The National Association of Counties (NACo) recently announced the 2024 Achievement Awards and recognized six San Bernardino County Museum (SBCM) initiatives. The awards honor innovative, effective county government programs that strengthen services for residents.
“For the sixth year in a row, San Bernardino County Museum has been honored by NACo with multiple awards for our programs and exhibits,” Museum Director David Myers shared. “Always focused on our public service mission, the County Museum team is thrilled that our work has garnered this recognition for our community.”
Each year, NACo’s Achievement Awards are given in 18 categories that reflect the vast, comprehensive services counties provide. The categories include children and youth, arts, culture and historic preservation, county administration, information technology, health, civic engagement and more. Launched in 1970, the program is designed to recognize innovation in county government.
This year, SBCM submitted six programs for recognition: Ahead of His Time: The Life and Art of Ramon Contreras, Cocurating a Participatory Exhibit with Tribal Partners, Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50, Visible Storage of Museum Collections, Easier Navigation, Mobile-Friendly User Experience, Plus Online Ticket Sales Through a Newly Redesigned Museum Website, and Shake or Treat: Rethinking an Outdated Event – receiving awards for all six submissions.
Background on SBCM programs receiving NACo Achievement Awards:
Ahead of His Time: The Life and Art of Ramon Contreras
- This bilingual exhibit was a visual presentation of a story of boundless talent, unrealized potential and a career cut short by tragedy. It celebrates the life and art of Ramòn Contreras, a young artist from San Bernardino and provides a peek into 1920s and 30s Mexican culture through the lens of a young Mexican American.
Cocurating a Participatory Exhibit with Tribal Partners
- Mosaics of the Mojave: Life, Culture, and Ecology in the Mojave Desert is a visually dynamic, self-guided exhibit experience at the Victor Valley Museum (VVM) that was developed in consultation and collaboration with the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. The exhibit explores the relationships between people, plants and animals in the High Desert.
Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50
- Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50 was an exhibit commemorating the Black Voice News for 50 years of service as a source for community news and information in the Inland Empire. This exhibit documented the transformation of the Black Voice News from a printed community weekly newspaper to a digital solutions-focused, data-reporting news organization through the presentation of primary artifacts, archival documents and personal stories.
Visible Storage of Museum Collections
- Located in the Hall of Earth Sciences, this hybrid exhibit and collections space curates both paleontological specimens and teaches visitors about curatorial work. Visitors can look through a glass window into an actively used collection space where paleontological field jackets are stored while awaiting preparation in the adjacent fossil preparation laboratory.
Featuring Easier Navigation, Mobile-Friendly User Experience, Plus Online Ticket Sales Through a Newly Redesigned Museum Website
- In collaboration with the Innovation and Technology Department, the County Museum’s marketing specialist created a functional, integrated, ADA compliant and mobile responsive website which successfully launched in January 2023.
- The new County Museum website (museum.sbcounty.gov) is instrumental in keeping the public informed of programs, events, upcoming and current exhibits, news, curator blogs, digital exhibits, and serves as a centralized hub to find additional information about the VVM and historic sites.
Shake or Treat: Rethinking an Outdated Event
- SBCM collaborated with the Office of Emergency Services (OES) to help community members connect with a wide range of local partners in the event of a natural disaster.
- This collaboration resulted in an annual event held every third Saturday in October called The Great ShakeOut, which is held on the County Museum’s campus and brings together various county departments and local emergency service groups like local fire, blood banks, pop-up clinics and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) organizations.
For more information about NACo’s Achievement Awards, click here.
SBCM is located at 2024 Orange Tree Lane, at the California Street exit from Interstate 10 in Redlands. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. General admission is $10 (adult), $8 (military or senior), $7 (student), and $5 (child ages 6 to 12). Children five and under and museum members are admitted free. Parking is free and the museum is accessible to persons with disabilities. For more information, visit museum.sbcounty.gov or follow us on Facebook or Instagram.
The San Bernardino County Museum’s exhibits of regional, cultural and natural history and the Museum’s other exciting events and programs reflect the effort by the Board of Supervisors to achieve the Countywide Vision by celebrating arts, culture and education in the county, creating quality of life for residents and visitors.