City, AMSE Foundation have community meeting on museum Thursday

Posted at 8:34 am July 21, 2014
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The American Museum of Science and Energy is at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge. (Photo by Sara Wise)

The City of Oak Ridge and the American Museum of Science and Energy Foundation are sponsoring a community meeting on Thursday that will include discussions of ways to strengthen the museum as a community and regional asset and destination attraction.

The meeting will also include an information session on current museum operations and the role of the AMSE Foundation. New AMSE Director David Moore will be at the meeting.

The meeting is scheduled from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at the museum, which is at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge. Registration and light refreshments will be available beginning at 5:30 p.m., a press release said.

In a press release, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said it’s the right time to get the community involved in a dialogue about the museum.

“AMSE is part of the cultural foundation for our community; and with a new director and the possibility of a Manhattan Project National Historic Park designation, the potential for AMSE to become a larger hub for activities and tourism is promising,” Watson said. “The museum’s future, however, is also dependent on how to mitigate federal budgetary constraints and shifting concepts of science museums. I encourage the public to come out and get involved in the discussion about this important institution.”

“The AMSE Foundation was chartered in September 1996 to support the cultural, educational and scientific programs of the museum,” according to Foundation President Wayne Stevenson. “As a 501(c)(3) corporation, the foundation’s tax-exempt status provides an added benefit to help support a variety of AMSE events and programs. I look forward to hearing ideas about how the Foundation might play a more prominent role in AMSE’s future.”

Foundation membership is open to any individual who applies for the appropriate AMSE membership category. The museum, opened in 1949 and owned by the U.S. Department of Energy, showcases the history of the Manhattan Project and the current scientific, energy, and national security missions carried out by DOE facilities in Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge National Laboratory currently manages the museum for DOE and contributes, along with other major DOE contractors in Oak Ridge, to the museum’s operating costs. For more information visit www.amse.org or www.oakridgetn.gov.

If you haven't already, please consider subscribing to Oak Ridge Today. You don't have to subscribe to read most of our stories, but your subscription does provide benefits, including access to premium content. And it will help us cover local news for you day and night, as best we can. You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month. You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers:

Basic

Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.