, Del.—Aug. 10, 2020)—Due to uncertainty involving the continued impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs decided on Aug. 6, 2020 that its 22nd annual Chautauqua—“Women’s Work: Campaigning for Social Change”—would not be conducted in front of a live audience but would instead be conducted in a virtual format.

In a press release, entitled “Women’s Work: Campaigning for Social Change,” distributed on July 30, 2020, the division had indicated that the Chautauqua would take place at the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes, Del. on Sept. 10 and 11, 2020; and on the Green in New Castle, Del. on Sept. 19 and 20, 2020. According to the new format, the events will still take place on those dates but without a live audience. Instead, activities will be streamed live via Zoom.

Additional information about Chautauqua activities will be issued as it becomes available and will be posted on the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, Zwaanendael Museum and New Castle Court House Museum websites and social media accounts. Calls for information can also be made to the Zwaanendael Museum at 302-645-1148 or the New Castle Court House Museum at 302-323-4453.

The Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs is an agency of the State of Delaware. The division enhances Delaware’s quality of life by preserving the state’s unique historical heritage, fostering community stability and economic vitality and providing educational programs and assistance to the general public on Delaware history. The division’s diverse array of services includes operation of five museums which are accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, administration of the State Historic Preservation Office, conservation of the state’s archaeological and historic-objects collections, operation of a conference center and management of historic properties across the state. Primary funding for division programs and services is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, a federal agency. However, the contents and opinions expressed in the division’s programs and services do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Department of the Interior.

 

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Contact:
Jim Yurasek
Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
Phone: 302-608-5326
E-mail: Jim.Yurasek@delaware.gov
Web: http://history.delaware.gov


Four Delaware Arts Organizations Receive $50,000 in CARES Act Funding

The National Endowment for the Arts grants funding to 855 organizations to support staff salaries, fees for artists or contractual personnel, and facilities costs

Wilmington, Del. (July 10, 2020) – Earlier this month, four Delaware arts organizations—Delaware Art Museum, Delaware Shakespeare, OperaDelaware and State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education—received $50,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. These four organizations are among 855 organizations nationwide—located in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico—that will receive a total of $44.5 million in nonmatching funds to support staff salaries, fees for artists or contractual personnel, and facilities costs.

The National Endowment for the Arts received more than 3,100 eligible applications requesting $157 million for the $45 million available in direct assistance. To review the applications, the agency used more than 200 application readers and panelists to review and score each application using the published review criteria.

“All of us at the National Endowment for the Arts are keenly aware that arts organizations across the country are hurting, struggling, and trying to survive and that our supply of funding does not come close to meeting the demand for assistance,” said Arts Endowment Chairman Mary Anne Carter. “That said, I am enormously proud of the over-and-above efforts of the Arts Endowment staff to swiftly and professionally manage such a large amount of additional work in a relatively short period of time on behalf of the American public.”

These awardees represent the diverse nature of arts organizations around the country. Overall funding is divided nearly evenly between small, medium, and large arts organizations.

CARES Act grants chart by organization size

In April, the agency announced the distribution of the required 40 percent of the CARES Act’s $75 million appropriation to the state and regional arts agencies for their granting programs. With this special award and additional federal funds, the Delaware Division of the Arts developed two short-term grant opportunities to help secure jobs and support Delaware’s nonprofit arts organizations and artists that add value to the state’s economy and bolster the creative life of our communities.

Of the approximately 60 arts organizations that receive General Operating Support, and an additional 25 community-based arts programs, 55 arts and community-based organizations and 11 artists received relief funds.

The Division has also opened up a second cycle of the CARES Artist Relief program which provides grants up to $500 to Delaware artists impacted by the cancellation of a specific, scheduled event, gig, or opportunity (e.g. commissions, performances, readings, contracts, teaching classes, etc.) because of COVID-19.  Guidelines and application link here. Deadline to apply July 31, 2020.

About the National Endowment for the Arts

Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the Arts Endowment supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. Visit arts.gov to learn more.

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Contact: Leeann Wallett, Program Officer, Communications and Marketing
302-577-8280, leeann.wallett@delaware.gov


The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is dedicated to cultivating and supporting the arts to enhance the quality of life for all Delawareans. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit arts.delaware.gov or call 302-577-8278.