FRIENDS MONTHLY MEETING HELD!
The January Friends meeting was held on Thursday, January 19. The speakers for the meeting were Janis Kadlec and Emily Ryan, Interpretive Naturalists from the Southern Nevada Conservancy, focusing on Red Rock Canyon. All members present agreed it was an outstanding and interesting presentation on the Canyon and the desert tortoise, Nevada’s State Reptile. The number of questions from members indicated the interest and attentiveness of members. We thank Janis and Emily for sharing some of their time with us!
The highlights of the business portion of the meeting are:
- Museum update: Interviews start this week for the Registrar and Curator of Education positions.
- The State approved a grant to update the museum’s central plant – chillers, air conditioning, heating, fire repression, etc. The refurbishment will take about six months, but is badly needed.
- The next new exhibit will be “Liberace! Who was he and what was his lasting impact.”
- The Friends currently have $32,196 in cash on hand, and $5,004 in savings. Outstanding debts are $8,695 (scanner for the library). The scanner delivery has been delayed to mid-February.
- The Friends received $1,509 from the Rainbow site bookfair, and $120 from the Sumerlin site.
- The purchase order from the county for the OAG grant has been received, with $5,475 already being invoiced and paid. For the August-December period, over 11,300 students have participated in the “Museum in a Box” program, where all costs are covered by the Friends. A grant application for the 2023/2024 school year has been submitted for $20,000.
- Annual reports were distributed at the end of the meeting and are available on the Friends board at the Museum.
- The annual voting results were:
- By-law amendment to change officer position from Communications Coordinator to Community Outreach – PASSED
- By-law amendment to eliminate Member meetings during the month of August – PASSED
- All officers were reelected:
- President: Jim Parish
- Vice President: Donna Harper
- Treasurer: Kathi Thomason
- Community Outreach: Michael Fong
- The next Friends meeting will be held on Thursday, February 16th, at 2:30pm in the Museum. The speaker will be Karan Feder, president of Entertainment Exhibitions. All are welcome!
WHEN: JANUARY 19, 2023, AT 2:30 PM
WHERE: NEVADA STATE MUSEUM (309 S. VALLEY VIEW BLVD)!
WHAT: FIRST FRIENDS MEETING OF 2023!!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!! JOIN US!
The primary business of the meeting will be:
- Election of officers for the 2023/2024 period
- Vote on two by-law changes
- Guest speakers: Attend and meet Janis Kadlec and Emily Ryan, Southern Nevada Conservancy Interpretive Naturalists, from the Red Rock Canyon NCA. Janis and Emily will give a talk on the Red Rock Canyon NCA and Nevada’s State Reptile and mammal, the Desert Tortoise and the Bighorn Sheep. We are excited to have Janis and Emily join us for a discussion on a subject we all know of, but certainly can learn more about.