Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

Visitor experience despite continued challenges due to the covid-19 pandemic, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation remained committed to fulfilling its educational mission, whether at its museums or online. On-going safety and social-distancing measures throughout fiscal year (fy) 2022 allowed visitors to experience gallery exhibits and outdoor living-history areas at both museums jamestown settlement and the american revolution museum at yorktown. Museum interpreters and educators welcomed back thousands of students onsite, while continuing to engage with thousands more in classrooms, both in person and virtually. Jamestown settlement welcomed visitors to its special exhibition, "focused: a century of Virginia indian resilience and related programming. Both museums presented a full calendar of public programs that commemorated historical events, educated audiences, celebrated the holidays, and engaged adults and children with the stories of america's founding from diverse cultural perspectives.while the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation receives partial operating support from the commonwealth of Virginia and earns income through museum admissions, retail and concessions, private donations totaling $2,035,104 made a critical difference in our ability to engage and educate the 444,295 paid visitors in fiscal year 2022, 77% of whom came from out of state. Special exhibitions, themed programs, and events constituted an integral part of that visitor experience, offering opportunities to explore topics in greater depth. The Foundation, Inc. Continued to cultivate donors and expand funding for jamestown settlement's successful program of special exhibitions, including "focused: a century of Virginia indian resilience," which opened at jamestown settlement on january 29, 2021, and continued through march 25, 2022. In collaboration with Virginia indian tribal communities, "focused" featured the photography collections of the smithsonian institution's national museum of the american indian, images from anthropologist frank speck in 1910s to 1930s, the work of award-winning baltimore sun photographer a. aubrey bodine in the 1940s and 1950s, and portraits by contemporary american indian photographers. A turkey feather mantle hand-woven by a leading member of the upper mattaponi tribe in the 1930s was among the featured objects in the exhibition. Related programming complemented the special exhibition, with a series of lectures, workshops, and arts events at jamestown settlement. Additionally, throughout fy22, jyf staff worked behind the scenes to prepare for the next special exhibition, "reign and rebellion," as well as begin the planning for a new initiative, "religion and early america," that began in january 2022 thanks to a grant from lilly endowment Inc. special events held during the 2021-2022 fiscal year at both jamestown settlement and the american revolution museum at yorktown offered engaging activities and ways to connect with history. Events included "liberty celebration," "yorktown victory celebration," "family frights at jamestown settlement," "foods & feasts of colonial Virginia," "christmastide in Virginia," "after angelo," "military through the ages," "indigenous art's day," "juneteenth, and "past to present and "talking history" lecture series. In january 2022, jyf also launched a new program, the director's series, inviting visitors and local community members to join jyf's executive director christy s. coleman as she joins with prominent scholars and public figures for lively and enlightening conversations surrounding our shared legacies of american history.

Collections the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation collection contains 210,931 archaeological and non-archaeological artifacts. At jamestown settlement, the objects include 16th- and 17th-century portraits, documents, furnishings, toys, ceremonial and decorative objects, tools, and weapons. At the american revolution museum at yorktown, objects include documents, paintings, engravings, military equipment, nautical objects, medical tools, clothing, personal effects, and household objects. In addition, the collections contain thousands of archaeological materials.a total of 16 objects were acquired during fy21: 12 for the american revolution museum at yorktown's galleries, and four to enhance the collection at jamestown settlement. Among the objects recently acquired by the Foundation for display at the american revolution museum at yorktown was an early 19th-century portrait of a native american warrior, by an unknown artist. The Foundation's collections policy reflects an emphasis on public education and exhibition by acquiring objects that are central to a dynamic exhibits program. Period artifacts add another dimension to the fulfillment of the agency's educational mission, allowing historical themes and educational programs to be more effectively illustrated. All artifacts in our collection are given a high standard of care. Our conservation facilities give us the capacity to carry out the full range of collection care that is expected and required of a fully accredited institution.

Educational programs the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation continued to carry out its mission as the largest provider of museum education programs in the commonwealth. These programs include curriculum-based, on-site programs for student groups and homeschool families, in Virginia classroom outreach settings, teacher development programs, and much-expanded distance learning and virtual education opportunities for both adults and children. Throughout the 2021-2022 academic year, jyf museum education staff engaged with nearly 112,000 students across three educational platforms, a 50% increase over the previous year. Within that total: 76,116 students received hands-on learning by visiting the museums on field trips, where they interacted with interpreters in the living-history areas and explored the museum galleries; jyf outreach educators connected with 16,819 students in-person in their classrooms throughout Virginia; 19,047 students experienced the museums virtually through jyf's distance learning program. Additionally, jyf museum educators immersed 1,966 students from under-resourced Virginia public schools in early american history, a 30% increase over the previous year.jyf projects a continued increase of students during the 2022-2023 academic year and is currently estimating an increase of at least 16% in student registrations over last year, with over 130,000 students projected to participate in structured education programs. During the summer teacher institute in july 2022, 20 teachers from 18 Virginia public school districts engaged in hands-on history at jamestown settlement. In july 2021, 19 teachers from 16 Virginia public school districts participated in the Foundation's summer teacher institute.jyf educational engagement continues outside of the museums and classrooms, sharing the history of early america and its connection to our presents with our general audience virtually. In fiscal year 2022, nearly than 1.3 million users (87.1% of whom were new) visited jyfmuseums.org for a total of 1.6 million sessions and 2.3 million page views. A total of 82 videos were added to @jyfmuseums youtube. These videos, in conjunction with the 90 added in fy21, generated 138,461 views. Additionally, 485 posts were shared to 165,368 followers across facebook, instagram and twitter consistently exceeding industry average engagement on all social platforms. Whether in person or online, the Foundation's education programs continue to support and assist students in meeting Virginia's standards of learning. The programs have won numerous awards and have been endorsed by the national council for the social studies, the nation's leading association of social studies educators. In 2022, jyf once again received the pinnacle award from the center for interactive learning and collaboration for its distance learning programs. The award recognizes organizations that receive outstanding scores (95% or higher) on program evaluations for the remarkable quality of educational content and exceptional program delivery.

. Leadership throughout this fiscal year, preparations were underway for new hirings within the senior leadership, due to the planned retirements of key leaders, with plans to fill the positions of the deputy executive director/senior director of administration and director of finance, along with a new position, chief development officer. The interview process for these positions took place during may 2022 and was completed in june 2022, with the new hires joining jyf in july 2023, at the start of fy2023.covid-19 pandemic following a nearly four-month closure beginning in march 2020, the Foundation's museums re-opened to the public on june 24, 2020, with extensive safety protocols in place. Since the re-opening in june 2020, both museums have remained opened to the public, continuing to welcome visitors and provide public and educational programs, while observing safety protocols. Although the formal enforcement of certain safety protocols were lifted by the commonwealth of Virginia during the second half of fy22, jyf continued to encourage safety protocols to ensure all staff and visitors could enjoy our museums safely. Annual fund in fiscal year 2021, the annual fund raised $876,238 in cash and in-kind gifts from nearly 1,900 donors. Gifts to the annual fund provide unrestricted support that helps sustain the Foundation's museums and education programs, including artifact acquisitions and collections care; living-history interpretation within the outdoor exhibits; curatorial services, public programs and events; museum education programs for students, including field trips, classroom outreach, and distance learning; volunteer recruitment and retention; and maritime education furthering the Foundation's educational mission. Endowment the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Inc. has investment oversight over all of the Foundation's endowed assets, which as of june 30, 2022, amounted to $17 million. For the fiscal year 2022, the endowments' expendable earnings were used to support core public programs and education program areas including living-history interpretation, maritime education, outreach education, special exhibitions, and artifact acquisition.