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It's taken a second to get our 2022 Annual Report out, but we are delighted to present it to you all today!

View Museums Alaska's 2022 Annual Report

This year, we used Canva's website feature to create our annual report, but I you prefer to view the annual report as a pdf, you can view the pdf here.

We hope you enjoy this blast from the 2022 past! Please let us know if you have any questions!

Museums Alaska partners with Rasmuson Foundation to oversee two grant programs.

The Alaska Art Fund (AAF)—previously known as the Art Acquisition Fund—was established in 2002 and began in 2003. The purpose of the AAF is to encourage museums in Alaska to collect the work of accomplished Alaska artists for their collections, and support living, practicing Alaska artists through these acquisitions.

The Collections Management Fund, established in 2013, builds on the success of the Alaska Art Fund (previously the Art Acquisition Fund). The new fund was created by Rasmuson Foundation and is managed by Museums Alaska. The program responds to needs of the Alaska museum community to enhance collections management through professional expertise, training, and access to conservation materials and supplies.

2023 Round 1 Grantees:

Collections Management Fund (CMF) - Round 1 Grants - $118,810.59

• $19,931.09 - The Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository will de-install exhibits and move 453 artifacts to storage in preparation for their renovation. The Qumluglluku–Store It project will support a safe, organized, and tracked unmounting and re-storage of these objects.

• $19,567 - University of Alaska Museum of the North will digitize ~15k historic fly specimens. Most of these are biting flies and thus of great importance to science and the public because of their potential for disease transmission.

• $19,532 - The Haines Sheldon Museum will work with a conservator to determine whether fluctuating humidity is causing damage to museum collections. The project funds preparation, execution and follow-up for an onsite condition inspection, workshops, and reporting by the conservator.

• $14,155.75 - The Kodiak History Museum will partner with the Alutiiq Museum to catalog ca. 1,100 artifacts excavated by Dr. Donald Clark over 50 years ago. The artifacts have never been inventoried. The project will make them accessible for research and display.

• $20,000 - Cape Fox Cultural Foundation will display and reintroduce to the Village of Saxman, the 1899 Edward H. Harriman Expedition artifacts repatriated by the Sanyaa Kwáan (Cape Fox Tribe) belonging to the Teikweidi and Neix.ádi Clans.

• $5,741.25 - The Valdez Museum & Historical Archive will improve their artwork storage which will, in turn, improve preservation conditions, increase accessibility, establish baseline for future conservation, and allow the curator to identify cultural and historic holes in collection.

• $19,883.50 - Sealaska Heritage Institute will improve storage for the flat textile collection. This includes contracting a textile conservator to assess the collection and provide training to SHI’s Collections Manager and Summer Intern, and a workshop for local organizations.

Alaska Art Fund (AAF) - Round 1 Grants - $40,000

• $25,000 - Sealaska Heritage Institute will purchase a child’s Chilkat robe made by Shgendootan. The robe is made of Merino wool, yellow cedar bark, sea otter fur, ermine skins, cotton canvas, deer leather, and a fragment of jacket. The fragment comes from a jacket manufactured by Neiman Marcus. The design was at the center of a lawsuit that SHI filed in 2020 alleging that Neiman Marcus had “falsely affiliated garments sold by them with Native artisans through its use of the term “Ravenstail” (Yéil Koowú)...and unlawfully infringed the copyright of a famous Northwest Coast artist.”. The robe documents an important historical and legal event in SHI’s history and will be a resource for future generations studying intellectual property rights of Native art, design, and cultural materials. It is also a continuation of a Tlingit tradition of reusing and revitalizing old regalia and turning it into something new.

• $15,000 - The Alaska Museum of Science and Nature will commission James Havens to add recently discovered ichthyosaurs to the museum’s large painting of plesiosaurs and mosasaurs (both swimming reptiles) entitled The Talkeetna Mountains/Cretaceous Oceans. James will complete the work during museum hours to allow the public to ask questions and learn more about these new discoveries.
  

The Access to Alaska Native Collections (AANC) program responds to the needs of the Alaska Native artist community for access to Alaska Native collections in museums by supporting research visits to museum collections storage in Alaska. As such, Alaska Native artists were invited to propose a visit to a participating museum’s collection that has a clear benefit to the artist and the development of their work. 

The grant covered travel costs for the collections visit—flights, ferries, mileage, per diem, lodging, parking, taxis, and family care needs—up to $2,500. There were six grants available.

The grant program is made possible with funding from The CIRI Foundation’s A Journey to What Matters: Increased Alaska Native Art & Culture (JWM) funding and is administered by Museums Alaska on behalf of the Foundation. All inquiries must be directed to the Museums Alaska Director.

Eligibility was limited to Alaska Native artists located in the state of Alaska.

First Round 2023 AANC Grantees:

Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich was awarded an Access to Alaska Native Collections grant to visit the University of Alaska Museum of the North .

Erin (Koyukon Athabascan and Inupiaq) is a carver, an interdisciplinary artist, and is expanding her practice to include other artforms and more complex narratives. She is currently pursuing her MFA, and the visit will allow her to engage in museum collections to ground her work in that of the Indigenous artists that have come before her.

Erin hopes to visit a variety of collections including historical cultural belongings, photographs, carved objects, animal representations and animal specimens that are culturally connected to her many homelands and Indigenous heritage.

You can learn more about Erin and her work at https://ggaadimitsivalu.com.

Golga Oscar was awarded an Access to Alaska Native Collections grant to visit the Anchorage Museum! During his visit, he intends to explore different forms of the Yup’ik collection ranging from headwear to footwear and capture them through the lens of photography.

A self-taught artist with a huge passion for his culture and tradition, Golga enjoys revitalizing traditional designs with careful observation. Through revitalization, he observes the material, technique, and significance behind the clothing with a goal of bringing back what was once discontinued since the impact of westernization. Golga's goals are to pursue cultural awareness teaching and get into the fashion industry. He aims to showcase the Yup’ik cultural art and bring recognition of Yup'ik clothing and traditions to the “American” mainstream.

Follow Golga on Instagram to learn more: https://www.instagram.com/quki92/?hl=en

Nicolette Corbett received an Access to Alaska Native Collections grant to visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center where she will be studying the piluguk/kameskak collection from the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta Region!
Since Nikki started her sewing business, Sew Yup’ik, in the summer of 2015, it has taken off. In addition to creating and selling qaspeqs, bags of various sizes, and other small sewing pieces, she has taken on a new role teaching qaspeq workshops across the state of Alaska.

In the last year, her focus has been to work on skin sewing projects and especially those that are of the lost art, like piluguks/kameksaks (hard sole bottom shoes). Creating piluguks is becoming a lost art, and Nikki is hoping to learn it so that she can share that knowledge with others and keep Yup’ik traditions alive.

Learn more about Nikki and her work at https://sewyupik.com.

Raktenga Elaine Kingeekuk was awarded a grant to visit the Alaska State Museum to collaborate with conservator Ellen Carrlee on gut conservation and care. Elaine will also spend time in collections storage freely opening cabinets and drawers to see and handle dolls, sewing tools, jewelry, toys, footwear, garments, and any other items in the museum collection that may promote her artistic and teaching goals.

Elaine has been sewing dolls, baskets, clothing, boots, toys, and other small items since her childhood in Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island. She learned sewing and its cultural values from her mother (Ruthelle) and grandmother. In addition to teaching within her community, Elaine has been working with scholars and museums for nearly 20 years.

While she is in Juneau, Elaine is considering hosting a public program at the museum, and getting the word out about a teaching studio she would like to open in Savoonga. Elaine will also take time to connect with old friends and the land through berry picking and other cultural activities.

X̱’unei Lance Twitchell was awarded a grant to visit the Totem Heritage Center and Tongass Historical Museum in Ketchikan to study with Nathan Jackson while continuing to document his life and work through video and photo.

He will work closely with staff of the Totem Heritage Center and the Tongass Historical Museum to organize visits with the intention of documenting both the work and Nathan Jackson’s comments on the artwork. He will also consult with Nathan Jackson on X̱’unei's own artwork and future projects.

X̱ʼunei will also photograph the collections in the Totem Heritage Center and the Tongass Historical Museum for both individual artistic study and teaching at the University of Alaska Southeast and in workshops with the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation and Sealaska Heritage Institute.

These visits will greatly increase X̱ʼunei's ability to continue to grow as a visual artist and to produce new works in design, sculpture, fashion, regalia, and more.

Learn more about X̱’unei Twitchell at https://troubledraven.com.

Qaadax̂ Chloe Bourdukofsky and Carter Price were awarded an Access to Alaska Native Collections grant to visit the Museum of the Aleutians! At the museum, they will visit the archives and pieces that include their family history and art.

Qaadax̂ Chloe Bourdukofsky was culturally raised by her grandparents and great grandma who found it very important to teach her about Unangax̂ practices and values. They taught her how to speak some Unangam Tunuu, how to crochet, about traditional foods, and about an Unangax̂ way of life and community. To this day she wishes to continue to teach others about traditional Unangax̂ dance, sewing, foods and community life as her relatives did for her growing up.

Over the past 2 years, Carter Price has begun creating Unangan model Iqyaxs (kayaks) to connect with his culture. More recently his art medium has taken form in ivory. He grew up connected to his culture, but only on a surface level. Since diving into his connection with culture and art, Carter’s overall well being has increased. His goal for the future generations is to provide a space separate from school, to connect, educate, and create whatever their passions are.

Qaadax̂ and Carter hope to photograph artwork to learn from and share with their fellow Unangans in Unangam Tanangin who do not have this opportunity to visit. The visit will also provide a wonderful opportunity to visit with relatives on Iluulux̂ (Unalaska) to gain oral information on Unangax̂ history, stories and art to also connect with the local Unangans on the Island.

Learn more about Qaadax̂ at https://www.qaadax.com/about-me.

We are happy to announce our second round of Alaska Art Fund (AAF) and Collections Management Fund (CMF) grantees! In this round, we are awarding $201,714.17 to eleven museums and cultural organizations across Alaska.

As always, a huge thank you goes out to Rasmuson Foundation for their continued support for these important grant programs! 

We also want to thank our amazing panelists who spent their personal time to carefully consider the applications and have provided thoughtful advice and comments for each applicant.

And without further ado, congratulations to the following grant recipients!

Collections Management Fund - Round 2 Grants - $127,314.17

• $13,850 - The Anchorage Museum will provide conservation assistance to recently exposed and damaged cultural heritage from the Nunalleq site and train community members and staff of the Nunalleq Cultural Center.

• $8,302.75 - Ketchikan Museums will replace the last of the 1980's and 1990's inefficient, incandescent lighting in the lower level gallery of the Totem Heritage Center, allowing them to meet light level standards and provide a higher level of collections care.

• $19,913.36 - The Alutiiq Museum & Archeological Repository will move collections off-site, starting with stone artifacts stored in the basement, in preparations for the renovation of AMAR facilities starting in mid-2023.

• $19,985.91 - The Eagle Historical Society and Museums will assess and conserve a pair of moosehide drapes and seven ecclesiastic textiles that have been in use or displayed since 1899/1900 in Eagle's historic St Paul's Church.

• $9,342.15 - The Museum of the Aleutians will complete an inventory, cataloging, photographing, and rehousing project for their World War II Artifact Collection.

• $19,920 - The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association will work with a conservator to provide professional treatment for 12 baskets, assess 16 culturally significant items, and provide staff preventative care training.

• $20,000 - The Alaska Law Enforcement Museum will work with a conservator to complete an assessment survey of the textiles and clothing in their collection and to host a workshop on the care of textiles and clothing for themselves and several local museums.

• $16,000 - The Cape Fox Cultural Foundation will move 1899 Edward H. Harriman Expedition artifacts—repatriated by the Sanyaa Kwáan belonging to the Teikweidi and Neix.ádi clans. They are currently in a location with insufficient protection from the elements and will be moved to a safer location.

Alaska Art Fund - Round 2 Grants - $74,400

• $9,000 - The Alutiiq Museum & Archeological Repository will commission a contemporary snow-falling parka from Kodiak Alutiiq Elder and master skin sewer Susan Malutin to fill a significant gap in their collection.

• $3,000 - Ketchikan Museums will acquire Killerwhale Spirit Button Robe Collar, by Janice L. Jackson (Aanchgwanutk') to fill a significant gap in their collection.

• $1,200 - The Museum of the Aleutians will commission a woven grass basket from Akutan weaver Antoinette (Tina) Kudrin Gauen depicting the Islands of the Fours Mountains, a sacred place to the Unangax^. The piece will fill a gap in their basket collection.

• $10,000 - The Anchorage Museum will commission a large-scale 3’ x 5’ woodblock print by Iñupiaq artist Sarah Ayaqi Whalen-Lunn depicting a woman bound and tethered by ropes, hanging from a uterus. The piece was created as a reflection of “current issues and how women’s bodies are used against them,” and is being added to the Anchorage Museum’s collection to represent an artist’s response to the historic 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court ruling.

• $5,000 - The Alaska State Museum will acquire This One by artist Sara Tabbert, consisting of two 20"x16" cradled panels, of natural and dyed veneer on carved panel, relief printing. The acquisition will fufill the museum’s goal of collecting a Tabbert piece, expanding their woodworking and relief carving collection, and enhancing their collection of artists outside of SE Alaska.

• $35,000 - The Alaska Native Heritage Center will acquire the piece, Indian Children Bracelets, by preeminent Tlingit and Unangax artist, Nicholas Galanin. The engraved artwork is a resurfaced pair of tiny handcuffs that visually conceptualize the removal of Indigenous children from their families during the Boarding School era (1860-1978). The piece will fill several gaps in their collection and assist them in telling the story of the Boarding School era. 

• $1,200 - The Cordova Museum will acquire Mt Eccles, a large 31” x 55” energetic, mixed media painting by Sharlene Cline with beautiful brushwork of Mt. Eccles, a signature Cordova Mountain. The piece will enhance their collection as it features a medium not currently represented in their collection and the painting is of an iconic, local geographical feature.

• $10,000 - The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association will commission a set of four traditional visors by Alaskan artist Okalena Patricia Lekanoff-Gregory. In Southwestern Alaska, there are very few of these traditional visors in the communities, so the organization is building their traditional arts collection to display and share these commissions with tribal members and aspiring artists in their communities.

Congratulations to everyone on their success

This year we had four openings on the board. Voting was opened to members, and they chose the following four nominees (listed here with their bios from the ballot) to join the board in 2023. 

One board member, Sarah Harrington, is departing our board one year early, so Christine Carpenter will fill her vacancy in 2023 and will have the opportunity to renominate herself for reelection for the 2024-2026 term.

Congratulations our new and returning board members! We look forward to working with you to  better serve the museum and cultural center community across the state.

We also want to send a huge thank you to Sarah Harrington and Sarah Asper-Smith for all they have done to professionalize and grow Museums Alaska over these past five and six years. You have both done amazing work on the board and we will miss you!

2023-2025 Term

Bethany Buckingham Follett (incumbent)

Bethany has been a board member for the past three years. There is still a lot she would like to accomplish for MA members. Museums and cultural centers have assisted communities throughout COVID and current events through learning from the past to impact the present and prepare for the future. Museums Alaska is constantly evolving with its members and board to meet the membership where they are and where they want to be. Meet the changes and challenges together through Museums Alaska and help your board move Alaska forward to support Alaska's communities, visitors and supporters. You are Museums Alaska!

Sarah Owens (incumbent)

Sarah Owens is a conservator with specialist knowledge of basketry, textiles and clothing. She established Interwoven Fibers LLC, an Alaskan based conservation business in 2018. Sarah has been fortunate to travel, providing assistance in conservation, preservation and exhibit preparation services, to various museums and cultural centers in Alaska. Through outreach projects she works with artists to better understand materials. This helps to understand condition issues and preserve objects for future generations. She is passionate about sharing collections care practices to other professionals and also enjoys the challenges of working with exhibit forms as a bridge between conservation needs and respectful presentation of cultures. Sarah wants to continue serving on the board of Museums Alaska, as they help museums and cultural centers around the state. Through working independently Sarah has a unique position to build connections and glean perspective of where this help is most needed.

Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi

Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi is an art historian and museum consultant based in Homer, Alaska. She currently serves as a program director for the Journey to What Matters: Increased Alaska Native Art & Culture program at The CIRI Foundation. A Ninilchik Tribal member, Nadia is passionate about increasing opportunities for Alaska Native involvement in museum work and correcting information in museum records. She also loves visiting historical collections of Alaska Native art and helping to connect collections with community. Nadia has a PhD in art history from the University of Washington.

Completing Sarah Harrington's term in 2023 and can be re-elected in 2023 for the 2024-2026 term.

Christine Carpenter

Christine Carpenter is passionate about museums. As a designer, artist, and project manager, Christine uses her skills to work collaboratively with museums to find opportunities and limit challenges. After completing her MFA in Museum Exhibition Planning & Design, she relocated to Juneau to work with ExhibitAK, an exhibit design firm. She still works with ExhibitAK while also maintaining her own company, Liaise Studio: a planning, design, and art firm. Christine uses design and art as a tool to communicate, distill, and better understand the world around us. In collaboration with the communities she serves, she has designed exhibits, websites, interpretive panels, and master plans all over the state. After more than 10 years of working with museums across Alaska, Christine is in a unique position to serve on the Museums Alaska board: she understands the broad needs and opportunities facing Alaskan museums. She would be honored to continue to support museums in this new capacity.

First Alaskans Institute (FAI), a statewide Alaska Native nonprofit, is working with Museums Alaska to host a cohort of museum professionals committed to reimagining and fostering meaningful relationships with Alaska’s Tribes and Indigenous peoples. FAI will host a series of interactive dialogues customized for museum professionals through methods that are grounded in Indigenous values and ways of knowing, incorporating social technologies to host provocative dialogues that advance the needs of Indigenous peoples and partners statewide. Participants will learn how to have respectful and meaningful conversations about racism, equity, stewardship, and other challenging topics that continually arise in the field. The Program’s goal is to transform institutions that are uniquely positioned to protect culturally significant artifacts and share about the lives of Alaska Native people, past and present. Discussion topics will include repatriation, Tribal sovereignty, and access to ancestral knowledge and objects. We invite you to engage in this unique opportunity as we challenge assumptions and the ways they impact the museum institutions, our patrons and Indigenous peoples. There are two ways to participate: engaging fully as a cohort participant, or as a webinar-only attendee. To learn more, visit: Strengthening Museum Relationships with Indigenous Communities

We are delighted to publish our 2021 Annual Report! This year, the report is entirely digital. You can view it on Issuu, or download it here. Let us know if you have any questions!

We are happy to announce our first round of Alaska Art Fund (AAF) and Collections Management Fund (CMF) grantees! In this round, we are awarding $123,625.31 to eleven organizations across Alaska.

A huge thank you to Rasmuson Foundation for renewing their support over the next three years for these two grant programs. We are looking forward to funding even more projects and artworks in the years to come. 

We also want to thank our amazing panelists who spent their personal time to carefully consider the applications and have provided thoughtful advice and comments for each applicant.

And without further ado, congratulations to the following grant recipients!

Collections Management Fund - Round 1 Grants - $84,482.31

• $20,000 - The Alaska Native Heritage Center will execute a thorough inspection, cleaning, and maintenance project for its Southeast Alaskan totem pole originally carved by Nathan Jackson.

• $18,161 - The Alaska State Museum will use collaborative methods to establish and execute the most up-to-date gut conservation treatments and exhibition techniques in the museum field while providing a model of inclusive collections care practice.

• $14,972 - The Museum of the North will undertake a comprehensive rehousing and stabilization project on the 54-piece flag collection held by the Ethnology & History department.

• $12,719.50 - The Fairbanks Children’s Museum will repair two of their most popular permanent exhibitions—the AirMaze and bubble tubes.

• $8,437 - The Aunt Claudia’s Dolls, a Museum will hire a conservator for thorough in-person advice and training to establish collections management protocols for routine care of the Northern Indigenous Doll Collection.

• $5,859.48 - The Anchorage Museum will hire consultants to train collections care staff how to produce quality standardized photographs of museum collections using practical and innovative skills and equipment. This training will be open to all local museums.

• $4,333.33 - The Pioneer Air Museum will install UV blocking film on all 12 of the museum’s exterior windows, as well as the 5 glass panes enclosing the museum’s public exhibition case located at the Fairbanks International Airport.

Alaska Art Fund - Round 1 Grants - $39,143

• $6,500 - The Ilanka Cultural Center will commission Eyak & Sugpiaq Housing Models, three indigenous house models to be crafted by Sugpiaq artist, Andrew Abyo to be used for a variety of educational purposes to improve traditional understanding.

• $5,500 - The Alutiiq Museum will acquire Kadiak, an oil on canvas painting by Kodiak Alutiiq artist Alvin Eli Amason. The painting depicts a person inspired by Alutiiq community members, a unique subject matter for Amason, who usually paints animals.

• $5,500 - The Alutiiq Museum will acquire Matriarchs in the Making, Afognak 1950s, an oil on canvas painting by Kodiak Alutiiq Artist Gloria Selby that will assist the museum in telling recent Alutiiq stories. Selby’s painting will help them interpret Alutiiq village life and share a story of persistence, resilience, and connection.

• $3,700 - The Sheldon Jackson Museum will acquire Midsummer Moon Mask, a fusion of artist Allie High's own Alutiiq, Tshimshian, and Haida background and her simultaneous nod to Alaska Native women's traditions and her family's roots in Ninilchik. The mask will be the second contemporary mask in the collection carved by a woman and it is the only one with such diverse array of Alaska Native cultures in a single work of art.

• $3,000 - The Alutiiq Museum will acquire Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women Headdress, a beaded headdress by Alutiiq artist Kayla Christiansen McDermott. Indigenous women make up about 1% of the United States population, but they are murdered at ten times the rate of other citizens. McDermott’s headdress tells this story.

• $3,000 - The Alutiiq Museum will acquire Bird Mask Hat, a festival garment stitched by Kodiak Alutiiq artist Cassey Rowland. Using the hat, the museum can discuss skin sewing, material use, and garment design along with other related stories.

• $3,000 - The Anchorage Museum will acquire Sylva, a mask created by Tsimshian, Haida, Sugpiaq, and Russian artist Allie High. The piece will be a unique addition to their collection as it is a mask created by a female Indigenous carver and represents the artist’s blended heritage so beautifully.

• $3,000 - The Anchorage Museum will acquire The Far Edge of Summer, an acrylic painting of the forest floor by Gail Priday. Priday’s unusual approach to landscape painting makes the work a compelling addition to exhibitions about the contemporary North, climate change, gender in the North, as well as programs and research dealing with forest ecology, the boreal biome, forest fire, and fungi.

• $1,900 - The Alaska State Museum will acquire Ben Huff's image Seven Doors of Doom, which is the keystone of a series of images entitled Atomic Island. The pictured WWII and Cold War Naval outpost on the Aleutian island of Adak tells a complex story of our westernmost front against communism, and the people who live among the remnants of our past military ambitions.

• $1,500 - The Talkeetna Historical Society will acquire High Country Grizzly, an oil pastel by David Totten, who was an important and popular artist in Talkeetna for over 20 years. This painting will expand their contemporary art collection and will be the first painting in their collection by Totten.

• $1,250 - The Anchorage Museum will acquire Impermafrost and Lichen Cross-Section, small-scale collages created by Gail Priday from painted and cut paper. The pieces depict different aspects of the Northern environment at a cellular/microbial level. These collages will help tell the story of climate change using a visual language that also represents a shift in how artists are grappling with depicting landscape.

• $650 - The Alaska State Museum will acquire Cody Swanson’s Dipnetters, a pinhole photograph made using a camera constructed from a cast of the artist's head. The print, ink on gelatin silver, was then altered with mixed media to express fantasies and memories within the landscape. The photographic process and the hand manipulation of the print is so unique that the museum feels that it will be a valuable addition to their photography collection.

• $643 - The Talkeetna Historical Society will acquire Aurora Guitar, a mosaic guitar by Rose Jenne, who has became famous locally for abstract mosaic on musical instruments, tables, postal boxes and even Xtratuf boots. The guitar will allow the museum to talk about the importance of music and art in the local community and also talk about an important local elder and her contributions to the community over the last 50 years.
  

Congratulations to everyone on their successful grant applications! We can’t wait to see the progress on your projects.

We are happy to announce our second round of Art Acquisition Fund (AAF) and Collections Management Fund (CMF) grantees! In this round, we are awarding $140,835 to thirteen organizations across Alaska.

As always, we want to thank Rasmuson Foundation for their generous support for these two grant programs. We also want to thank our amazing panelists who spent their personal time to carefully consider the applications.

We are waiting for Rasmuson Foundation’s decision regarding funding for the next several years of the grant programs, but we will keep you updated when we have information on any changes to the grant programs and when the grants will reopen!

Collections Management Fund - Round 2 Grants

• $3,465 - The Pioneer Air Museum will purchase custom-made bookshelf covers to protect collection objects stored on open shelves.

• $13,390 - The Palmer Museum of History and Art will purchase a Bookeye book scanner to more efficiently digitize their collections.

• $12,325 - The Hammer Museum will purchase Lantern devices and create an audio tour of their museum.

• $8,149 - The Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center will rehouse and reorganize archival collections and digitize photographs related to Alaska Native residential boarding facilities that were Haines-based.

• $5,220 - The Resurrection Bay Historical Society will contract with a conservator to clean, repair, and remount their 1974 Iditarod Race Mukluks, as well as hold a two-day, four-hour workshop on the care of clothing and fiber-based collections for museum staff, board, and a member from Seward Friends of the Library, which also has fiber-based collection items.

• $7,056 - Alaska Aviation Museum will complete a pilot project that will allow them to begin a full inventory of their collection and update important collections procedure documents in the process.

• $9,905 - The Sealaska Heritage Institute will contract with a conservator and storage mount-maker to complete work on twenty-five new collection items from the Wells Fargo Museum. Both consultants will also provide training to the Collections Manager as they work.

• $3,550 - Alaska Botanical Gardens will improve their art collection management practices by training staff in collections care, and creating collections care and cataloging policies.

Art Acquisition Fund - Round 2 Grants

• $8,500 - The Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center will acquire Troller, a nautical-themed guitar created by Rob Goldberg, a local artist who has been the recipient of two past Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Awards.

• $6,250 - The Sitka Historical Society will acquire an Aleut/Alutiiq open crown hunting visor and throwing dart set, created by Peter Lind, Sr., to assist them in telling the history of the Aluet/Alutiiq peoples in Sitka.

• $17,000 - The Alaska State Museum will acquire a traditional Spruce Root Hat woven with a skil (property ring) at the top, which was created as a collaborative effort by the family of Delores Churchill (Haida) of Ketchikan. It will be the first hat of its kind in their collection and will check off an item on their collections development plan.

• $3,700 - The Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will commission an Octopus Bag from artist Jill Kaasteen Meserve. This will allow SHI to add a modern octopus bag to their collections in time for an upcoming exhibition on Alaska Native Women Artists. It will also improve their collection of artworks created by women—many of which have been traditionally seen as “crafts” instead of “art”.

• $18,900 - The Ketchikan Museums will commission a set of five Tiffany-style, stained glass windows for their Tongass Historical Museum entryway from local artist Terry Leberman. The windows will depict scenes of Ketchikan Creek featuring the seasons and moods of the creek and the creatures that depend upon it.

• $675 - Kodiak Historical Society will acquire Across Blue Seas, a beaded necklace and earrings set from local artist Mary Jane Longrich that will help the museum tell the story of trade beads and the prominent role they play in Alutiiq history and artistry.

• $4,500 - Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC) will acquire Credible, a piece from a series addressing abuses perpetrated by the Catholic Church in the State of Alaska. The artwork was created by Athabascan and Iñupiaq artist Sonya Kelliher-Combs. ANHC will use this piece to engender empathy and awareness of child sexual abuse, an issue that has plagued the Alaska Native community since missionization.

• $7,000 - Alaska State Museum will acquire Out Late Again, I See, a contemporary diorama by Juneau-based artist Mitch Watley. The retro-futuristic piece will improve the museum’s collections of contemporary sculptural work and Alaskan art, and add a touch of humor to their collection.

• $11,250 - Alaska Aviation Museum will commission three pieces by artist John Hume for their upcoming permanent exhibition Explorers and Pathfinders. The pieces will depict three important aviation moments that do not have photographic evidence: the Discovery of Merrill Pass in 1927, the Wilkins Arctic Expedition in 1928, and the Cosmic Ray Expedition to Mt. McKinley in 1932.

We want to congratulate everyone on their successful grant applications! We can’t wait to see the progress on your projects.

Museums Alaska and the Alaska museum community stand in support of the Alaska Jewish Museum and its mission to provide a home for Jewish history, art, and culture in Alaska. 

We are deeply disturbed by the recent attacks of antisemitic vandalism that the Alaska Jewish Museum has experienced in Anchorage. Curator Leslie Fried has twice found swastika stickers stuck to the museum doors and windows and in the second incident, a swastika was gouged through a sticker into a door. 

Museums Alaska, Alaskan museums, and museum staff members across the state stand in solidarity with Curator Leslie Fried, the Alaska Jewish Museum, and the Alaska Jewish Campus—offering support as the museum seeks to address these crimes and ensure the safety of its facilities and community.

This vandalism is an attack on all of us and the inclusive Alaska history our institutions were founded to tell. History reveals that malicious acts increase during uncertain times, and they flourish when encouraged or ignored by people in leadership positions. We will not ignore this spiteful act and we will work with the Alaska Jewish Museum to combat bigotry and prejudice in all its forms.

Education is one of the most important tools we can use to end hate crimes. Alaska’s museums are institutions of lifelong learning and we are well-positioned to share information about the diverse communities that contribute to the cultural and social richness of our state.

Museums across Alaska encourage our communities to recognize that diversity is a strength and to learn about the vibrant cultures and resourceful individuals that have shaped Alaska. And we will continue to strive to reach community members we don’t know with our programming because it is those individuals and groups who may benefit the most from respectful dialogue about Alaska’s history and peoples. 

Together we stand steadfast in our support of the Alaska Jewish Museum and affirm our intent to combat acts of hate against our museum community. 

Museums Alaska

Alaska Aviation Museum

Alaska Botanical Garden

Alaska Emerging Museum Professionals Chapter 

Alaska Humanities Forum

Alaska Jewish Museum

Alaska State Museums:
Alaska State Museum, Juneau & Sheldon Jackson Museum

Alaska Veterans Museum 

Alpine Historical Society

Alutiiq Museum

American Bald Eagle Foundation

Anchorage Museum

Aunt Claudia’s Dolls, a Museum 

Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum

CATPAW

Chickaloon Village Traditional Council

Chilkat Valley Historical Society

Clausen Memorial Museum

Cordova Historical Museum

ExhibitAK

Fairbanks Children's Museum

Fairbanks Community / Dog Mushing Museum

Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum 

Haines Sheldon Museum

Homer Council on the Arts

Hope and Sunrise Historical and Mining Museum

Juneau-Douglas City Museum

Kawerak Katirvik Cultural Center

Ketchikan Museums

Kodiak History Museum

Little Lithuanian Museum & Library

Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry 

Museum of the Aleutians

Palmer Museum of History and Art

Pioneer Air Museum

Pratt Museum & Park

Preservation Alaska

Resurrection Bay Historical Society

Sealaska Heritage Institute

Talkeetna Historical Society and Museum

Thole Exhibits And Mounts (TEAM)

University of Alaska Museum of the North

Valdez Museum and Historical Archive