Native Arts Board Welcomes New Member

Maggie Wall/KMXT

Members of a prestigious national Native arts board were in Kodiak recently to acquaint themselves with the community and one of their newest members.

Sven Haakanson was recently appointed to the board of directors of the Native American Arts and Culture Foundation.

Haakanson is the executive director of the Alutiiq Museum. He says the foundation was set up by the Ford Foundation and its sole purpose is to help support or provide grants for Native peoples-individual artists, fellowships, community grants, and projects that strengthen arts and culture.

Foundation board members were in Kodiak in May to see the town, tour the Alutiiq Museum, and to acquaint themselves with the museum’s programs.

Haakanson says his work on the foundation board will mesh perfectly with his work at the Alutiiq Museum.

-((Native Arts Board :11 "It’s a wonderful board…indigenous cultures."))

To give you an idea of the caliber of board members, one is a former director of the National Museum of the American Indian, another is a former vice-president of the Ford Foundation, and another is the Director of the Cherokee Preservation Foundation.

Yet another board member is the lawyer who helped form the laws that mandated the repatriation of Native remains to their home grounds. Thanks to that law, more than 900 remains were returned to Larsen Bay in the early 1990’s for repatriation and burial.

Haakanson says the Alutiiq Museum itself has been a recipient of a grant from the Native American Arts and Culture Foundation on whose board he now serves.

-((Native Arts Board :32 "They’ve already given…across North America."))

Haakanson adds that he’s looking forward to working with the foundation that is known for its innovative and unique projects.

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