Kemp Now Humanities Forum Board Member

Erik Wander/KMXT

The Alaska Humanities Forum helps Alaskans engage in humanities-based projects and innovative programs which are either funded by the forum or run directly it. One long-time member of the Kodiak arts community has been appointed by Governor Sarah Palin to the forum’s board of directors.

The forum’s 20-member board, including five governor’s appointees, supports language, literature, religion, philosophy, history and the arts in Alaska. It awards grants for funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and develops programs and projects to support the humanities in Alaska.

A press release issued by Palin’s office last Wednesday announced the appointment to the board of Kodiak’s Nancy Kemp, executive director of the Kodiak Arts Council since 1999, among two other appointees.

Kemp said she doesn’t know how she was nominated, but that she is gratified to have the opportunity to serve on the board.

— (Kemp 1 15 sec. "Well, I was glad to … grants to do humanitarian projects.")

Kemp said the forum’s board makes decisions about funding of a broad spectrum of humanities projects. She mentioned the Alutiiq Museum as just one of many examples of organizations or individuals who have received funding in the past.

— (Kemp 2 18 sec. "Like the masks that … quite a bit of verbal history.")

Kemp said she views part of her role on the board as advocating for innovative Kodiak projects. She hopes to see increased active interest in humanities projects from organizations and members of the Kodiak community.

— (Kemp 3 18 sec. "Partially representing Kodiak … of the humanities forum.")

Kemp will be stepping down from her post at the Kodiak Arts Council as soon as a replacement is chosen. She said she is not retiring, but instead plans to pursue a long-held wish to make children’s furniture. She said the timing for making the transition was right.

— (Kemp 4 13 sec. "I’ve always wanted to … is a good time for a transition.")

Kemp, who ran an advertising and art company in Kodiak from1971 to 1998, does not yet know when she will take her seat on the board. She said that in some ways she’s following in the footsteps of her late husband, Gerald C. Wilson, who preceded Kemp in the post of executive director of the Kodiak Arts Council for 18 years and also served as chairman of the Alaska Humanities Forum prior to his death in 1998. Also appointed to the board were Thomas W. Nelson of Juneau and Gerald B. Covey of Anchorage.

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