Report of Regents Cultural Education Committee to The Board of Regents

Regent Roger Tilles, Chair of the Cultural Education Committee, submitted the following written report. Your Committee on Cultural Education Committee had its scheduled meeting on January 13, 2014. In attendance were committee members: Regents Tilles, Dawson, Cea, Jackson, and  Cottrell. Absent:  Regents Rosa, Bendit and Brown

In addition to CE Committee Members, in attendance were: Chancellor Tisch, Commissioner King and Executive Deputy Commissioner Berlin.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Chair’s Remarks: Regent Tilles welcomed everyone and opened the meeting.  Regent Tilles announced that Deputy Commissioner Cannell was absent due to illness and that Thomas Ruller, Director of Operations for OCE, would stand in for the Deputy Commissioner.

Mr. Ruller made a brief presentation on key program metrics for public programs in the Office of Cultural Education for the calendar year 2013, highlighting preliminary data on museum attendance, reference inquiries in the Archives and Library and the number of students who visited the Museum.  The Committee also discussed the rental of the Cultural Education Center facility and requested some general data on the types of organizations that rent the facility.

State Archives Visual Materials Collection
Kathleen Roe, Director of Operations at the State Archives provided information to committee members regarding SED’s Division of Visual Instruction Lantern Slide and glass-plate negative collections maintained by the State Archives.  This collection contains more than 32,000 unique images dating from 1856-1939 that document a wide variety of subjects including New York State, North American and world geography, history, natural sciences, fine arts, trades, industries, education, and schools.  The collection is available on-line and individual images are available for purchase.

Federal Legislative Update
Bernard Margolis, State Librarian presented an overview of federal legislative and budgetary actions that impact OCE programs and the programs of cultural institutions across the State.  These programs include funding for the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the National Archives and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  The Committee requested that OCE provide a federal legislative and budgetary advocacy plan for the committee to consider at its next meeting. 

Regent Tilles concluded the meeting by remarking that he is organizing a panel presentation for the next committee meeting that will include representatives from Long Island libraries, archives and Museums who will discuss how they developing programs to support the implementation of the Common Core.