April 7 



■ Lecture Series "First Fridays: Gallery Talks," featuring 

 informal talks by staff, was inaugurated by the Educa- 

 tion Division of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture 

 Garden with Associate Curator Phyllis Rosenzweig's 

 discussion of Louise Bourgeois's 1947-49 sculpture The 

 Blind Leading the Blind. 



April 12 



■ Benefit Event Cooper-Hewitt, National Design 

 Museum hosted its second annual benefit auction at 

 Christie's. More than 500 guests attended the event, 

 which raised over $130,000 for the museum's general 

 operating expenses. 



April 12 



■ Artist Talk The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture 

 Garden continued its "Collection Reviewed" series of 

 artist's talks, sponsored by the Smithsonian's Special 

 Exhibition Fund, with a presentation by African Ameri- 

 can artist Robert Colescott of New Mexico. On May 17, 

 Juliao Sarmento of Lisbon, Portugal, continued the se- 

 ries with an appearance that received additional support 

 from the Luso- American Development Foundation. 



April 15 



■ Fellowships The Office of Fellowships and Grants 

 offered 66 awards under the Smithsonian Fellowship 

 Program. Twenry-one percent of the awards wenr to 

 people from underrepresented groups. 



April 20 



■ Research An experiment developed by a Smithsonian 

 Astrophysical Observatory scientist and European col- 

 leagues to map ozone levels in Earth's upper atmosphere 

 was launched aboard the European Remote Sensing 

 Satellite. 



April 22 



m Exhibition "Ocean Planet," which celebrates the spec- 

 tacular biological diversity of the oceans and examines 

 the human impact on them, opened at the National 

 Museum of Natural History on Earth Day. The $4.1 mil- 

 lion, 7,500-square-foot exhibition was made possible by 

 a unique combination of foundation and corporate sup- 

 porters, including the National Science Foundation, 

 Times Mirror Magazines, Inc., and The Pew Charitable 

 Trusts. The exhibition was organized by the museum 



and the Smithsonian's Environmental Awareness Pro- 

 gram and will be circulated nationally through 1999 

 by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition 

 Service. 



April 22 



■ Special event Among the works of art selected for pur- 

 chase at their annual dinner, the Friends of Asian Arts 



at the Freer and Sackler Galleries chose the rare Portrait 

 of Yamamoto Kansuke. a hanging scroll by Gion Seitoku 

 (1781-1819?) for addition to the collection of the Freer 

 Gallery of Art. 



April 23 



■ Workshop The National Science Resources Center 

 conducted two science education workshops for more 

 than 200 participants at the 123rd annual meeting of the 

 National Academy of Sciences. 



April 24 



■ Endowment The Vincent Wilkinson Endowment was 

 established in the Center for Museum Studies by Mr. 

 and Mrs. Anthony Welters. The fund, named in honor 

 of Mrs. Welters' father, supports African American 

 undergraduates in the center's Museum Intern Partner- 

 ship Program. 



April 26 



■ Appreciation Event The Visitor Information and 

 Associates' Reception Centet hosted the annual apprecia- 

 tion event for behind-the-scenes volunteers. 



April 27-30 



■ Craft Show Fifteen thousand visitors saw displays of 

 120 exhibitors at the Smithsonian Craft Show, held in 

 the National Building Museum. This annua! event is 

 sponsored by the Smithsonian Women's Committee. 



April 28-September 4 



■ Exhibition and Electronic Outreach The "White 

 House Collection of American Crafts" exhibition 

 and its complementary Internet tour 

 (http://www.nmaa. si. edu//whc/americancrafts) show- 

 cased 72 examples of contemporary craft by some of 

 America's most innovative artists in glass, ceramics, 

 wood, metal, and fiber. The works were originally as- 

 sembled for display in the White House in recognition 



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