2016–2017 Annual Report
IDENTITIES:
PAST, PRESENT + FUTURE
Cultural identity is formed through a group’s shared experience and the search for meaning. All living beings are shaped by conditions in which they live, including climate, food sources, available shelter, and the threat of predators. While some animals share our need for belonging, humans alone search for meaning. This search takes the form of observation, introspection, ritual, creation stories, and notions of an afterlife. How humans discern and manifest their beliefs help make up their cultural identity. The attempt to sort out how and why this happens is key to understanding what it means to be human. Such progress in understanding can help us shape a more rewarding and sustainable future.
President’s Message
When thinking retrospectively about SAR’s activities of a year just completed, sometimes a central theme percolates to the surface, the result of accident more than design. What emerged as a widely shared interest in 2016–2017 was the issue of collective identity— how groups maintain, defend, restore, and sometimes reinvent their identity.
SAR’s celebration of its 110th birthday in 2017 was an opportune moment to reassess our identity as an institution.
The archaeology of the Southwest and elsewhere thus remains part of our institutional DNA. But institutions must change and adapt to remain sustainable, and we’ve concluded that there is ample room in our mission to support fresh thinking about today’s social problems.
We look forward to seeing you at some of our events in the coming year.
Michael F. Brown, President
SAR by the Numbers
Years in Existence
Resident Scholars since 1993
Native American Artist Fellows since 1984
Members as of June 30, 2017
SAR Press Publications Currently in Print
Objects in the IARC Collections
Scholar Programs
Fosters deep study and its insights, furthers understanding of humanity and informs solutions to current and future challenges. Read more >
The Indian Arts Research Center
Ensures that Native American art thrives in the future and that its cultural and historical significance is recorded with sensitivity and accuracy. Read more >
SAR Press
Influences thought and creates change by making some of the latest anthropological research available through print and digital publications. Read more >
Public Education and Outreach
Adds depth, immediacy, and emotional impact to learning experiences through field trips and lectures, salons and classes. Read more >
Your Support Matters
You can have a direct impact on the future of SAR. By giving to SAR, you support the organization’s ability to foster intellectually creative inquiry and expression exploring the human experience through its scholars, artists, and public programs. Give today >
2016–2017 Resident Scholars
Scholar Programs’ focus on anthropology and the social sciences provides the underpinning for well-thought-out and informed decision-making about how we want to live. Thanks to its generous supporters, this year SAR’s Scholar Programs division was able to provide fellowships for six resident scholars.
2016–2017 Indigenous Writer-in-Residence
Native Artist Fellows
Though the contemporary Native artist fellows are individuals shaped by current culture, the opportunity to study and reflect on the artistic expressions in the IARC collection and in Santa Fe deepens their understanding of art forms and helps drive their own work into the future.
Senior Scholars and Scholar-in-Residence
The School for Advanced Research (SAR) is home to several administrative faculty, research associates, and senior scholars who are actively engaged in research and writing in the social sciences, humanities, and Native arts.
Programs and Outreach
Click the dots along the timeline, or move forward/back using the left and right arrow buttons to see all the events of FY 2016–2017.
- July 6, 2016
Collections of Distinction
Tour at the Home of Bob and Lora Sandroni.
Read more about President's Circle Events >
- October 4 – November 1, 2016
In-Depth Class
Southwest Native Arts: An Exploration of Art, Community, and People
Bruce Bernstein - October 5, 2016
Scholar Colloquium
Listening Across Time and Geography: Exploring Sound in Archaeology
Miriam Kolar
Read more > - October 12, 2016
Scholar Colloquium
Analyzing the Impact of Native Peoples on the Anglo-Caribbean during the Early Modern Era
Nathaniel Millett
Read more > - October 13, 2016
Crossing Global Frontiers Lecture Series
Global Citizenship
Aneesh Aneesh
Read more > - October 14–16, 2016
Field Trip
Archaeoastronomy of Chaco Canyon
Find out more about SAR Field Trips > - October 19, 2016
Scholar Colloquium
Sı Eres Genízaro: Recognition, Belonging, and Genízaro Indigeneity in Northern New Mexico
Gregorio Gonzales
Read more > - October 20, 2016
El Delirio Legacy Circle Event
Fall Harvest Celebration
- October 25–27, 2016
Research Team Seminar
Reassembling the Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians: Toward a Collaborative Critical Edition of Franz Boas and George Hunt’s Pioneering 1897 Monograph
Read more >Funded by the National Science Foundation - October 26, 2016
Scholar Colloquium
Resurgent Indigeneity: Re/Making Indígena and Community through Education
Luis Urrieta
Read more > - November 2, 2016
Scholar Colloquium
Mexican Nazis & Global Pachucos: Propaganda, Intelligence and the Production of Border Invasion Anxiety during World War II
David Romo - November 3, 2016
Crossing Global Frontiers Lecture Series
A Strange Mixture: The Art and Politics of Painting Pueblo Indians
Sascha Scott - November 5, 2016
Field Trip
Rock Art and Ruins of the Galisteo Basin
Gary Hein
Find out more about SAR Field Trips > - November 9, 2016
Scholar Colloquium
Bad Births, Bad Bodies: Obstetric Fistula and Treatment Seeking in Niger
Alison Heller
Read more > - November 15, 2016
Native American Artist Fellow Talk
Lomayumtewa K. Ishii
- December 8, 2016
President’s Circle Winter Party
A Festive Mayan Evening
Read more about President's Circle Events > - January 1, 2017
New Year's Day
- January 7–8, 2017
Field Trip
Migrations: The Piro Pueblo Peoples and the Bosque del Apache
Find out more about SAR Field Trips > - January 26, 2017
Crossing Global Frontiers Lecture Series
What the Bin Laden Tapes Reveal about Al-Qaida
Flagg Miller - February 10–19, 2017
Field Trip
Yucatan: Maya Ruins and Fabulous Haciendas
Dr. William Saturno
Find out more about SAR Field Trips > - February 23, 2017
Crossing Global Frontiers Lecture Series
What Ifs: Santa Fe and Southwestern Archaeology
- March 29, 2017
IARC Speaker Series
Keynote Session: The History of SAR and its Relationship to Indigenous Peoples
- April 4–6, 2017
Research Team Seminar
Aboriginal Tourism: Prospects for the Development of Diverse and Sustainable Indigenous Enterprises in the Americas
Read more >Funded by the National Science Foundation - April 5, 2017
IARC Speaker Series
Trailblazing an Indigenous Archaeology: New Methodologies
- April 12, 2017
IARC Speaker Series
Lighting a Pathway: Community + Museum Guidelines for Collaboration
- April 19, 2017
IARC Speaker Series
At the Forefront of Repatriation: New Policy and Impact beyond the United States
- April 25–May 16, 2017
In-Depth Class
Southwest Native Arts: An Exploration of Art, Community, and People
David E. Stuart - April 27, 2017
Latino Studies Lecture
Hispano Homeland or Fantasy Heritage?
John Nieto-Phillips - April 28, 2017
Field Trip
Mesa Prieta: 100,000 images, 7,500 years of Rock Art, and a Traditional Pueblo Meal
Find out more about SAR Field Trips > - May 7–11, 2017
Advanced Seminar
Archaeologies of Empire
Funded by the Annenberg Conversations Endowment - May 11, 2017
President’s Circle Spring Event
An Evening with Douglas Preston: “They Came to Wither the Flowers: The Abandonment of Ancient Mosquitia”
Read more > - May 12, 2017
Field Trip
Experimental Living on the Edge of the Taos Desert
Find out more about SAR Field Trips > - May 18, 2017
Crossing Global Frontiers Lecture Series
How the Languages We Speak Shape the Ways We Think
Lera Boroditsky - May 19, 2017
Native American Artist Fellow Talk
Luanne Redeye, 2017 Barbara and Eric Dobkin Native Artist Fellow
- May 22, 2017
IARC Speaker Series
Symposium - Understanding Cultural Property: A Path to Healing through Communication
- June 15, 2017
Crossing Global Frontiers Lecture Series
Spiro Archaeological Site: Travels on the Path of Souls
Kent Reilly - June 16–June 18, 2017
Field Trip
Canyon de Chelly and the Navajo-Churro Sheep Resurgence
Find out more about SAR Field Trips > - June 23, 2017
President’s Circle Event
An Evening with Wes Cowan in Honor of SAR’s 110th Anniversary
Read more > - June 24, 2017
110 Years at SAR Anniversary Event
What’s Your Treasure Worth? Open House and Treasures Event
Read more >
Summary Financial Statement
SOURCES OF FUNDING
FOR FY17 OPERATIONS
EXPENSES BY FUNCTION
FOR FY17 OPERATIONS
Funds raised or earned in previous years were used to fund the current year’s operations.
Featured Projects
Community + Museums: Guidelines for Collaboration
After four years of work, the IARC launched an online resource for communities and museums featuring two sets of guidelines designed to encourage collaboration. In partnership with the National Museum of the American Indian, the IARC engaged over 100 tribal representatives, museum professionals, and artists with this initiative. Read more >
Anne Ray Interns
FY 2017 marked another successful year of supporting two Anne Ray interns through a generous grant from the Anne Ray Foundation. A graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts, intern Saeko Yamada explored how different aspects of museum practices can be valuable to Native communities. Intern Nina Sanders (Crow) confirmed her career in museum work through her experience at SAR. The internships focus on training recent college graduates and junior museum professionals. Interns work in registration, collections management, education, and programming. Read more >
SAR Press
SAR Press publishes books that provide us with access to the minds of some of today’s best researchers and writers in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, the social sciences, and Native American art. SAR Press produced five new publications this year. Read more >
Donor Profile
Ronald and Susan Dubin, SAR supporters for more than two decades. Ron was a founding partner of Dubin Clark and Co., a private equity firm. Susie is president of Dubin Investments. Dividing their time between Greenwich, Connecticut, and Santa Fe, the Dubins funded the construction of SAR’s Native American artist studio, which is named in their honor. They also endowed the first of SAR’s three Native American artist fellowships. Ron served as an SAR board member between 1994 and 2002.
“Native American culture and art hold a special place in the hearts of my wife and myself,” Ron Dubin says. “Twenty-four years ago, this interest motivated us to establish a fellowship at SAR where Native American artists are invited to spend the summer in Santa Fe and work at SAR in an art studio we built there. Unencumbered by life’s interruptions, they can draw inspiration from viewing the extensive SAR Native art collection. The satisfaction we feel each year from what these talented artists have accomplished and the ever-growing circle of Indian friendships we have developed more than compensate for what we have given.”
YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS
You can play a role in helping guarantee SAR’s future. By giving to SAR, you are supporting an organization where probing questions of global significance are explored every day. Each year, SAR must raise more than sixty percent of its budget through private-source revenues. Gifts of all sizes are essential to maintaining the quality of programming and research at SAR.
If you would like to make a tax-deductible gift to support the programs at SAR, you may visit donate.sarweb.org.
Thank you for making a difference now and into the future through your generosity!
The School for Advanced Research gratefully acknowledges the very generous support of the Paloheimo Foundation for production of this report. The Foundation’s grant honors the late Leonora Paloheimo and her mother, Leonora Curtin, who served on the Board of Managers of the School from 1933 to 1972.