Smithsonian Cares: Here for you from home

Secretary Bunch is “proud to share Smithsonian Cares, a place where people can learn about how the Smithsonian is supporting the nation in a time of great need.”

 

Dear Colleagues,

During these challenging times, I continue to be inspired, encouraged, and proud of how we have come together to serve our country. From our educators and technologists who have worked diligently to provide students, teachers, and caregivers tools they can use for distance learning, to our security guards and facilities colleagues who continue to safeguard our collections, we are all working in different ways, and we are more unified than ever.

Similarly, our directors, curators, scientists, and experts continue to share their knowledge, expertise, and insights through video, social media, and digital platforms. They have risen to the challenge to find new ways to engage with visitors and introduce them to their exhibits and collections. While there is no substitute for some of our experiences and activities like in-person museum visits and scientific research, we are adapting so we can better serve as a resource for communities during this critical time of need. This is why I am proud to share Smithsonian Cares (https://www.si.edu/cares), a place where people can learn about how the Smithsonian is supporting the nation in a time of great need.

In a short period of time, we have ramped up access to a wide array of our virtual assets, educational tools, and digital platforms. While the American people cope with this crisis, the Smithsonian is there for them, helping communities navigate distance learning, reintroducing them to the nation’s most revered treasures, and inviting them to rediscover the wonder of history, culture, the arts, and the sciences.

Across America, educators, parents, and students are using Learning Lab to access high-quality resources and interactive tools to create lesson plans. Our Smithsonian Open Access platform allows individuals to download, create, and reuse nearly 3 million 2D and 3D digital items from Smithsonian collections. Although they are not in our buildings, visitors continue to tour our collections every day from the comfort of their own homes.

We encourage you to share digital content with audiences as part of Smithsonian Cares. We will amplify this effort on our websites and let our social media and newsletter audiences know about our many resources. I want to thank Julissa Marenco and her team in the Office of Communications and External Affairs for their extraordinary work on this initiative.

Thank you to those who graciously and nimbly contributed their boundless creativity to the Smithsonian Cares project during the past couple of weeks. We have evolved as an organization and have transformed to meet new challenges. We are stronger than ever, thanks to the talent and dedication of so many of you. I invite you to visit Smithsonian Cares to see what your colleagues have been up to—I think you will be as impressed as I am.

Thank you,

Lonnie G. Bunch
Secretary

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