Board proclaims Feb. 25, 2025, Museums Advocacy Day in Tulare County; museum alliance seeks support for volunteer‑run sites

The Tulare County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 25 recognized Feb. 25, 2025, as Museums Advocacy Day and heard a delegation from the Museum Alliance of Tulare and Kings Counties outline the alliance’s work supporting volunteer‑run and limited‑budget cultural organizations.

Amy King, director of the Tulare County Museum and representative of the Museum Alliance, told the board the alliance formed in February 2019 with 22 organizations and has grown to 29 organizations, seven of which are in neighboring Kings County. King described training workshops the alliance provided — on exhibit installation, grant writing and collections care — and said the alliance secured ongoing funding for a Cultural Connections scholarship to pair students with local museums for project work.

King listed recent student projects that produced tangible public results: a new exhibit at CASH in Exeter, a Google Maps catalog of public art that the group said received immediate public views, and cataloging and transcription work for the Mineral King Preservation Society. The scholarship pairs students from the “Pathways to Museums” club at the College of the Sequoias with local museums to complete projects that many organizations lacked staff or funding to undertake.

Supervisor Pete Vanderpool read the proclamation and thanked museum leaders for the “collaborative effort” to preserve local history. The proclamation, introduced by Supervisor Larry McCarrie and signed by Vanderpool, McCarrie, Supervisor Valero and Supervisor Townsend, recognized the American Alliance of Museums’ national Museum Advocacy Day and urged community support for historical and cultural organizations in Tulare County.

The board asked the alliance members to come forward for a group photo in the board chamber following the proclamation.