Thanksgiving Point receives $212k for staff capacity building program
LEHI, Utah (August 7, 2020) – Thanksgiving Point (www.thanksgivingpoint.org) received funds to provide bilingual professional development training and skill mastery for its horticultural team’s professional development.
U.S. Representative Ben McAdams announced the $212,051 award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) program Museums for America Grants: Museums Empowered (ME) during a visit to Thanksgiving Point on Thursday, August 6.
“Thanksgiving Point is a Utah staple, serving families with their unique, fun, and educational offerings. Using the grant money for staff training and professional development will benefit Thanksgiving Point and its beautiful gardens, as well as the Utah visitors who enjoy them, for years to come,” said Congressman Ben McAdams.
Thanksgiving Point will perform an assessment to identify nine areas of emphasis for horticultural proficiency of its staff and define optimal methods of training. Three-to-five modules will be created for each area and will include 20-30 minutes of video instruction and hands-on training with experts for each topic. Thanksgiving Point will share digital training videos in both English and Spanish with museums across the country to benefit employee advancement efforts for horticultural cultivation and maintenance professionals.
“We selected the theme of “Welcoming All” to celebrate Thanksgiving Point’s 25th anniversary,” explained President and CEO Mike L Washburn. “This program maximizes our 25th anniversary goal by deepening relationships with team members and communities. Thanksgiving Point will work with IMLS to transform supervised gardener positions into horticulturalist leadership roles honoring the hard work and expertise our team members need to create world-class landscapes. Needless to say, we are grateful to lead the industry in this way and excited to eventually share these resources with others”
Thanksgiving Point is the largest cultural institution in Utah and one of the most highly attended in the nation, hosting 2,065,000 visitors annually with an overall fiscal impact of $68,178,000. Equally important to the organization are social responsibilities, especially to employees. Thanksgiving Point recognizes that learning is collaborative and diversity in employee backgrounds and cultures deepens the ways we make corporate decisions to serve our communities.
Museums Empowered: Professional Development Opportunities for Museum Staff is a special initiative of the Museums for America which supports staff capacity building projects that use professional development to create systemic change within a museum. This year, IMLS received 56 applications requesting $9,134,481 for Museums Empowered grants. 21 projects will be funded at $3,708,248. Institutions receiving the awards are matching them with $4,242,229 in non-federal funds.
For more information, visit www.thanksgivingpoint.org
About Thanksgiving Point
Thanksgiving Point is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization comprised of farms, gardens, and museums collectively dedicated to providing opportunities for transformative family learning. Created in 1995 by Alan and Karen Ashton, Thanksgiving Point has become a center of community engagement for more than two million annual visitors from around the United States and the world. Thanksgiving Point is located at 3003 North Thanksgiving Way in Lehi, Utah. For more information, call 801.768.2300 or visit thanksgivingpoint.org
