- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
Montclair, NJ – The Montclair Art Museum announced it has received a $320,000 grant from The Henry Luce Foundation to support a new project built around its collection of Native Art of North America.
The award is the Museum’s largest ever one-time foundation grant.
The grant-funded project seeks to “indigenize the curatorial process” by collaborating with Indigenous artists, scholars and communities, according to a statement.
The grant will fund project personnel, honoraria, and travel expenses to develop and execute an Advisory Board for Native American Art, a Project Curator of Native American Art, and two scholarly assemblies over a three-year period.
"We are so grateful to the Henry Luce Foundation for making it possible to realize what has been our longtime dream and goal of collaboratively engaging Indigenous artists, scholars, and communities with innovative plans for the museum's collection and exhibitions,” Chief Curator Gail Stavitsky said in a statement. “I look forward to working closely with the Advisory Board members and the future Curator of Native American Art, who will bring current thinking and new strategies to the process of creating new, more dynamic, more ethical and fully realized presentations of the Museum's collection that feature the perspectives and voices of their Native creators."
Along with Stavitsky, the Advisory Board will begin work in June-July 2020 to assist with the development of the Curator of Native American Art job description which will be officially posted in September. The intention is to have a curator in place in January/February 2021 and phased reinstallations of Rand gallery by fall 2023.
The members of the Advisory Board are:
- Heather Ahtone (Choctaw/Chickasaw), Senior Curator of the First Americans Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
- Kathleen Ash-Milby (Navajo), Curator of Native American Art, Portland Art Museum, Oregon
- Joe Baker (Lenape), Director of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, Mashantucket, CT
- Sherrie Ferri-Smith (Dry Creek Pomo’Bodega Miwok), Curator of Education and Exhibits, Grace Hudson Museum & Sun House, Ukiah, California
- Pamela Jardine, Curator Emerita of Native American Art, Montclair Art Museum
- John Lukavic, Andrew Mellon Curator of Native Arts, Denver Art Museum
- Kay WalkingStick (Cheokee), artist
- Lucy Fowler-Williams, Associate Curator and Senior Keeper of American Collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
As the only museum in New Jersey specializing in American and Native American art since its founding in 1914, the Montclair Art Museum’s collection of Native American art objects spans the period of ca.1200 C.E. to the present day, including a growing array of works by leading contemporary artists.
The collection represents the cultural development of seven major Native American cultures throughout the United States. Additionally, Native works are regularly featured alongside artwork by non-Native American artists from the Museum’s permanent collection.
This multi-faceted approach to American Native and non-Native art is one that distinguishes Montclair Art Museum because it allows for a broader understanding of the complexities of American history, and creates opportunities for greater access and deeper exploration.
Over the years the Henry Luce Foundation has provided essential support to the museum's exhibitions Cezanne and American Modernism and Matisse and American Art, as well as funding for a multi-year cataloguing project of the Museum’s Morgan Russell Collection.
More Stories Like This
First American Art Highlighted at Artesian Arts FestivalNew Book Features Professional Runner Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Whetstone,
Navajo Technical University Rodeo Team Competes at 2025 College National Finals Rodeo
Restoring the Voice of a Leader: Sitting Bull's Songs Reclaimed
New Exhibition of Contemporary Northwest Coast Indigenous Art Opens at the American Museum of Natural History
Help us tell the stories that could save Native languages and food traditions
At a critical moment for Indian Country, Native News Online is embarking on our most ambitious reporting project yet: "Cultivating Culture," a three-year investigation into two forces shaping Native community survival—food sovereignty and language revitalization.
The devastating impact of COVID-19 accelerated the loss of Native elders and with them, irreplaceable cultural knowledge. Yet across tribal communities, innovative leaders are fighting back, reclaiming traditional food systems and breathing new life into Native languages. These aren't just cultural preservation efforts—they're powerful pathways to community health, healing, and resilience.
Our dedicated reporting team will spend three years documenting these stories through on-the-ground reporting in 18 tribal communities, producing over 200 in-depth stories, 18 podcast episodes, and multimedia content that amplifies Indigenous voices. We'll show policymakers, funders, and allies how cultural restoration directly impacts physical and mental wellness while celebrating successful models of sovereignty and self-determination.
This isn't corporate media parachuting into Indian Country for a quick story. This is sustained, relationship-based journalism by Native reporters who understand these communities. It's "Warrior Journalism"—fearless reporting that serves the 5.5 million readers who depend on us for news that mainstream media often ignores.
We need your help right now. While we've secured partial funding, we're still $450,000 short of our three-year budget. Our immediate goal is $25,000 this month to keep this critical work moving forward—funding reporter salaries, travel to remote communities, photography, and the deep reporting these stories deserve.
Every dollar directly supports Indigenous journalists telling Indigenous stories. Whether it's $5 or $50, your contribution ensures these vital narratives of resilience, innovation, and hope don't disappear into silence.
The stakes couldn't be higher. Native languages are being lost at an alarming rate. Food insecurity plagues many tribal communities. But solutions are emerging, and these stories need to be told.
Support independent Native journalism. Fund the stories that matter.
Levi Rickert (Potawatomi), Editor & Publisher
