The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian a $300,000 grant to launch a program of fellowships for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The four-year program will provide opportunities for three fellows who have demonstrated an interest in the interpretation of the arts in a museum or similar setting. Each fellow will work closely with the museum’s curatorial staff and exhibition team in the development of major exhibitions for its main gallery. The resulting exhibitions will open in November of 2018, 2019, and 2020.
“This prestigious award is one of the biggest grants in the museum’s history,” said director Jonathan Batkin. “It will enable us to accomplish some of the most important goals in our new strategic plan, most notably a commitment to train young scholars in the presentation of Native American arts in a museum setting. We strongly encourage young Native American scholars to apply for these opportunities.”
One Mellon Fellow will be selected annually from 2017 through 2019, and each will be immersed in the museum’s exhibition process. In conjunction with the launch of the fellowship program, the museum is announcing a new internship program, as well as an outreach program for Pueblo Indian communities in northern New Mexico.
The Wheelwright Museum, New Mexico’s oldest independent nonprofit museum, was founded in 1937.
