The ranks of national marine sanctuaries grew by one this week, as NOAA and the State of Wisconsin announced the designation of America’s 15th marine sanctuary. Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary will encompass 962-square miles of Lake Michigan that contain a multitude of cultural and historical treasures. Among the 36 known historic shipwrecks, the sanctuary includes Wisconsin’s two oldest shipwrecks and several others preserved almost completely intact due to the lake’s icy cold freshwater. Kris Sarri, president and CEO of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, said, “The new sanctuary will foster new opportunities for exploration, education, research, and tourism that benefit Wisconsin’s coastal communities and bring increased attention to the Great Lakes role in the growth of our Nation.”

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WHEN: Saturday, July 3, from 7pm to 10pm (fireworks start around 9:15pm).

WHO’S INVITED: Anyone who wants to reserve a spot and join us on Nantucket/LV-112’s weather deck, with friends and family, to watch a spectacular fireworks display in Boston’s inner harbor. Nantucket/LV-112’s berth has one of the best views of Boston’s vibrant city skyline from the East Boston waterfront.

WHAT TO BRING: Picnic supper, your favorite beverages, beach/lawn chairs to sit on the decks of Nantucket/LV-112, which will remain at the dock. We’ll supply the ship, panoramic views and lively music. The ship’s powerful rotating light beacon will be activated just before the fireworks begin.

 WHY: We want to show you our restoration progress. Plus, this is a fundraising event for LV-112, for which we still have much work to do; visit our Facebook page. The ship’s restoration solely depends on the generous contributions of corporations, private foundations, federal, state and municipal grants, maritime enthusiasts and individuals such as you.

RESERVATIONS: We request a $25 donation per person. Tickets can be purchased by clicking on EventBrite.

WHERE:LV-112 is berthed at the Boston Harbor Shipyard & Marina, 256 Marginal St., East Boston, MA; directions. There’s free street parking next to the shipyard, but it’s limited due to holiday weekend volume.
Best option is public transportation. MBTA Subway: take Blue Line to Maverick Station, walk to shipyard/marina (approx. 15 walk), view walking route. Water Taxi to Boston Harbor Shipyard & Marina, stop #68 view map. For more information, contact: 617.797.0135 or email.

Join us on July 15th for an exciting conversation about marine protection and collaborative conservation! Make sure to visit our Facebook page on Thursday, July 15th for a discussion on cultural heritage protection celebrating the 15th anniversary of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The distinguished panel will include viewpoints from American Samoa, Palau, and Hawaii and speak to how we can simultaneously preserve crucial natural and cultural heritage resources for the benefit of future generations.

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Our ocean contains a diversity of life. Large marine protected areas are an essential tool to conserve marine ecosystems at-scale. In 2000, the establishment of Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve (now Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and World Heritage Site) launched a movement to establish large-scale MPAs to strengthen the management of our global ocean. Today, there are 33 designated large-scale marine protected areas in 16 nations or territories. These MPAs cover a total of 4.6% of the ocean. Notably, many of these MPAs also protect significant cultural resources and engage local communities and Indigenous people in co-management.

The virtual event will take place on Facebook Live at 7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT / 1:00pm HT through our Blue Beacon Series: Big Ocean Protection Facebook event page.  It can also be streamed on the Foundation’s website. RSVP today on the Facebook event page as “Going” or “Interested” to join us for this can’t-miss event. Mark your calendars – we will see you on July 15th!

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The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum is thrilled to announce that Heritage, Craft & Evolution: Surfboard Design 1885 – 1959–an exciting exhibit combining historic replica surfboards, paintings, and photographs of key pioneers of surfing and their beaches–will open at the Museum, one week from today, on Thursday, June 24th and continue through October 30, 2021! We are especially excited because this exhibit is our way of celebrating our full reopening of Thursdays through Tuesdays, 10am-5pm! This exhibit, and the book that accompanies it, is truly unique for the way it tells the stories of California surfing, surfing pioneers, and surfboard design through a multimedia approach, combining art, history, and photography.

Renny Yater, a local resident and pioneer–still to be found on State Street in Santa Barbara shaping boards–is one of three collaborators on the project that led to the exhibit. Renny produced the replicas of historic surfboards, ranging from a 1907 George Freeth plank board to a 1950s-style Hobie balsa board; artist John Comer of Santa Barbara and Baja, whose “This Sacred Land” exhibit opened June 5 at Santa Barbara Fine Art, painted vignettes on each board depicting the beaches where that board was used; and artists Kevin Ancell and Peter St. Pierre faux-painted the boards to “age” and recreate their historic appearance.

This unusual and fascinating exhibit will be of interest to surfers, artists, and those interested in the history of Southern California. 

On Juneteenth, June 19, 1865, U.S. Brigadier General Gordon Granger and his troops landed at Galveston, Texas confirming the news that the Civil War had ended and that enslaved African Americans in the Confederacy were now free. In 1980, Juneteenth became an official state holiday in Texas and has since been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia. Today, this date is still celebrated across the US with family gatherings, parades, picnics, and fireworks.
Learn more about the History of Juneteenth

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum is proud to present the free Zoom lecture “Hawaiians, Catholics, and the Town with a Bay in Front and an Amphitheater of Hills Behind: The Education of Richard Henry Dana Jr. in Santa Barbara,” featuring Professor Rick Kennedy of Point Loma Nazarene University on Thursday, July 15 at 7pm PDT. This informative lecture will give listeners a glimpse into a past of sailing, hide-gathering, what Santa Barbara was like in 1835-1836, who lived here then, who Dana crewed and worked with, and how his voyage and visit to Santa Barbara changed him. The webinar is free, but registration is required at: https://sbmm.org/santa-barbara-event/the-education-of-richard-henry-dana-jr/

Born in Salinas, Rick Kennedy found a wife (1979) and education in Santa Barbara: BA (1980), MA (1983), and Ph.D. (1987). He was a Teaching Assistant for Richard Oglesby’s California history class and earned his Ph.D. under Harold Kirker, who introduced him to historic preservation in Santa Barbara. As a professor of history at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, Dr. Kennedy teaches California History and from 2003-2017, he taught a summer school sailing course in California history, in which he and students sailed up the coast and through the islands reading Two Years Before the Mast!

Get outside and come visit us at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum! We are open every day 10 am – 4 pm with free admission for all.

While indoor exhibits will remain temporarily closed, we have wonderful outside exhibits to explore including new exhibits about Prohibition in the Champlain Valley, Lake Health, and more. The replica schooner Lois McClure is docked right here at the Museum and open to the public Thursdays through Saturdays, conditions permitting, and the replica Revolutionary War gunboat Philadelphia II is on display on the hard on the Museum green. Furry, leashed friends are welcome, as well as picnics. We can’t wait to see you!

Children and adults are invited to join Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum educators this summer and fall aboard buyboat Winnie Estelle for a series of up-close and personal explorations of the Miles River and its unique habitat and ecology.

On Thursday, July 15, from 10–11:30am, and again from 1–2pm on Tuesday, Aug. 17, CBMM invites guests for a citizen science excursion on the Miles River. These Eco Cruises offer the opportunity for passengers to try their hand at water testing and explore the critters on an oyster reef, all while cruising in the breeze.

On Tuesday, Sept. 7, from 2–3:30pm, join Pickering Creek Audubon Center Director Mark Scallion aboard Winnie Estelle for an exploration of the trees of Delmarva as seen along the shoreline of the Miles River. Passengers will learn to identify common trees not just by leaves, but also by shapes, bark, and fruit. Along the way, educators will discuss the ecology of forests and the history and uses of trees in the Chesapeake. This course assumes no previous expertise and is open to persons of all knowledge levels. Participants are encouraged to bring binoculars.

The final cruise in the series is a fun and informative bird-watching river cruise scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 3, from 10–11:30am. Led by Pickering Creek Audubon Center educators, passengers will observe flocks of ducks, geese, and swans returning to the Chesapeake Bay region on their annual fall migration. Educators will discuss the biology of different migratory waterfowl, while sharing insights and answering questions about waterfowl habits, calls, and unique characteristics. Participants are encouraged to bring cameras and binoculars, while dressing appropriately for the weather.

Boarding passes for CBMM’s environmental cruises are $20, with a 20% discount offered to CBMM members and registration required to cbmm.org/onthewater.

Oxford Cultural Leaders programme – applications open for Sept 2021 residential programme – theme: Leadership in times of crisis

Oxford Cultural Leaders, the acclaimed leadership programme for cultural organisations, will be delivering its residential programme in Oxford this September, in a 6-day-long, onsite session running from 26 September to 1 October 2021.   

The programme had moved to online delivery, with OCL Online having successfully taken place in April 2021. But now with the relaxing of restrictions, the residential programme has been reinstated and will run in Oxford this autumn. Applications are now open and due by 5 July 2021.   

Participants of the residential programme will be based in Oxford for 6 days from 26 September to 1 October 2021. During the day they’ll get the opportunity to re-examine their approach to leadership through immersive workshops, lectures, panel discussions, provocations, reflective sessions and keynote speeches delivered by cultural sector leaders, business school experts and industry authorities. Sessions will take place in the Saïd Business School and within Oxford University’s Gardens, Libraries and Museums, and Oxford’s Colleges. In the evening participants will stay in accommodation at Corpus Christi College.  All spaces are located in central Oxford within walking distance of each other. Throughout, government guidance will be followed to ensure the safety of programme participants and to ensure spaces are Covid-secure.  

By being onsite, participants can take advantage of the incredible resources of Oxford and the University’s Gardens Libraries and Museums. Critically, the residential course offers the beneficial, in-person interaction that participants really value.    

The programme − now in its seventh year − brings together expertise from the cultural and business sectors to encourage participants to explore how cultural organisations can embrace transformational change through entrepreneurial ways of thinking and behaving. It has developed a reputation as a vital training ground for senior leaders in the sector. 

Designed and delivered by Oxford University’s Gardens, Libraries & Museums in partnership with the Saïd Business School, Oxford Cultural Leaders (OCL) is a unique programme for those working in the cultural sector at Director or senior management level who want to redefine their identity as leaders and reimagine their institutional vision at a time of increasing challenge for the sector.  

This year’s focus will be on ‘Leadership in times of crisis.’ As the sector responds to and works within the Covid crisis, it faces particularly complex challenges that require leaders who are dynamic and responsive and who are able to make difficult decisions, have the confidence to take risks and experiment and bring their teams and stakeholders together in order to steer their institutions successfully through change.  

In seven years the programme has developed a dynamic network of over 100 alumni, working in influential roles across the sector. Alumni come from a range of institutions in the UK, such as the British Museum, National Museums Liverpool, Bletchley Park, Bristol Old Vic, Neon Dance, National Portrait Gallery, National Galleries of Scotland, Science Museum Group, British Library, Leeds Museums and Galleries, English National Ballet, Arnolfini Galleries and the Design Museum, and from a wide range of international organisations including, Arts Centre Melbourne, Queensland State Archives, Dresden State Art Collections, from the Agency for Art and Culture, Denmark, the Smithsonian and the Canadian Museum of Natural History. With alumni in 14 countries worldwide, OCL is a truly international programme that gives participants huge scope to learn from others.  

“Covid and lockdown have severely tested arts and cultural institutions, which provides a great opportunity to develop new skills, and even to get rid of bad habits. The Oxford Cultural Leaders programme had a superb track record of developing leaders prior to the pandemic, and it is now building on those considerable strengths to offer a programme truly suited for new times. Good leadership has never been so important in cultural sectors; OCL is the best way to get better at it!” Dr Pegram Harrison, Senior Fellow in Entrepreneurship and OCL Faculty Member 

The OCL programme welcomes applications from managers in the museum and galleries sector as well as from across the cultural sector: in theatre and the performing arts, visual arts, music, film, libraries, cultural & natural heritage, tourism, and the creative industries.   

Faculty for 2021 includes: Pegram Harrison, Michael Smets and Nelisha Wickremasinghe (Saïd Business School), Lucy Shaw, Paul Smith, Laura Van Broekhoven (Oxford University GLAM), Caroline Jones (The Story Museum) and  Samenua Sesher (Museum of Colour). 

Applications for the residential programme are now open with a deadline of 5 July 2021. 

Find out more, see the curriculum, and to apply, at www.glam.ox.ac.uk/oxford-cultural-leaders 

Discovering Amistad and Mystic Seaport Museum to Co-Host a Celebration of Juneteenth

Mystic Seaport Museum and Discovering Amistad are collaborating to bring a Juneteenth Celebration to the grounds of the Museum on June 19. Amistad, the 128-foot flagship of the State of Connecticut, is currently on display at the Museum’s waterfront.

Juneteenth is a historic day that marked the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers delivered the news to Galveston, Texas that the Civil War was over and enslaved African-Americans were free. Texas was the last state to be informed that slavery had been abolished, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. 

On Saturday, June 19, Discovering Amistad, in collaboration with Mystic Seaport Museum, has planned a special program – including live music, a panel discussion, a “Harambee” reflection, and tours of the schooner Amistad – to commemorate Juneteenth. The 2-hour program is designed to increase awareness and to highlight the roles that we all can play to dismantle racism.  

The program begins at 3 p.m. Admission to the Museum is free after 2:30 p.m. for those attending the event. Guests are asked to identify themselves at the gate to facilitate entry.

“Juneteenth is a day to reflect on the struggles and triumphs of the African-American community, both historically and in the present day,” said Paula Mann-Agnew, executive director of Discovering Amistad. “It’s a day to recommit ourselves to addressing racism and promoting social justice.”

For more details on the Juneteenth Celebration, please visit www.discoveringamistad.org/news-events/2021-juneteenth or www.mysticseaport.org/juneteenth.