Current Projects
Lakes to Locks Passage Heritage Centers Sustainability Program
The Lakes to Locks Passage Heritage Centers Sustainability Program is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Studies (IMLS) for building capacity and sustainability of heritage centers located within the byway corridor. The primary focus is for the staff and volunteers of the eight Heritage Centers in Essex County which serve the unique needs and characteristics of their communities. Each center has a unique theme for its collection and programs. Three communities chose to locate their byway heritage centers at existing museums: the Adirondack History Center, the Iron Center, and the Ticonderoga Heritage Museum. The Town of Willsboro constructed a new facility for its heritage center. Other communities created their heritage centers through adaptive re-use of historic buildings: the Essex Heritage Center, Lake Champlain Visitor Center, North Country Underground Railroad Center, and the Westport Heritage House.
The IMLS professional trainings specifically address the needs of the eight heritage centers in the Lake Champlain region, but staff and volunteers from other museums, historical societies and heritage organizations within the Lakes to Locks Passage corridor are invited to participate in the training workshops and roundtables. Each community has unique needs for developing a facility, but they all share the challenges of how to sustain operations and establish high quality services. The American Association of Museums (AAM) and American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) statements and standards for best practices have been chosen for improving the delivery of programs at the heritage centers. The AAM and AASLH standards for public trust and accountability, mission and planning, leadership and organizational structure, collections stewardship, education and interpretation, financial stability, and facilities and risk management clearly apply to the needs identified for the heritage centers.
The overarching need for the heritage centers is to receive training and technical assistance through a three-pronged effort: professional trainings for operations and management using AAM and AASLH standards and an administrative circuit rider to implement and reinforce the trainings; refinement of the byway visitor information and interpretive plan with the services of an interpretive circuit rider to develop the cultural heritage infrastructure through programs, exhibits, and education; and the "Ambassador" trainings that will create a toolkit for heritage centers to provide the "care and feeding" of volunteers, hospitality skills, and development of a stewardship ethic that will be embraced by residents and visitors alike.
The project is designed for a three year period by presenting five workshops and six roundtables, mentoring from other museum professionals and utilizing the two circuit riders to assist in implementing the recommendations from the workshops. The project is a skills and capacity building program that gains momentum through the numbers of professionals that are trained and builds sustainability by strengthening knowledge based on best practices. Download schedule of trainings.
