News

Pratt Launches Its BearCam LIVE on National Geographic site!

Now you can watch the Pratt's BearCam LIVE online during the summer season! Thanks to new partnerships with National Geographic and Lake Clark National Park & Preserve, the Pratt Museum's BearCam can again be seen by audiences outside the Museum's walls. The Pratt's BearCam at McNeil falls is featured on National Geographic's new webpage: WildCam Grizzlies. Check out the great video, blogs, and commentary highlighting McNeil River bears.

This project is made possible by generous contributions from the National Park Service, The Mead Foundation, Alaska Conservation Foundation, Alaska Wildlife Alliance, and Friends of McNeil River. Technical service providers include SeeMore Wildlife Systems and Alaska Communications Systems. For more information on the Pratt's pioneering use of remote video technology in its exhibits, see our Online Exhibits page.

 

Pratt Mortgage is Paid Thanks to Patrons of the Pratt Society and Individual donors in 2006!

The Pratt is debt-free, thanks to generous contributinos to pay off the Museum's mortgage by Patrons of the Pratt Society and individual donors. The Museum celebrated with the community on Sunday, May 7th.

 

Pratt Receives 2005 National Award for Museum and Library Service

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Museum Director Heather Beggs, Nick Tanape, Exhibits Director and Cultural Liaison Gale Parsons, Board President Philip Alderfer and Museum Curator Betsy Webb at the White House for an IMLS award function in January 2006


The Pratt Museum has been named one of three recipients of the 2005 National Awards for Museum Service, the country's highest honor for extraordinary community service provided by a museum. The award recognizes the powerful role of museums in society and salutes the positive contributions made by each of the winners in making community service central to their respective mission. A formal awards ceremony will take place in Washington D.C. and each recipient will receive $10,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

“The Pratt Museum's commitment to building strong community partnerships-especially with Native villages around Kachemak Bay-earned it a place among the 2005 National Museum Service Award winners,” said Ms. Chute. “The museum employs an innovative model of exhibit and program development that gives voice to local homesteaders, fishermen, and Native Alaskans. At the same time the museum celebrates and interprets for summer visitors the area's rich traditions, cultures, and ecological diversity.”

“The Pratt is thrilled to be recognized for its service to the Homer community and Kachemak Bay region,” said Museum Director, Heather Beggs. “Our museum thrives on community participation and it's the incredibly vibrant stories of our local people that make the Pratt so unique. As a center for dialogue in our community, the Pratt strives to keep exhibits and programs very flexible and changeable, based on community response. We're honored that our efforts and the Homer community have been recognized with this national award.”

Throughout its history the Pratt has been quick to provide a forum for local issues, an active education partner with local collaborators, and is committed to producing high quality exhibits. “The incredible work of our staff, volunteers, and Board, both past and present, continues a history of excellence at the Museum built on strong community vision,” said Heather Beggs, Museum Director.

Senator Lisa Murkowski (AK) said, “The awarding of the National Award for Museum Service to the Pratt Museum is recognition of the depth of the museum's mission and the hard work and dedication of its employees and volunteers. It is a model for other museums to follow and I congratulate all involved on this award.”

The National Awards for Museum and Library Service honor institutions for their outstanding social, educational, environmental or economic contributions to their respective communities. The annual awards are made by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Recipients are selected by the Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services with advice from the National Commission for Libraries and Information Science and the National Museum Services Board.

Read about more Pratt Museum awards.

 

Pratt Receives Prestigious IMLS Museums of America Grant

Institute of Museum and Library Services logoThanks to a two-year grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Pratt Museum will embark on a major project to better integrate its educational programming with the Museum's comprehensive master exhibition plan: “Kachemak Bay: An Exploration of People and Place.” The first phase of new exhibits opened to enthusiastic acclaim in June 2004. The Museum is currently planning the second, larger phase of exhibit renovations. Bi-weekly brown bag lunches have been soliciting input and ideas from the community. This grant will partially support education staff at the Museum, the Community Conversations program and summer programming for youth.

 

Homer Society of Natural History Celebrates Its 50th!

The Pratt Museum's founding organization, the Homer Society of Natural History, celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2005. Although the Pratt Museum was not built until 1968, the Homer Society of Natural History had been gathering as a group since the 1950s and incorporated as a nonprofit in the Territory of Alaska in 1955. A community time capsule was sealed this August and instructions left for it to be opened in 50 years. Read our 50th Anniversary Newsletter! (4 MB PDF file)

 

Pratt Receives 2004 Governor's Award for the Humanities

On October 29, the Pratt Museum received the 2004 Distinguished Cultural Service Award in Anchorage during a ceremony honoring 14 winners of the Governors Awards for the Arts & Humanities. The Pratt was recognized for making significant contributions to the cultural heritage in Alaska for its efforts in revitalization of Alaska Native languages.

The Pratt's long tradition of nurturing collaborative projects with the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq villages of Kachemak Bay is a strong part of its mission to inspire self-reflection and dialogue in its communities. Through traditional skills workshops, a biennial Tamamta Katurlluta festival, and community-based videos, the Pratt has been a catalyst for connections between peoples of Kachemak Bay.

The idea for our most recent project, “Kiputmen Naukurlurpet-Let It Grow Back,” began in the Native village of Port Graham. In the process of making this community-based video, elders and youth came together to share their stories and create a film. Kiputmen Naukurlurpet gave voice to how their language was taken away, its current use in the village, and ends with the question, “Are we ready to bury it, or can we revive it?”

Community-based videos are the heart of the Pratt's major new exhibit initiative, Kachemak Bay-An Exploration of People and Place. They window out beyond museum walls to contemporary life in Kachemak Bay and bring together storytellers to create documentaries in their personal and communal voice. Each is produced collaboratively from start to finish by the storytellers. With this has come an awakened sense of community born from listening to each other and to the choir of perspectives.

Read about more Pratt Museum awards.