Image: Collections review with the Pueblo of Acoma at the Indian Arts Research Center
The School for Advanced Research (SAR) is honored to announce that it has been awarded a grant in the amount of $900,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The grant will support “Expanding Humanities Programming Capacity at SAR,” an initiative of SAR’s Indian Arts Research Center (IARC), which collaborates with descendant communities and stewards one of the nation’s finest collections of Native American art and cultural belongings.
One of thirty NEH Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants awarded, SAR’s grant is also one of only two NEH Chair’s Special Awards given during this cycle, the highest level of funding that, according to the NEH, is only awarded for projects of exceptional significance and impact, and for which SAR has committed to securing a 4:1 funding match within the five-year grant period. NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo) stated, “This funding will help preserve and expand access to community histories, strengthen the ability of small museums and archives to serve the public, and provide resources and educational opportunities for students to engage with history, literature, languages, and cultures.”
The overarching goals of SAR’s project, that will have broad national impact on Indigenous collections, are: (1) To preserve and protect the IARC’s collections so that they will serve future generations of Native communities, scholars, students, and the public in general; (2) To expand the IARC’s collaborative collections work with Native source communities; and (3) To promote equity between museums and Native communities.
In support of the project, Brian D. Vallo, former governor of the Pueblo of Acoma, wrote, “I look forward to joining the SAR family and collaborators, including the NEH, to realize the intent of this significant undertaking that will generate additional opportunities to advance scholarship around the humanities and issues of importance to Native American people.”
SAR’s president, Michael F. Brown, says, “We look forward to partnering with the NEH on this important project over the next five years, which will further a key element of SAR’s mission: respectful and collaborative stewardship of our Native American art holdings.”
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: neh.gov.
