The Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College has become a Smithsonian Affiliate, the museum announced Monday. The Dennos joins a network of more than 200 other Smithsonian Affiliates in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Panama. 

As a Smithsonian Affiliate, the Dennos will “have the opportunity to collaborate on unique, public programs and workshops, professional development opportunities, co-develop youth programs, host traveling exhibitions, borrow artifacts, and co-host public lectures by Smithsonian scholars,” according to a museum release. The partnership also allows the Dennos to offer a Smithsonian Affiliate membership as an add-on to its existing membership options. Smithsonian Affiliates are “collaborators on many of the Smithsonian’s strategic priorities, adding local content, context, and expertise to national initiatives to help tell a fuller story,” the release states.

“We are thrilled to begin building a formal relationship with the Smithsonian Institution and all of its collections and educational resources,” says Dennos Executive Director and Chief Curator Craig Hadley. “While many of us up here in northern Michigan may have difficulty accessing Washington, D.C., it is our hope that this partnership will help bring our nation’s largest museum system to Traverse City residents, schools, and visitors in an affordable and collaborative way.”