Federal Grant Awarded to Hitchcock Center for "Learning from Nature" Exhibition Design

Amherst, MA – On June 29, 2016, Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) will be visiting the Hitchcock Center’s new living building site and announcing an exciting federal grant award to the Hitchcock Center from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The Hitchcock Center has been awarded a $148,586 IMLS grant for its innovative “Learning From Nature” exhibit design plan that will capture the interpretive potential of its artifacts and objects, its outdoor spaces, and built environment as portals into knowledge, feelings, and actions.

The Center’s “Learning From Nature” exhibit plan brings together a unique collaboration between Matt Kirchman of ObjectIDEA, designLAB architects and the environmental educators of the Hitchcock Center.

The “Learning from Nature” exhibit design plan aims to render complex ecological concepts “alive” in simple, meaningful and memorable ways through interpretive and interactive displays centered on the following pedagogical framework: nature runs on sunlight, nature banks on diversity, nature demands local expertise, nature fits form to function, nature recycles everything, and nature uses only the energy it needs.

Visitors will be greeted with these principles immediately upon entering the building and will be encouraged to look, see, and learn how these principles have been put into action throughout the building and site.