Clarksville, TN – The Customs House Museum was a recipient of 5 Tennessee Association of Museums (TAM) awards at the recent TAM conference. For Institutional Impact, Executive Director Frank Lott was awarded one of three Awards of Excellence for museum leaders across Tennessee.
Lott’s tenure includes not only writing for various exhibitions and leading the Board of Trustees in past decades, but since becoming Executive Director in 2019, he coordinated the lighting of the museum’s 1898 roof, the creation of the award-winning magazine Second & Commerce and shifting the Flying High fundraiser into an annual gala.
For Emerging Museum Professional, Channing Grimes, the Membership, Volunteer & Development Manager, was awarded an Award of Excellence. Emerging Museum Professional awards are given to individuals who have less than five years of experience in the museum profession.
Channing has led the museum’s membership drives and tripled the membership, including creating exclusive opportunities for upper-level members. She re-energized the volunteer corps, annual fundraising under her direction grew exponentially and she fosters relationships across the community, including those developed with military veterans and families at nearby Fort Campbell.
The Customs House Museum won three Awards of Commendation for the Sundays at 3:00 adult-lecture program, the FLY Girls Gallery Guide for Alison Fullerton’s exhibition and the Museum at 40 marketing campaign.
The Awards Ceremony was held in Knoxville, TN at the Knoxville Museum of Art on March 13, 2025. The TAM Awards of Excellence were presented to museums across the state for exceptional projects, programs and events held during 2024.
“This year we presented 99 awards, representing 36 museums, including six awards recognizing Emerging Museum Professionals, five awards recognizing outstanding volunteerism, and our overall winner of the TAM President’s Award, chosen by the past Presidents of TAM, which this year was presented to the Metal Museum in Memphis,” stated Tori Mason, Historic Site Manager at Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, who serves as the chair of the TAM Awards Committee. “Once again, Tennessee museums showed their creativity, resourcefulness, commitment and heart, while providing outstanding programs and opportunities for their audiences. Our state is fortunate to have so many excellent museums and historic sites that are committed to providing exceptional exhibitions, events and educational programming for visitors to enjoy.”
For more information about these exhibits and museum events, visit customshousemuseum.org or follow us on social media.
The purpose of the TAM Awards of Excellence program is to recognize, encourage, and promote excellence within the activities of the Tennessee museum community. Nominations are made by museum staff and individuals, and sent in December to their regional representative. Each entry is presented to the TAM Awards Committee, which is composed of the seven regional representatives, the committee chair, and three at-large members.
The committee makes the final judging and decisions of awards. Awards are based on creativity, originality, resourcefulness, success, support of museum mission statement, and utilization of staff and volunteers. Categories include permanent, temporary, blockbuster and traveling exhibits; educational school and public programming; special events; publications; digital media; audio visual; special recognition; and volunteerism.
About the Customs House Museum
Located in the heart of Historic Downtown Clarksville, Tennessee, the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center is the state’s second-largest general interest museum with over 35,000 square feet of exhibit space and houses hands-on activities and special events. Membership and admission information can be found at customshousemuseum.org.
Regular museum hours are 10:00am to 5:00pm Tuesday through Saturday and 1:00pm to 5:00pm on Sundays. Adult admission is $12.00 (18-64). Senior Citizens (65+), Adult Military, CMCSS Teachers, and College Students are $9.00. Children ages 3 to 17 are $5.00, and children 2 years or younger and Museum members are free.
The Customs House Museum is located at 200 South Second Street. For more information, call 931.648.5780 or visit their website at www.customshousemuseum.org
