New initiative to expand cultural partnerships across the U.S.
As the United States commemorates its 250th anniversary, the Smithsonian has launched “Regional Collaboratives,” a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Smithsonian’s resources into deeper partnership with communities across the country. The Smithsonian will work alongside local partners like Delta Blues Museum to align expertise, collections, research and educational resources to create projects that span from traveling exhibitions, conservation training and research partnerships, to civic education and youth programming.
By connecting museums, K–12 and higher education systems, educators, libraries, tribal nations, community organizations and local leaders, the initiative strengthens existing networks while creating new pathways for collaboration and opportunity.
“Through the Smithsonian’s Regional Collaboratives, we are working with communities—not prescribing solutions—but listening deeply and aligning our resources to the work that matters most to them,” said Monique M. Chism, the Smithsonian’s Under Secretary for Education. “When we show up as partners, not just as a national institution, we help strengthen existing networks and spark new collaborations that can expand opportunity and impact.”
The initiative’s first project launched in Mississippi last month, where community partners identified a need for expanded access to resources to help protect and preserve local cultural heritage. The Community Cultural Conservation Workshop Series brings together a cohort of 30 staff members from small museums–including Delta Blues Museum Director Shelley Ritter–and historic sites across the state. Through six virtual sessions and four in-person gatherings over 10 months, participants will receive hands-on training in collections care, preservation, digitization, disaster preparedness and community-centered storytelling. Smithsonian experts and Mississippi-based specialists will teach side by side, ensuring both national expertise and local knowledge inform the process.
Ritter says Delta Blues Museum stands to benefit greatly from the partnership. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to learn more about collections care best practices from experts in the field,” Ritter offers, adding, “Expanding our knowledge of digitization, conservation, preservation, disaster preparedness and storytelling will guide our strategic planning initiatives as well as an update of our collections policy. Through this collaborative, we are connecting and reconnecting with institutions and potential partners around the state and look forward to implementing the recommendations to ensure our important collections are available for future generations.”
As the workshop series continues across Mississippi, it will connect with complementary Smithsonian programs. In November, the National Folk Festival in Jackson will celebrate Mississippi’s traditions and creativity, providing workshop participants opportunities to engage with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which is collaborating with the festival.
The Regional Collaboratives are supported by the Smithsonian’s “Our Shared Future: 250,” a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and advance the Smithsonian vision for the next 250 years.
About the Smithsonian
Since its founding in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution has been committed to inspiring generations through knowledge and discovery. It is the world’s largest museum, education and research complex, consisting of 21 museums, the National Zoological Park, education centers, research facilities, cultural centers, libraries and gardens. Two of the 21 museums—the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum—are in the early planning stages. The total number of objects, works of art and specimens at the Smithsonian is about 157 million. To commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, the Smithsonian is hosting a full slate of special exhibitions, festivals and public events, including the completion of the National Air and Space Museum’s renovation, which opened to the public 50 years ago for the nation’s bicentennial.
About Delta Blues Museum
Established in 1979 by the Carnegie Public Library Board of Trustees, Delta Blues Museum is Mississippi’s first music museum and the world’s first museum dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of the distinct American art form known as the Blues—not by honoring an industry or an individual, but by honoring the culture and the musicians who created the music. The Museum is a recipient of the IMLS National Medal for Museum and Library Services as well as the National Arts & Humanities’ Youth Program Award for its Arts and Education Program. Delta Blues Museum is also recognized as a Great River Road Interpretive Center. For more information on events or programs, please call (662) 627-6820, or visit the Museum web site at www.deltabluesmuseum.org.
Members of the press may register in the PRESS ROOM on the Museum’s website to access further information, downloadable images and related materials.
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