Description

The Minnesota Museum of American Art (The M) seeks funding for a major permanent- collection reinstallation in expanded galleries that will mark the collection’s return to long-term view after ten years and a period of financial instability. “Here, Now: American Hi/stories of Land, Heart, and Stars” will bring together 150 works across media, organized according to the theme of “connectivities.” A key element of the reinstallation, guided by The M’s new director, Kate Beane (Flandreau Santee Sioux Dakota and Muskogee Creek), is to uplift Indigenous voices in narratives associated with the Museum’s place and local histories. Iconic collection works by artists including Grant Wood and Elizabeth Catlett will be placed in dialogue with works by Native artists. Two new acquisitions, a sound installation by Mona Smith (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota) and a film by Leya Hale (Sisseton- Wahpeton Dakota and Diné) will situate The M within the context of its location on the ancestral and contemporary homelands of the Dakota people.  
This grant advances the AAP’s strategic goal 3a: Supporting collection-based projects aimed  at expanded access and utilization for wide-ranging audiences and communities.