The Umlauf Sculpture Garden & Museum (USG & M) uses its sculpture collection to enrich the community to the value of art, specifically sculpture, with programs designed to enrich the artistic experience. Towards this end, our museum s education program includes providing museum visits for school groups (6,000 students in 1999) and summer workshops for children with special needs, presenting an ongoing series of museum exhibitions, offering regular sculpture demonstrations, lectures, and other arts activities, and continuing to rotate the sculpture collection pieces on view.

Working with a mix of staff, volunteers, and interns, we have several long- and short-term projects in progress. Each project is a component of our education program; several will also serve towards future exhibitions. Long-term projects include research for publications/exhibits on Charles Umlauf sculptures across the U. S. and Texas and on Umlauf students and other Texas sculptors. (In Texas, there are more Umlauf sculptures in public places than work by any other sculptor.) Grant-funded short-term projects include a children s video on the language and process of sculpture; Tours to Go, four different slide talks aimed at preparing different ages of school children either for, or given in place of, a museum visit; an interactive children's workbook about sculpture in general and the work of Umlauf in particular; a 15-minute video offering a condensed look at the lost wax process of bronze casting and an award winning elderhostel program in which older volunteers are trained by a professional conservator to clean and wax our outdoor sculptures. This allows us to continue offering touch tours for the visually impaired.

In just four short years, the USG&M outgrew its original building and then built a new media/classroom, connected to the original building. Eventually, the Umlaufs home, studio, and personal sculpture garden will be part of the museum as well. For now, we have little space for additional staff, storage for collection pieces not on view, or for educational materials, or the sculptor s extensive correspondence, catalogues, etc.

In this time of shrinking grant dollars, we are anxious to collaborate with other museums on similar proposals so we don t all waste precious staff time and money duplicating efforts. We especially want to learn and share what has/has not worked for other museums and for us in programs for children with special needs.

In 1985, Charles and Angeline Umlauf gave their home, studio, and nearly 200 pieces of Umlauf sculpture to the City of Austin. Six years later in 1991, a new museum was built with private funds raised under the leadership of Austin arts patron Roberta Crenshaw. These included a generous matching challenge grant from the Meadows Foundation of Dallas.

In a unique partnership between Austin's public and private sectors, the City's Parks and Recreation Department maintains the xeriscape garden while the Friends of the Umlauf Sculpture Garden fund, manage, and maintain the museum.