OMA Award Spotlight -Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 

Recognizing excellence in Ohio museums during Arts and Humanities Month

To help celebrate October as Arts and Humanities Month, and to kick-off the call for nominations for this year's OMA awards, we'll be highlighting our 2020 OMA Award of Achievement winners throughout the month with our OMA Award Spotlight. We are featuring these Award Winner Spotlights during Arts and Humanities Month to help champion the amazing projects, programs and professionals that make Ohio's museum community strong.

The Awards of Achievement are presented to reflect the outstanding quality and caliber of work by Ohio museums and their professionals in two categories: Institutional Achievement Awards and Individual Achievement Awards.

Nominations for these awards are incredibly detailed. This in-depth process helps to illustrate how these institutions and individuals have gone “above and beyond” the normal call of duty to support their institution, serve their public and advance the cause of the museum community.

Each year, the review panel is overwhelmed by the outstanding projects, innovative programming and dedication to our field as exhibited in each of the institutional and individual nominations. Congratulations again to each of our 2020 award winners! 

Today, we'll be featuring our winner for the 2020 award for Best Exhibition over $500,000.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame -It's Been Said All Along: Voices of rage, hope, and empowerment 

Music and visual artists have created art as a response to unspeakable tragedy and to promote social justice for decades. Beyond the art, in every generation, Black artists have fought for equal rights and opportunity, and elevated the conversation about race, equality, justice, and peace.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s It’s been said all along: Voices of rage, hope & empowerment is a highly impactful exhibit that directly responds to the past and more so, the present, regarding racial inequality. Through lyrics, clothing, equipment, photographs, performances and more from Black artists, this exhibit presents a safe environment to think and talk openly about the injustices and feelings of rage in our country and how we can work towards a better tomorrow.

As stated by the Rock Hall, “We felt it was important to highlight Black musicians specifically in this exhibit to bring some sort of peace, bring inspiration, bring hope, bring cases of empowerment, and also let our audience know that it’s ok to cope with rage.”

To address the challenges to visitation due to COVID, the Rock Hall also created a virtual companion exhibit, the largest virtual exhibit ever by the organization. This virtual companion exhibit is accessible from the museum’s website, providing the public with a chance to view the content featured in the exhibit from the comfort and safety of their own homes.

The online component features a walk-through of the physical exhibit with 360-degree videos, artist narratives, explosive performance and interview video footage from the Rock Hall’s vault, rare photos, a curated playlist, free online learning materials through Rock Hall EDU and more.

From the Rock Hall, “music has played a critical part in every revolution in this country, leading the charge as inspiration. Music is an outcry – that’s the spirit of rock ‘n roll. Real pain, real conflict and real struggle, but still maintaining hope and empowerment for a better tomorrow.”

Did your museum have a spectacular exhibit - virtual or physical - during the 2021 season? Be sure to nominate it for the 2021 award for Best Exhibition! Learn more here.

Nwaka Onwusa, President of Curatorial Affairs at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Accepts the Award During the OMA 2021 Virtual Awards Ceremony

One of the fun features of OMA's 2021 Virtual Awards Ceremony was being able to recognize our honorees "accepting" their award via video message. See below for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's award acceptance video.