The Value of Membership-or, having more fun at the Museum

-from the Curator

Author Nicholas Clapp and his wife Bonnie at an Evening with an Expert

The value of membership at a museum, zoo, or any institution comes in many forms.  There's the positive feeling of supporting a group you believe strongly is important to help.  Often there are perks like behind the scenes tours, discounted admission, special member events, newsletters, etc.

Special member events, called FriendRaisers, are one of the perks of being a member at the Imperial Valley Desert Museum.  These events range from behind the scenes looks at making an exhibit to our popular series of Evenings with an Expert. All funds raised during our FriendRaisers go towards the Desert Museum's Endowment Fund, which is being matched 3:1 by a National Endowment of the Humanities Challenge Grant through 2019.  The goal of the Endowment is to raise enough money to fund two permanent professional staff positions at the museum. 

Last night, 32 members attended an Evening with an Expert FriendRaiser and listened to a fascinating talk by documentarian and author Nicholas Clapp.  Clapp discussed shamanism in Southern California, which he researched for his new book, Old Magic: Lives of Desert Shamans, published by Sunbelt Publications.

Old Magic: Lives of the Desert Shamans- Nicholas Clapp

The evening was enjoyed by all.  Members got to see the newest additions to the Museum's permanent exhibit, mix and mingle with the author and other members- forming new friendships that inspired one member to say " I feel like I've found another daughter". Clapp's talk gave everyone a new appreciation for the hard lives of desert shamans, their work and their world.  He answered questions and signed books after the talk.

Interested in becoming a member of the Imperial Valley Desert Museum Society? Click here to find out more and join today!

Members gathered to talk books, museums, the desert, and everything in between

A Night of Sheep

-from the Curator

Author Mark C. Jorgensen

Last night we held a Members-Only FriendRaiser where 21 guests listened to the incredible Mark Jorgensen talk about the Desert Bighorn Sheep.  During his 36-year career with the California State Parks he has been a state park ranger, a resource ecologist, and superindent of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.  He is currently a member of the Desert Bighorn Council, and author of Desert Bighorn Sheep: Wilderness Icon, published by Sunbelt Publications.

This fascinating and informative talk discussed the Desert Bighorn Sheep: their lives, their challenges, and what we can do to help them. Mark also answered questions and signed copies of his book after his presentation.

Friend Raisers are Members-only events designed to be small, intimate events, talks, or behind-the-scenes looks into the Museum.  All proceeds from these events go to the IVDM's Endowment Fund, which is currently being matched 3:1 by an National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge grant.











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Interested in becoming a Member? Check out our website to find out more!

Ceramics preview Friendraiser

-from the Curator

Tonight we had our last FriendRaiser of our 2014-2015 fiscal year.  With the amount raised tonight we have raised the projected $10,000 from ten FriendRaisers that was our goal for the NEH Challenge grant this year.  Congratulations to our Board Members for all their hard work!

This FriendRaiser focused on ceramics and premiered a short video we have been editing for our permanent exhibit.  A grant from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts allowed us to go through raw footage from the award winning, Emmy nominated documentary First People-Kumeyaay and focus on the footage on ceramics.  Frank Salazar, our Cultural Collections Project Manager edited together from this footage a video of renowned Kumeyaay ceramics artist Teresa Castro going through the steps of making a pot.  A grant from the National Environmental Education Foundation allowed Frank to work with several different Kumeyaay culture bearers and language experts to add Kumeyaay words to the video.  Videos and technology are some of the best ways to reach the younger generations and gain their interest, and have proven successful in other situations.  The hope is that seeing the language embedded in a situation will support "situational fluency" for language learning.

Attendees ate food prepared in ceramic pots, saw both newly made and older ollas that will be in our permanent exhibit, and commented on the video.  Frank is now planning on going back for some more editing to incorporate this great feedback.  We're looking forward to having the final version in our ceramics visible storage exhibit by this fall. Thanks to Conveyor Group for their help in turning these clips into a lovely, smoothly transitioning video.


 Thank you to everyone who attended this and any of the other FriendRaisers this year - you are helping us to drive this museum forward to success!

Wine, Music, and Museums

-from the Curator

Last night our Board held a successful Wine Tasting FriendRaiser at the El Centro Elks Lodge. Over 75 people came out to support the Museum, and the IVPress wrote a lovely article in today's paper. IVDM Society Board President Chuck Fisher talked about the phases of design and development of our new permanent exhibit- with lots of pictures! Cultural Collections Program Manager Frank Salazar gave a presentation on three of the grants he is currently running: Cal Humanities Community Stories, Association for California Traditional Arts, and the National Environmental Educational Foundation.  These grants focus on the importance of videos and oral history in the new exhibit, and use raw footage from the award-winning, Emmy-nominated First People Kumeyaay documentary.

The idea behind our FriendRaisers is that Museum Members and invited guests learn more about some of our programs and experience something a little different. The money raised at these events goes to the Museum's Endowment Fund to support staffing and operations.  The IVDM won a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities that will match any money we raise for the Endowment 3:1 through 2019.  For this grant we are committed to holding 10 FriendRaisers during the fiscal year and raising $10,000 through them- as well as additional monies from other sources.  The Wine Tasting was our second-to-last FriendRaiser for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. Before this event we had raised a total of $9,000 towards our $10,000 FriendRaiser goal. While the donations from last night's FriendRaiser haven't been fully totaled yet, we are hopeful that between ticket sales, a silent auction, and donations from guests, we will have raised around an additional $2,000.   

Thanks to BevMo! and the Elks Lodge #1325 for supporting our event!

Member Friendraiser: Testing interactives

-from the Curator

First visitors at the 'Water is Life' topo map

Today a group of visitors attended a Friendraiser hosted by Board Member Lisa Gallinat at the Museum.  Friendraisers are designed as small, intimate events where attendees explore a behind the scenes aspect of the museum or lecture while raising money for the Museum's Endowment fund. Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the donations given for this event are matched by the NEH.

Discovering a mountain lion

Today our event visitors were the first to see two new interactive exhibits as part of the installation of the Museum's new permanent exhibit.  At the "Land of Extremes" visitors were introduced to panoramic images of the valley projected onto a screen. Using a touchscreen they experimented with zooming in to close up images, using icons to explore the desert and hiking destinations.  The second new interactive, "Water is Life" is a topographic map that projects images of the ocean and Lake Cahuilla as it fills and recedes in the Imperial Valley. A touchscreen allows visitors to see different animals that would have been present at different times in the Valley's history.

Although they will not yet be on every day, over the next several weeks we will be testing these interactives, working out the bugs in the systems, seeing how people use them, and how long they stay at the different stations.

Exploring the 'Land of Extremes'

Exploring the changing water projections of Lake Cahuilla

Plants & People: an Evening with an Expert- Stan Rodriguez

-Anne C. Morgan, Head Curator

Stan Rodriguez talks about native plants

This Saturday our members had the exciting opportunity to enjoy an evening with Stan Rodriguez and learn more about the plants native to our region and how they are traditionally used by the Kumeyaay.  Stan is a teacher at the Kumeyaay Community College on the Sycuan reservation, and a member of the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel.  Stan is known for his engaging story-telling and wide knowledge on a vast number of subjects.

For this evening, Stan spoke with 23 members about different plants that they often see when out hiking, and how they are traditionally used.  "The desert may look barren, but there is so much here when you look." he said.  "We call it the Kumeyaay grocery store."

Stan Rodriguez

He described gathering and roasting agave, which tastes "like a cross between a pineapple and a yam" and is used for fiber as well as food.   Desert cactus, like the "confounding" cholla, can be roasted easily- "but take the stickers off first!" Stan also banished the myth of the cactus as a source of water in the desert, explaining that while the plant might be edible the water found in the barrel cactus is extremely high in alkaline and toxic to drink.






The evening was capped off with a traditional Kumeyaay stick game, which will be set up for children (and adults!) to play at the museum's Shawii Day on Saturday October 11 from 2-5pm.  There was fierce competition among the adults, and we enjoyed it so much we feel sure everyone who comes on Saturday will too!