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  • Tuesday, April 23, 2019 3:41 PM | Executive Director (Administrator)

    Ten of Alaska’s collecting institutions, in eight communities from Unalaska to Fairbanks, have been awarded $76,154 in grants. The awards will support collections care projects through funds created by Rasmuson Foundation and administered by Museums Alaska.

    Established in 2013, the Collections Management Fund supports projects that advance the preservation of museum collections with awards of up to $15,000. The fund provides critical support for the care of objects documenting Alaska’s cultural and natural heritage. In April, Museums Alaska selected ten projects to fund. The funded projects include management of ethnographic collections and plant records, upgrading textile and basket storage, digitizing oral history tapes and movies, and two collections internships.

    The fund will offer additional grants in 2019. For eligibility information, application deadlines, and submission directions, please visit the Museums Alaska Collections Management Fund webpage.

    Museums Alaska is a statewide professional organization supporting Alaska’s collecting institutions and their staff members and volunteers. The non-profit organization supports museums and cultural centers in Alaska and enhances public understanding of their value. A nine-member volunteer board governs Museums Alaska with funding from memberships, grants, gifts, and sales.

    COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT FUND AWARDS SPRING 2019

    Alaska Aviation Museum—$14,812.16 for Accessioning & Records Management Project

    Alaska Botanical Garden—$6,510.00 for Photography and Signage Project

    Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository—$10,144.68 for Clark Bequest Project

    Cordova Historical Society and Museum—$5,157.00 for CHS Archive/Research Room Equipment

    Pratt Museum—$6,070.44 for Renovation wrap-up: A return to Collections

    Kodiak Historical Society—$8,239.47 for Collection Work and Viewing Space

    Museum of the Aleutians—$1,351 for Collections storage

    Pioneer Air Museum—$8,211.25 for Collections Cataloging Project

    Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center—$10,658 for Save Our Oral History Project

    Valdez Museum & Historical Archive—$5,000 for Collections Management Internship

  • Thursday, April 18, 2019 2:03 PM | Executive Director (Administrator)

    As the 2019 conference call for proposals deadline nears, take a moment to read the following article written by Elizabeth Walsh, recipient of a scholarship funded by the Donna Matthews Professional Development Fund to attend Museums Alaska's annual conference, held in Nome in 2018. 

    I was hired as the Director of the Clausen Memorial Museum in Petersburg, Alaska in June 2018. As a small non-profit, our Museum functions within an intricate network of relationships. Such as the relationships between my staff, our Board of Trustees, and myself, as well as relationships with our community and other local institutions and organizations. These bonds strengthen our Museum and enrich our community. That the Museums Alaska’s theme for the 2018 Conference was Relationships perfectly suited my ongoing musings on how to get our community to actively engage with our Museum. The preconference workshop I attended in Nome opened my eyes to new roles our Museum can play within our community that will develop and strengthen personal connections to our Museum and its collection.

    I attended the half-day conference workshop hosted by Amanda Dale from the Alaska Humanities Forum. The workshop explored how to use our Museum’s collection as a springboard for conversation. By engaging in conversation we can foster stronger connections between individuals as well as between our community and our Museum’s collection. Using an item from a museum’s collection is an excellent tool for creating distance, which is sometimes necessary when discussing a contentious topic. Using a museum’s collection can also help equalize participants and create a shared experience that participants can then build on during the conversation.

    Museums are not just repositories of historic and old things. Museums hold living stories that still speak to relevant issues that are impacting our community today. This conference workshop focused on how to use our Museum’s collection to emphasize this aspect of museums. An important question I often ask myself is what can I do to help our community fall in love with their Museum? This in turn leads me to the question, what role does our Museums play in our community, and more importantly what new roles can our Museum take on that it hasn’t in the past? By nurturing personal relationships with our Museum’s collection, through conversation, I believe that our Museum can become a valuable resource for strengthening our community and exploring new relationships. My experience at the Conference in Nome has been instrumental to my growth as a Director of a small museum. I see a bright future for our Museum, one alive with stories both past and present.

  • Thursday, March 28, 2019 8:51 AM | Executive Director (Administrator)

    Six of Alaska’s collecting institutions, in six communities from Unalaska to Fairbanks, have been awarded $72,600 in grants. The awards will support the acquisition of artwork through funds created by Rasmuson Foundation and administered by Museums Alaska.

    The Art Acquisition Fund invites museums and cultural centers to submit proposals to purchase recent works by contemporary Alaskan artists. Now in its seventeenth year, this initiative has helped institutions across Alaska enhance their collections, interpret contemporary themes, and support hundreds of visual artists. In March, Alaska museums received funding to purchase 12 pieces of artwork from 9 Alaskan artists—including paintings, a helmet, a woven robe, mixed media, colored pencil drawings, and a photographic print.

    Of note, Ketchikan Museums will purchase a Chilkat robe woven by Dorica Jackson, receiving the full amount of funding allotted per year per organization from this fund. Two works in colored pencil to be purchased include a drawing of a family of desmos, an extinct Alaska marine mammal, by Ray Troll to be purchased by the Museum of the Aleutians, and a set of 18 drawings of Alaska wildflowers by Karen Stomberg to be purchased by the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

    The fund will offer two additional grant opportunities in 2019. For eligibility information, application deadlines, and submission directions, please visit the Museums Alaska website.

    Museums Alaska is a statewide professional organization supporting Alaska’s collecting institutions and their staff members and volunteers. The non-profit organization supports museums and cultural centers in Alaska and enhances public understanding of their value. A nine-member volunteer board governs Museums Alaska with funding from memberships, grants, gifts, and sales.

    ART ACQUISITION FUND AWARDS MARCH 2019

    Alaska State Museum

    Linda Infante Lyons Grounded $6,800

    Daniel Papke Clio $4,800

    Lena Snow Amason-Berns Kasa'inaq--Seal Helmet $4,900

    Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository

    Linda Infante Lyons Spirit of the Merganser $3,500

    Linda Infante Lyons Sunset at Pyramid Mountain $6,500

    Bruce W. Nelson Back Side of Ugak Island $350

    Clausen Memorial Museum

    Carey Case Southeast $400

    Ashley Lohr Top View $150

    Ketchikan Museums

    Dorica Jackson Diving Whale Chilkat Robe $35,000

    Museum of the Aleutians

    Ray Troll Alaska Desmo Family $1,750

    Ray Troll diptych, Unalaska Desmo Head I and Unalaska Desmo Head II  $4,250

    University of Alaska Museum of the North

    Karen Stomberg Collected Treasures: Six Alaska Wildflowers$9,000


  • Thursday, March 21, 2019 8:23 AM | Executive Director (Administrator)

    8/29/2019 UPDATE: The below information was provided to the museum advocacy community in March 2019. As of August 2019, the Governor has signed a budget that reinstates funding for the Alaska State Council on the Arts.

    The Governor's proposed budget does not include funding for the Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA), which would eliminate the council from the Department of Education and Early Development.

    ASCA maintains the Alaska Contemporary Art Bank, provides grants to many museums in the state, and has been a strong advocacy partner on behalf of arts and humanities in Alaska.

    As members of the statewide museum community, your voice matters on this issue.

    You can reach your legislators by email, phone, social media, or mail.

    Find out who your Senators and Representatives are with this interactive map, and then find their contact information below:

    Alaska State Senate

    Alaska House of Representatives

    The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) maintains an Advocacy webpage that allows you to find your elected officials by entering your address. There you will find your federal and state elected officials, including address, phone number, and social media handles.

    Consider sharing a Facebook post or Tweet and tagging your elected officials:

    "I support the Alaska State Council on the Arts, which provides valuable resources to the state of Alaska and my community. Please support the continuation of ASCA @[insert social media handle]"

    You can also send a 50 word message to your legislators, using the link below.

    Write a 50 word message

    The House Finance Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) Subcommittee met on March 18th and 20th to vote on the governor's budget amendments. The subcommittee did not approve the proposed elimination of ASCA. Next, the Finance Committee will review the recommendations from the subcommittees and construct a budget.

    Take a moment to thank the members of the House Finance DEED Subcommittee.

    Write to the House Finance Committee to support the recommendation of the House Finance DEED Subcommittee to fund ASCA.

    Museums Alaska's Board of Directors has supporting ASCA as one of our top legislative priorities this year. Please be sure to subscribe to our digital mailing list to stay up to date on this and other advocacy calls to action as they occur.

    Museums Alaska maintains resources on our website to help you navigate the Alaska legislative process here. We will continue to share more resources and information as it becomes available.

    We also hold a monthly Advocacy Task Force teleconference meeting, that is open to anyone interested in advocating on behalf of Alaska's museums. Please join us!

  • Thursday, March 14, 2019 8:47 AM | Executive Director (Administrator)

    The following article waswritten by Alexandra Painter, recipient of a scholarship funded by the Donna Matthews Professional Development Fund to attend Museums Alaska's annual conference, held in Nome in 2018.

    In Marieke Van Damme’s conference Keynote “The Joy in our Work,” she addressed many issues about the daily work of museum professionals, and gave simple, yet practical advice on improving workplace culture. For me, the keynote was a refreshing reminder to take care of yourself. To produce your best work, it’s important to be refreshed. Van Damme noted that all museum staff members, at all levels, can help do this, and that it is a collective responsibility in improving workplace culture.

    One of my hopes in attending this conference was to leave with some advice on facilitating productive professional relationships. This keynote was a good reminder that good communication, gratitude, and kindness can encourage and propagate relationships with other staff and board members, as well as the community you serve. It makes sense that the better our relationships are at work, the happier and more productive we will be as employees. Instead of spending time overcoming the problems associated with negative relationships, we can, instead, focus on opportunities for positive connection.

    Some of Van Damme’s suggestions for improving workplace culture are:

    • Ask colleagues how you can help them.
    • Express gratitude to co-workers through a note or email.
    • Be understanding and patient with those around you.

    All of these are straightforward suggestions, and can also be used in connecting with other institutions around the state. She noted that networking is about meeting other people, sharing knowledge, and making connections. It is an opportunity to expand support systems—the people you can rely on when you find yourself in need, and to reciprocate that support in turn.

    Moving forward, I hope to improve on existing collaborations and build on new professional relationships. I was excited to hear about all the great work and projects happening at the museums around Alaska at the conference, and feel energized to be involved.

    I extend my most sincere thanks to Museums Alaska, the Alaska Historical Society, and the people of Nome who worked so hard to put this interesting conference together. I look forward to seeing colleagues in Kodiak at the conference next fall.

  • Thursday, March 14, 2019 8:44 AM | Executive Director (Administrator)

    The Alaska State Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued a directive to the Division of Libraries, Archives, and Museums to look into divesting itself of the Sheldon Jackson Museum in Sitka, including the building and its collections, through sale.

    As members of the statewide museum community, your voice matters on this issue.

    You can reach your legislators by email, phone, social media, or mail.

    Find out who your Senators and Representatives are with this interactive map, and then find their contact information below:

    Alaska State Senate

    Alaska House of Representatives

    The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) maintains an Advocacy webpage that allows you to find your elected officials by entering your address. There you will find your federal and state elected officials, including address, phone number, and social media handles.

    Consider sharing a Facebook post or Tweet and tagging your elected officials:

    "The Sheldon Jackson Museum means so much to me. Please help protect these resources @[insert social media handle]"

    You can also send a 50 word message to your legislators, using the link below.

    Write a 50 word message

    Senator Bert Stedman of Sitka has spoken out about this issue and is quoted in several news articles in support of the Sheldon Jackson Museum. 

    Take a moment to thank Senator Stedman.

    Museums Alaska's Board of Directors has identified the potential sale of the Sheldon Jackson Museum as one of our top legislative priorities this year. Please be sure to subscribe to our digital mailing list to stay up to date on this and other advocacy calls to action as they occur.

    Below is a copy of a letter sent on behalf of our Board of Directors to Governor Dunleavy's office.

    Letter of support from Museums Alaska Board of Directors for SJM

    Please feel free to use the below template to write your own letter. The best letters address your personal connection to the issue, so please feel free to deviate from this template.

    Template letter of support for SJM

    AAM has also created an online version of this template letter, making it easier than ever to contact your legislators about this issue.

    Museums Alaska maintains resources on our website to help you navigate the Alaska legislative process here. We will continue to share more resources and information as it becomes available.

    We also hold a monthly Advocacy Task Force teleconference meeting, that is open to anyone interested in advocating on behalf of Alaska's museums. Please join us!

  • Tuesday, March 05, 2019 2:03 PM | Executive Director (Administrator)

    The Museums Alaska Program Committee is excited to share this year's conference theme and call for proposals:

    CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS: DIVERSITY, EQUITY, ACCESSIBILITY, AND INCLUSION

    The museum field is currently engaging in critical conversations regarding how our institutions can evolve to become more equitable, inclusive, diverse, and accessible. Topics of these conversations include (but are certainly not limited to): how to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve at the staff, board, and volunteer levels of our institutions; ways to include underrepresented or marginalized communities at all levels of the interpretation of history and culture; how to make inclusivity a key part of museums’ institutional values and culture; and how to work towards the systemic change necessary to be successful in these processes. These important conversations are as challenging as they are engaging, exciting, and forward thinking. Alaska museums have a responsibility to take on these important issues and discuss them in their communities and institutions as well as within our statewide community of professionals so that we may grow and improve together. It is through these conversations, and important work that must follow them, that we will shape the museums of the future.

    This year’s theme is inspired by the work of the American Alliance of Museums’ Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI) Working Group. The working group published a report last year that provides five insights, each with a call to action, regarding the values of DEAI. The full DEAI Working Group report can be found here. We invite session proposals that explore the many interrelated issues laid out therein.

    This year's conference will be held in Kodiak September 25-28.

    Read the full Call For Proposals.

  • Wednesday, February 13, 2019 1:23 PM | Executive Director (Administrator)

    As we begin planning for our 2019 conference in Kodiak, take a moment to read the following article written by Amanda Lancaster, a recipient of a scholarship funded by the Donna Matthews Professional Development Fund to attend Museums Alaska's annual conference, held in Nome in 2018.

    As not only a new Alaskan, but also a relatively new museum professional, I was most looking forward to the Museums Alaska conference as a way to finally put faces to names of people I had been speaking with for over a year. I was excited to meet people that loved working in museums, archives, and other cultural institutions as much as I love working in museums. It seemed fitting that the theme of the conference was Relationships. I was also eager to see Nome, a landscape so different from any I’d seen before.

    Museums in Alaska face unique challenges from those in the Lower 48, and so meeting with, and discussing common problems, was indispensable for me. It was reassuring to meet others that share similar struggles—when museum supplies cost as much to ship to Alaska as purchase, when the HVAC contractor has to fly in for a service appointment!

    The sessions, having the common theme of relationships, were very useful, as the Alutiiq Museum is purposefully trying to broaden its community support beyond our core circle of patrons. I strongly believe that in order for museums to survive in the future, they must engage more with the public and highlight history from below, an argument made by Dr. Lorraine McConaghy in her keynote address at the conference.

    Community conversations were a prominent theme across the conference, most especially in the Pre-Conference workshop, “Collections as Springboards for Community Conversations.” This workshop illustrated how well-situated museums are for making space for dialogue in the community, and facilitating what can be difficult conversations about community-wide issues.

    I have attended academic conference before, but this was my first professional museum conference, and it was immensely beneficial. The conference had a very open, friendly feel, and the town of Nome was a wonderful host. It gave me the chance to meet people that I might not have, and I was able to visit a part of the state which would usually be out of reach. The Donna Matthews Professional Development Fund is a resource to which new museum professionals in Alaska are lucky to have access. After having met so many colleagues from across the state, I feel much more comfortable reaching out for advice about any concerns I have, and I look forward to next year’s conference in Kodiak. I look forward to showing people around my museum and Alaskan town.


  • Wednesday, January 16, 2019 2:53 PM | Executive Director (Administrator)
    The following article was written by Margaret Greutert, a recipient of a scholarship funded by the Donna Matthews Professional Development Fund to attend Museums Alaska's annual conference, held in Nome in 2018.


    As a first-time conference attendee and recent transplant to Alaska from Washington State, it was valuable to meet many fellow museum professionals in Alaska. The conference theme relationships especially resonated with me and I was surprised to see so many session conference presentations demonstrating the collaboration between a tight-knit group of Alaska institutions. For example, Bethany Buckingham Follett and Selena Ortega-Chiolero working together to host the Old Town Autumn Fest in Wasilla and demonstrating how museums and other non-profits can work together, Exhibit AK and Anjuli Grantham leading an exhibit label workshop, NPS, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, and Conservator Nicole Peters working together to preserve the Richard L. Proenneke Cabin site. The most valuable takeaway for me from the conference was learning from these partnership presentations and developing a support network as we move forward with projects and ideas in Kodiak.

    I found the relationship between museum professionals and researchers at the conference especially unique. With so many joint presentations among Museum Alaska members, it is surprising to see fewer joint presentations with both the Museums Alaska and Alaska Historical society members. I brought this observation up in the post-conference webinar chat and thought Anjuli Grantham had an insightful response. She suggested bridging the gap between researchers and museum professionals through public history. I look forward to researching more about public history projects around Alaska and learning more about this field.

    We are excited to be able to host the Museums Alaska/Alaska Historical Society conference next year in Kodiak. In the coming months of planning, I think it will be valuable to cultivate a workshop or session that encourages dialog between museum professionals and researchers or perhaps highlight public history projects so we can better understand each other’s work. I look forward to seeing everyone together again at the conference next September.


  • Thursday, December 06, 2018 9:33 AM | Executive Director (Administrator)

    Eleven of Alaska’s collecting institutions, in seven communities from Ketchikan to Fairbanks, have been awarded $125,340 in grants. The awards will support the acquisition of artwork and collections care projects through two separate funds. The funds were created by Rasmuson Foundation and they are administered by Museums Alaska.

    The Art Acquisition Fund invites museums and culture centers to submit proposals to purchase recent works by contemporary Alaskan artists. Now in its sixteenth year, this initiative has helped institutions across Alaska enhance their collections, interpret contemporary themes, and support hundreds of visual artists. This fall, eight museums received a total of $86,975 in grants to purchase 29 pieces of artwork from 18 Alaskan artists—including paintings, carvings, photographs, multi-media works, and sculpture.

    This year, the Art Acquisition Fund allowed applicants to propose commissioned works. The Kodiak Historical Society and the Sealaska Heritage Institute are the first organizations to successfully receive grant support for commissioned works. The Kodiak Historical Society and will collaborate with Alutiiq mask maker Perry Eaton on an outdoor installation, and Sealaska Heritage Institute will work with Tlingit artist Nathan Jackson who will create a carved and painted wood hat.

    Established in 2013, the Collections Management Fund supports projects that advance the preservation of museum collections with awards of up to $15,000. The fund provides critical support for the care of objects documenting Alaska’s cultural and natural heritage. In November, Museums Alaska selected five institutions to receive a total of $38,322 in grants. The funded projects include caring for raptor specimens, conserving gut skin artifacts, digitizing media collections, completing diorama maintenance, and modernizing HVAC controls.

    Both funds will offer additional grants in 2019. For eligibility information, application deadlines, and submission directions, please visit the Museums Alaska website Grants page.

    Museums Alaska is a statewide professional organization supporting Alaska’s collecting institutions and their staff members and volunteers. The non-profit organization supports the improvement of museum services and promotes public awareness of the value of the state’s museums and culture centers. A nine-member volunteer board governs Museums Alaska with funding from memberships, grants, gifts, and sales.

    ART ACQUISITION FUND GRANT AWARDS 2018

    Alaska Aviation Museum

    Janine Gibbons A set of six paintings: Jorgy Jorgensen, Bill English, Ellen Evak Paneok, Herman Nicolet, Wilfred Ryan and Todd’s Air Service: Ed and Helen Todd $7,800

    Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository

    Cheryl Lacy Misty Morning $1,000

    Anchorage Museum Association

    Sonya Kelliher-Combs Red Curl $12,000

    Alanna DeRocchi Stay A Float, Animals as Object $4,000

    Polar Bear, Objects for Contemplating Impermanence $2,225

    Amber Webb White Qaspeq $5,000

    Hammer Museum

    Tresham Gregg Eagle Hammer $800

    Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center

    Jim Heaton Carved Eagle Shakee.at and Bear Paw Dance Rattle $8,000

    Kodiak Historical Society

    Carol Lambert Basket Not For Sale $600

    Perry Eaton Island Song $24,000

    Sealaska Heritage Institute

    Nathan Jackson Raven Hat $10,000

    Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center, Inc.

    Donna Catotti Blues Harp and Paradise Cove—Remnants of the Past $1,550

    Lindsay Johnson Still Ocean Bright $300

    Debi Knight Kennedy Love and Justice $5,000

    Beverly Schupp Chilkat River Valley Winter and Jack Strong at the Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center $2,200

    Katie Craney Forgotten Places $700

    Megan Morehouse Salmon Tree $500

    Andrea Nelson Chilkat Sampler $750

    Joe Ordóñez Moon Over the Headwaters and Cathedral Peaks $550

    COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT FUND GRANT AWARDS 2018

    Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository—$14,981 for HVAC Repair

    American Bald Eagle Foundation—$1,910.21 for Raptor Collection Protection

    Ketchikan Museums—$9,881.25 for Digitizing Media Project

    Kodiak Historical Society—$1,350.00 for Conservation and Education of Seal Intestine Windows

    Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center—$10,200.00 for Diorama Maintenance & Training

    2018 Grant Press Release (PDF)

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