CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.-The Smart Museum of Art was recently awarded a 2005 "Museums for America" grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. This year�s highly competitive "Museums for America" grant program, the largest federal grant program for museums, will fund 169 museums across the country in projects ranging from exhibits, digital projects, youth and seniors programs, museum publications, and research. The $95,000 award to the Smart Museum will support its �Families at the Smart� initiative, which will broaden the museum�s family programs and expand their geographic reach to include more South Side communities. The Smart Museum will match these federal dollars one-to-one.

The Smart Museum already serves as a resource for neighboring communities through its family programs and nationally recognized public school programs. The �Families at the Smart� initiative will enable the Smart Museum to reach beyond the nearby Hyde Park�Kenwood neighborhood and University of Chicago campus and engage residents in a wider area on Chicago�s Mid-South Side. Many neighborhoods in this area have been underserved in terms of access to the arts, arts education, and accessible, family-friendly cultural venues. The Smart hopes to become a place where students, teachers, and families in these neighborhoods can come not only to learn about art, but also to engage with each other and members of the university community, together sharing traditional and new art experiences in a safe, stimulating, and education-oriented environment. Goals for the �Families at the Smart� initiative include conducting audience research to better under the local communities, implementing new family programs linked to partner schools and community groups, and improving online and print materials for families.

A portion of the Smart Museum�s general operating funds for 2005-2006 has been provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. Smart Museum exhibitions and related programs are generously supported by the Smart Family Foundation; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Tom and Janis McCormick and the Kanter Family Foundation; Nuveen Investments; the Rhoades Foundation; the Eloise W. Martin Fund; the Office of the Provost and the Visiting Committee on the Visual Arts, University of Chicago; and the Friends of the Smart Museum. Education programs are made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts; the Polk Bros. Foundation, the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; the Chicago Community Foundation; and Kraft Foods.