The American Philosophical Society Museum received $200,000 for the "Greenhouse Projects," five audience-participation plans revolving around a greenhouse designed by Jenny Sabin, built from recycled materials, and erected in the society's garden on South Fifth Street.
The greenhouse will house digitally fabricated ceramic artifacts and a play by Aaron Cromie, Sketchbooks and Seedlings: A Paper Garden, as part of the 2011 Philly Fringe Festival. Related events involve a treasure hunt, a soundscape, and a food podcast.
Also receiving grants were:
Cliveden of the National Trust, $200,000 for programming related to the historic relationship of the Chew family, which owned the house, and its enslaved Africans. Former Cliveden curator Phillip Seitz researched the still-emerging story through family papers and created a series of community-based workshops and programs that have led to a radical rethinking of Cliveden, up to now a traditional house museum.
The Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, $75,000 to rethink use of its African collection based on visitor response to rotating exhibitions.
The Rosenbach Museum and Library, $200,000 to explore the emotional impact of war with "Families Affected by War, Then and Now," a program for veterans of active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families.
Shofuso, Friends of the Japanese House and Garden, $184,300 to restore two of the last surviving structures from the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition in Fairmount Park to use for public programming.
The Wagner Free Institute of Science, $75,000 to develop plans for a new lighting system and electrical upgrade in its 19th-century exhibition hall.
Contact culture writer Stephan Salisbury at 215-854-5594 or ssalisbury@phillynews.com.
