Taking it to the Nation! The Places of Invention Affiliates Project

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Why there? Why then? The Places of Invention Affiliates Project brings together Smithsonian Affiliate museums and their community partners to research and document local place-based innovation. Teams explore the role of geography, community, resources, and circumstance in sparking creativity in a certain place and time. They conduct oral histories, site visits, and collections research as they hone topics to be shared through public programs that create new opportunities to bring the community together around themes of invention and innovation. As a culminating effort, teams create short videos to share their invention stories worldwide through the Places of Invention exhibition's interactive map. The map will be accessible online and in-gallery and creates further opportunities for local and international communities to respond to these stories and see interesting relationships between invention stories created by other Affiliates, the Smithsonian, and the public.

Places of Invention Affiliates Project organizations and community partners:

The Places of Invention Affiliates Project is supported in part through a grant from the National Science Foundation.