Education Programming: Treaties and American Indian Museum Fellowship
The Why Treaties Matter exhibit made possible by previous Legacy funding explores the relationships between Minnesota's Dakota and Ojibwe tribes and the United States Government. The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and the Humanities Center will take the work and impact of the exhibit deeper by creating a curriculum to complement the exhibit. Support will also be provided to The American Indian Museum Fellowship program – a three-week residential program, in partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society, designed to expose and engage Minnesota's American Indian undergraduates to the fields of museum work and archeology.
Councils of Color. $500,000 the first year and $500,000 the second year are for competitive grants to the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, the Council on Black Minnesotans, the Indian Affairs Council, and the Chicano Latino Affairs Council. Grants are for programs and cooperation between the Minnesota Humanities Center and the grant recipients for community events and programs that celebrate and preserve artistic, historical, and cultural heritage.
- Exhibit attendees and members of the public will gain greater knowledge and understanding of the American Indian tribes and communities as the result of this exhibit and programming.
- Make a positive impact in public schools and in higher education institutes and generate interest and desire to offer more relevant curriculum and programming to students throughout Minnesota.
- Raise the level of awareness, interest and dedication to teach to American Indian content by teachers and administrators of schools throughout the state.
- Generate a key desire to work with American Indian tribes and communities by enhancing knowledge of state workers, leaders, and community members in the non-Indian communities.
- Generate more interest in American Indian students in museum work and the fields of archeology.
• During this grant period, over 11,800 people visited the exhibit in 8 locations.
• Convened collaborative sessions with 11 community members to create educator guides that will help educators deepen learning around exhibit content
• 8 Educator Guides are in draft and have been piloted in two high schools (Walker-Hackensack-Akeley High School and Eden Prairie High School)
• 8 fellows completed the 3-week long residential American Indian Museum Fellowship
• Website enhancements are currently in progress
• Staff met with administrators from higher education to discuss how the exhibit could make a positive impact in a post-secondary setting