SD Art Museum receives Community Innovation Grant

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PIERRE – The South Dakota Community Foundation (SDCF) recently awarded the South Dakota Art Museum with a $10,000 Community Innovation Grant. 

Offered in partnership with the Bush Foundation, the Community Innovation Grant program supports efforts to find breakthrough solutions to community challenges. Funds will provide partial support for the “Why” exhibit to travel to at least three museums (Atka Lakota Museum, Chamberlain; South Dakota Art Museum, and the Heritage Center, Red Cloud) in the state. 

This will allow invited fourth- and fifth- grade teachers to attend a one-day planning event held at the museums. 

“The South Dakota Art Museum is honored to be a part of this remarkable project,” SDAM Director Lynn Verschoor said. “This is the first time a project like this has been undertaken in South Dakota. We have formed a consortium of museums to support a series of exhibitions organized through the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies. 

“The exhibits are developed by Lakota curators, featuring Lakota artists, musicians and poets with curriculum developed by American Indian educators. We are looking forward to the exhibitions, as well as, supporting professional development opportunities for teachers to implement this remarkable curriculum and take full advantage of these important exhibitions,” Verschoor added.

The South Dakota Art Museum plans to develop a more inclusive curriculum for fourth- and fifth-grade students required to take South Dakota history. They want to expand the South Dakota standards with curriculum developed by Lakota teachers through the exhibition “Why.”

“We are pleased to partner with the South Dakota Art Museum on this important project,” said Ginger Niemann, SDCF senior program officer. “Lakota history is a valued component of our state’s history.”

The South Dakota Community Foundation will award $400,000 in Community Innovation Grants during 2018. 

For more information or to apply for a grant, visit https://sdcommunityfoundation.org/for-nonprofits/community-innovation-grants/.

Courtesy photo: Pictured are, from left: Maree Larson, SDCF board member; Lynn Verschoor, director, South Dakota Art Museum; Blanche Froelich, intern, South Dakota Art Museum; and Ginger Niemann, senior program officer, SDCF.