00:00is exciting. I hadn't focused on the 250th anniversary. We tend to focus on right now,
00:05today in this place. And I think that's really exciting. 250 years since the signing of the
00:10Declaration of Independence, such an opportunity to reflect on our, our great nation. So how long
00:16has it been since the castle was open? The castle just closed about a year ago. Okay,
00:22so then you're going to reopen parts of it. But the goal is that the amount of work that has to
00:27be done in the castle, the initial plan was for the castle basically to have them all torn up
00:32during the 250th. I said, we can't do that. So what we're going to do is do interior work so
00:37that we can have the castle open for the 250th. And then after the 250th, we'll do all the
00:43earthquake work that's going to tear the cat, that's going to really help make it difficult
00:47for people to visit the castle. Okay. And, you know, since the pandemic, I was just seeing that
00:52your average visitors up air and space before you closed down for the work, I assume, 7 million,
00:59but what is, what has it been like? Because a lot of people were worried we wouldn't bounce back.
01:05I think the numbers have been really good. We are now at pre-pandemic levels throughout the
01:10entire Smithsonian. And then couple that with all the digital work we're doing, we're reaching more
01:16people than ever before. Could you talk about that, what you've done to make it more accessible,
01:21the museum, virtually for people, maybe in a little town in Nebraska, farmers that aren't
01:26going to be able to leave and are, you know, because they've got their crop coming in. Talk
01:32about how you've made this accessible. What I realized is that the Smithsonian needed to have
01:38people who really could help us lead the digital transformation. So I created a unit to do just
01:43that. And we're really looking at how to really be in every home and in every classroom. So part of
01:49what we're doing is making sure that we find the right partners that we can collaborate with.
01:54Because I've realized that the Smithsonian, no matter how creative it is, doesn't have broad
01:58enough shoulders to do everything. So we're working with a variety of entities to make sure that we
02:02can digitally share the information we want to do, but also we're partnering with people like
02:07the 4-H clubs and looking at different organizations that have never worked with the
02:12Smithsonian to allow us to reach these many communities. And I think what I've really said
02:17to everybody is the 250th is our opportunity to demonstrate all of that change. So I'm using that
02:24as the marker to say we're going to do everything so that by the 250th you can see a new Smithsonian.
02:31Very good. So let's talk about the two new museums. And when you last appeared before the
02:37committee, we talked about the ongoing efforts to establish the museum. Since then, as I noted,
02:42they both hired founding directors. We've got that over $65 million for each museum, private money.
02:50And the efforts are going forward to build the collections. There's a lot of excitement,
02:55bipartisan excitement, in both houses for moving forward. While it's not at this point a funding
03:02issue as much as the location, could you, and we have been able to establish now with the agreement
03:08of both groups, two locations that I had seen, I think they're really a good idea. What can you
03:16tell us briefly about that progress? What's being done to talk to the public about this?
03:23And we'll answer that first. Well, I think that first of all, things are going very well with
03:29these museums. The $65 million that was raised is really important. When I was building the
03:35African American Museum, it took me four years to get to $65 million. So there's already a great
03:40deal of excitement about these new museums. But also what I've said is that these new museums,
03:45even though they don't have a building, they've got to share content. They've got to do things
03:51digitally. So we're doing programs, education programs, around the country through the lens
03:56of each of these museums to build excitement, to let people know about it. And candidly, the hiring
04:02of Elizabeth Babcock as the new director, that's a way to sort of get more attention because she's
04:08new. There's a lot of articles about her. So basically, the goal here is to begin to do work
04:14to say the history of women, the history of Latinos can't wait for a decade. It's got to be done now.
04:20So we're looking at different ways to do that. How do we make sure that we're doing programs
04:24around the country now to build that support? So I think that from a vantage point of where we are,
04:30we're in a good place. The challenge, candidly, is finalizing the sites. Because fundraising will
04:36pick up even more when you're able to finalize a site. Two, you cannot plan on what the museums
04:43will be without those sites. So therefore, it's really hard to sort of keep people excited as
04:48you're saying, eventually we can tell you what's going to be there. I mean, it's kind of extraordinary
04:53all this funds have been raised without the sites. But before Senator Fischer was the ranking,
05:00Senator Blunt and I went out and looked at the sites. And could you talk about those sites and
05:05how they fit in with the vision of the mall? I know the Board of Regents has approved these sites.
05:11Architects, historians, preservations are consistent with this area of the mall and our nation's
05:18capital. Well, I looked at 26 sites around Washington. We looked at sites that were
05:24vacant. We looked at sites that were historic buildings. And after looking at all these sites,
05:29we realized that what was essential was to have these museums as close to the mall as possible.
05:36That the mall is where the world comes to understand what it means to be an American.
05:39And to be able to have women's history and Latino history on the mall was crucially important.
05:44We looked at these sites, one that we call the South Monument site, which is across from the
05:48National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is this really sort of gem-like
05:52site that's going to be the spot for the Women's History Museum. And then we have another site
05:58that's behind the Holocaust Museum that would be the site of the Latino Museum. What's important
06:04is that these sites allow several things. One, there's great excitement in the various communities
06:10that they're going to be able to build these museums on the mall. Two, it allows these museums
06:16to craft architectural vision. To be able to say, we want a building that reflects our culture,
06:22much like we did with the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
06:25So there's great excitement about the potential of new buildings on new sites. And candidly,
06:32while there's always a question of how do you preserve green space, what I love is the building
06:37of the African American Museum has enriched the mall. It hasn't hurt the mall at all. And I think
06:42these new museums will do the same thing. Okay, very good. Thank you.
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