Miami, April 25, 2019 – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) North Campus, in cooperation with the Florida Humanities Council, will host Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America, a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street program. The exhibition will be on display Thursday, May 2 through Saturday, June 15.
MDC’s North Campus and the surrounding community was chosen by the Florida Humanities Council to host Hometown Teams as part of the Museum on Main Street program—a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations. The exhibition will tour six communities in Florida from New Port Richey through Milton. A short video about the exhibition can be viewed at https://youtu.be/Nv6cxWLl-OU.
“We are very pleased to be able to bring ‘Hometown Teams’ to our area,” said Dr. Malou C. Harrison, President of MDC North and InterAmerican Campuses. “It allows us the opportunity to explore a fascinating aspect of our own region’s sports history and we hope that it will inspire many to become even more involved in the cultural life of our community.”
Hometown Teams will capture the stories that unfold on the neighborhood fields and courts, the underdog heroics, larger-than-life legends, fierce rivalries and gut-wrenching defeats. For more than 100 years, sports have reflected the trials and triumphs of the American experience and helped shape the national character. Whether it is professional sports, those played on the collegiate or scholastic level, amateur sports, or sports played by kids on the local playground, sports are everywhere in America.
“Allowing all of our state’s residents to have access to the cultural resources of our nation’s premiere museum is a priority of the Florida Humanities Council,” added FHC Executive Director Steve Seibert. “With this special tour, we are pleased to be working with the North Art Gallery at Miami Dade College to help develop local exhibitions and public programs to complement the Smithsonian exhibition.”
Attendees can enjoy additional free events, including: Photographing Action by Professor Victor Gomez on Friday, May 17 at 11 a.m.; Athletic Training & Acting by Professor Andy Quiroga on Thursday, May 23 at 11 a.m.; Business Aspects of Coaching by Professor Cristian Zaharia on Wednesday, May 29 at 11 a.m.; Stadiums Past & Present by Professor Robert Remek on Friday, June 7 at 11 a.m.; and Preparing for & Performing at the Olympics by Olympians Noemi and Cristian Zaharia on Friday, June 14 at 11 a.m.
Museum on Main Street invites the public to share their local sports stories through the Stories from Main Street website at www.storiesfrommainstreet.org or through the free mobile app available from the Mac App Store or the Google Play Store. Both platforms record and map the location reflected in the submission and will accept written and audio stories as well as videos and photos. Selected submitted stories to Stories from Main Street will be featured on the website and app. The archived stories will serve as a searchable record of the unique experiences of life in American small towns. Each story can be searched via location or by topic.
Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America is part of Museum on Main Street, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), state humanities councils across the nation, and local host institutions. To learn more about Museum on Main Street exhibitions, visit www.museumonmainstreet.org.
Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress. Support for the North Campus hosting has been provided by the Florida Humanities Council. SITES has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, D.C., for more than 60 years. SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science, and history, which are shown wherever people live, work and play. For exhibition description and tour schedules, visit www.sites.si.edu.
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WHAT: Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition
WHEN: Thursday, May 2 through Saturday, June 15
Tuesday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., (other tour hours by request)
WHERE: MDC’s North Campus, North Art Gallery, Room 5107, 11380 N.W. 27th Ave.
For more information, please contact the North Campus Art Gallery at 305-237-1450 or ama@mdc.edu
Florida Humanities Council Contact: Alex Buell, (727) 873-2001, abuell@flahum.org
Smithsonian Contact: Jennifer Schommer (202) 633-3121, schommerj@si.edu