News from MIAC/Lab

Museum of Indian Arts & Culture to Receive $60K from Henry Luce Foundation

MAY 15, 2020

SANTA FE – The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (MIAC) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $60,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation as part of an emergency response to cultural institutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This grant will be used to mitigate the adverse impacts of the novel coronavirus on MIAC staff and educational programming and exhibits, as well as help keep contractors employed during the pandemic.

Funding from this grant will support three major upcoming projects at MIAC. The first one, “Clearly Indigenous: Native visions Reimagined in Glass,” is tentatively scheduled to open on Oct. 4, 2020. The second is “Painted Reflections: Revealing the Visual Complexity of Isomeric Design in Ancestral Pueblo Pottery,” tentatively scheduled to open August 2021. Both of these exhibitions are in various stages of development, and the money received will assist their continued work. 

The third component of this emergency grant will support the development of online artist videos. This project is expected to employ about 40 Native American artists to produce videos about themselves and their art, some of which will be geared toward educational activities for students.

“Because of this terrible pandemic we are all overwhelmed with, MIAC realizes that it must shift from a paradigm of engagement through on-site learning and visual experiences to one of adapting the visitor experience to a digital one,” said Della Warrior, Executive Director of MIAC. “The grant from the Luce Foundation provides the basis for MIAC to embark on this different pathway and it also supports native artists deprived of their normal venues for marketing their art. This particular endeavor helps MIAC carry out its mission in a new way. Instead of coming to the museum to learn about native arts and culture, they can go online and learn from native artists, scholars, and community members.” 

MIAC is especially grateful to the Henry Luce Foundation for its financial support and the Museum of New Mexico Foundation for its vital assistance in fundraising and grant support.

 

About the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture is a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, under the leadership of the Board of Regents for the Museum of New Mexico. Programs and exhibits are generously supported by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and our donors. The mission of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology is to serve as a center of stewardship, knowledge, and understanding of the artistic, cultural, and intellectual achievements of the diverse peoples of the Native Southwest. 


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