WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian Women’s Committee (SWC) has awarded its 60th Anniversary Special Grant to the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service | Smithsonian Affiliations (SITES | Affiliations) for the project “Lights Out: Recovering the Night Sky.”

This year, SWC celebrates 60 years of fundraising and philanthropy on behalf of the Smithsonian Institution. For six decades, SWC has raised more than $15 million to make thoughtful, high-impact and lasting grants and gifts across Smithsonian museums, research facilities and the National Zoo and Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

On Sept. 30, SWC announced a $120,000 grant award to SITES | Affiliations to bring an exhibition currently on display at the National Museum of Natural History to 12 cities throughout the United States from 2027 to 2031.

“This traveling exhibition addresses Smithsonian and SWC goals by extending the impact of Smithsonian science across the United States into a wide range of communities,” said Barbara Bonessa, president of SWC. “Over the longer term, its digital components would continue to expand the Smithsonian’s reach into homes and classrooms.”





This project, a collaboration between SITES | Affiliations, the National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, is estimated to reach more than 1.2 million visitors with critical STEM content over four years. “Lights Out” highlights how nighttime light pollution has become a global concern and examines the impact of increasingly bright artificial lighting on humans and nature. Today, 80% of people live in areas where the night sky glows and a third of those in the United States cannot see the Milky Way. Light pollution has emerged as a significant concern for animals, plants and people. “Lights Out” prompts visitors to reconsider their relationship with the night sky and teaches them what can be done to minimize light pollution’s impact.

The exhibition will include educational resources, including a National Museum of Natural History podcast, webinars on the impact of light pollution on birds and ocean bioluminescence, and selected Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory resources to be shared with the exhibition venues and associated communities of educators.