Museums Alaska, in partnership with Rasmuson Foundation, manages two grant programs for the museum sector: the Alaska Art Fund (AAF)—previously the Art Acquisition Fund—and the Collections Management Fund (CMF).
We are delighted to award $208,440.15 this grant cycle—funding four organizations through the Alaska Art Fund (AAF), and nine organizations through the Collections Management Fund (CMF).
A huge thank you goes out to our funder, Rasmuson Foundation, for their longtime support of these impactful grant programs.
And another big thank you goes to our panelists, who volunteered their time and expertise to serve on the panels for these grants. We appreciate all of your work!
Through the AAF and CMF grant programs, museums and cultural centers apply for funding to purchase or commission artworks from contemporary Alaskan artists, and improve their ability to care for and share their collections.
This year, we have funded projects in Anchorage, Juneau, Kodiak, Eagle, Ketchikan, Fairbanks, Kake, Haines, and Hatcher Pass:
Congratulations to our 2025 AAF and CMF grantees:
Alaska Art Fund (AAF) – $52,615
- $20,000 – The Alaska Botanical Garden will commission a sculpture from Gideon Gerlt named “Foreign and Familiar,” a microorganism enlarged to allow the viewer to walk inside the abstracted sculpture, experiencing the surrounding landscape through an architecturally scaled, kaleidoscope-like lens.
- $615 – The Alutiiq Museum will purchase four pairs of earrings from Yvonne Mullan and a woven pendant necklace from Mariah Stapleton to broaden representation in their collections and meet goals in their collections plan.
- $20,000 – The Organized Village of Kake will commission Robert Mills to work with apprentices on creating formline designs for a traditionally dugout canoe (the first of its kind created in Kake since the late 1800s) and a modern fiberglass canoe. The creation of the art will provide the apprentices with practical experience of taking a design from concept to application on a three-dimensional surface.
- $12,000 – Sealaska Heritage Institute will commission a monumental mask from Brian Walker II called “Ade”, which is a standard Deg Xiang greeting usually responded to by the other person saying “Gogidet” (“I am here”). The concept is an invitation to visitors to interact with the work and explore the tradition of Deg Hit’an mask practices.
Collections Management Fund (CMF) – $155,825.15
- $17,600 – The Alaska State Museum will develop collaborative care and repair protocols for beaded collections, working with their Bead Study Group to address three main beadwork condition issues.
- $19,040 – Alaska State Parks will hire a contractor to inventory and establish intellectual control of the collection at Independence Mine State Historical Park.
- $19,688.60 – The Alutiiq Museum will work with the University of Alaska Museum of the North to transfer the Crag Point archeological assemblage from Fairbanks to Kodiak—returning the collection to the community and making it more accessible by cataloging samples, improving identifications, and scanning and archiving paper field notes.
- $19,997.95 – The Chugach Museum will evaluate, process, and catalog their archival collections by hiring a contractor to assess, organize, rehouse, develop a digital preservation plan, and create processing instructions.
- $19,945 – The Eagle Historical Society will receive second phase funding for their project to assess, clean and rehouse their moosehide drapes and other textiles. They will contract a conservator to complete stabilization of the textiles for exhibition.
- $2,159.60 – The Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center will purchase a freezer and HEPA vacuum to safely clean and treat objects in their collections.
- $20,000 – The Juneau-Douglas City Museum will relocate and mount the Harnessing of the Atom Kootéeyaa inside the Mendenhall Valley Library after it was found to have environmental damage. Relocating the totem pole inside will protect it from outdoor elements and extend the lifespan of this monumental artwork by Amos Wallas.
- $17,470 – Ketchikan Museums is redesigning and re-curating the Classroom Exhibit, which highlights the continuation of traditional cultural practices and art. The grant will help purchase, ship, install, and train staff on new display cases and mounts.
- $19,924 – The University of Alaska Museum of the North will curate more than 9,000 flower flies collected throughout Alaska over the past century—adding species-level identifications, photographing the specimens, and updating their database.