The national blues museum (NBM) will expand access to the museum's historical interpretation by creating new lesson plans that tie blues history to state and district learning goals in literacy, math,…

The National Blues Museum received a $485,973 Project Grant award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the Museum Grants for African American History and Culture program (CFDA 45.309) effective October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2028. The award supports the development and implementation of a comprehensive curriculum integrating STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), literacy, language arts, music, and history instruction that connects blues history to state and district learning objectives in literacy, math, and civic engagement. The museum will create new lesson plans and educational materials designed for distribution to multiple schools and community partners through the St. Louis Des Lee Fine Arts Education Collaborative.

The grant-funded project will deliver several key outputs, including the development of a new NBM curriculum aligned with learning standards, evaluation data to refine and improve existing lesson plans, and an end-of-year report documenting program impact. Additional deliverables include a year-end concert featuring guitar and drumming student performances and a museum exhibition showcasing student research projects. By leveraging its national network of partners, the National Blues Museum will expand public access to its historical collections and interpretation while building institutional capacity to support educational programming at African American cultural institutions.

The national blues museum (NBM) will expand access to the museum's historical interpretation by creating new lesson plans that tie blues history to state and district learning goals in literacy, math, and civic engagement. Project results will include creation of a new NBM curriculum to be shared with multiple schools and partners through the ST. Louis's DES LEE fine arts education collaborative; generating evaluation data that will be used to revise and improve existing lesson plans; an end-of-year report showing the program's impact; an end-of-year concert for guitar and drumming students; and a museum exhibition of student museum research projects. NBM will combine programs in steam, literacy, language arts, music, and history to create a comprehensive curriculum, one that the museum will share with its national network of partners.