Here's just a small sampling of how the Foundation helps support the museum.

ASSIST WITH MUSEUM-CURATED EXHIBITS

The Creation of the "Bird Flight" exhibit

Have you ever wondered how the museum’s permanent exhibits are selected and created? We hope you enjoy this peek at how an exhibit is developed from start to finish!

This permanent exhibit was curated by the museum’s talented staff and funded by the family of Benjamin Erskine Gandy, who served at the museum as a curator and museum director from 1958-1987. As an avid birder, Mr. Gandy was fascinated by bird flight, especially the phenomenon of bird murmurations.

We are grateful to Mr. Gandy’s family for funding this stunning exhibit for generations of museum visitors to enjoy and to connect with nature.

Exhibits like this don’t just happen. More than two years ago, Mr. Gandy’s daughters, Ruth, Nora, and Suzanne, came to the MMNS Foundation with a donation to honor their father with a new permanent exhibit.

The museum's amazing staff then began the tremendous amount of work required to create the exhibit.

Installation of an exhibit of this size is probably the fastest part of the process, but can be the most intense because of the staff’s desire to get everything just right - especially on an exhibit that is honoring someone that served the museum for almost 30 years.

The museum's exhibits team did a remarkable job!

Museum ornithologist, Nick Winstead, and Mississippi State University Extension, Senior Extension Associate, Adam Rohnke provided technical guidance on the project.

Scott Allen and his team at A-Plus Signs produced the beautiful graphics and engineered and constructed the exhibit.

The education staff was trained on the exhibit's content so they could assist museum visitors and students on field trips during museum tours and programs.

The gift shop staff was also briefed on the exhibit’s content so they could be prepared to assist shoppers with birding books and other resources available in the gift shop.

As the finishing touches were added to the exhibit, the marketing and public relations team stepped in to hire a professional photographer to take promotional photos and video of the exhibit and to write a press release and social media posts announcing the exhibit. The team also published a page about the exhibit on the museum’s website and the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science Foundation’s website.

We hope you enjoy the exhibit on your next museum visit and:

learn more about how birds fly
measure your wingspan, and
see a video clip of a murmuration.

TEACHER WORKSHOPS

Museum staff members provide training in internationally recognized environmental education programs for teachers. These programs can be conducted for teachers of all subjects and grade levels either in your school or at the Museum. These workshops are excellent for informal educators such as scout leaders, camp leaders, and youth leaders of any kind! Each year, the Foundation sponsors 100+ CEU’s for teachers.

MAKE A SPLASH

Each year, the Foundation partners with MDEQ to provide participating schools with bus transportation, admission, and lunch for the museum’s Make A Splash event.

Elementary students from throughout Mississippi attend this Project WET water education program. This is the largest nationwide day of water education in the world! It is celebrated across the United States with educational, fun, and interactive water festivals.

Multiple structured learning stations actively engage students in hands-on water activities and investigations. Students explore a diversity of water-related topics such as the water cycle, water conservation, wetlands, pollution, weather, soils, and water management.

SPECIAL EXHIBITS

The Foundation helps secure, fund, and market nationally-acclaimed special, temporary exhibits for the museum. It’s a big job - and takes the effort and expertise of the museum staff and the generous donations of time and money from our sponsors and partners to make these exhibits successful.