Pratt Museum

The Kachemak Bay: An Exploration of People and Place Education Project coordinated and expanded the Pratt Museum’s education programs under the institution’s new thematic focus on People and Place. The museum’s revisioning process, begun years earlier, served to unify the museum’s diverse content areas (natural history, cultural history, and art) and renovation of the museum’s exhibits were underway at the time of the grant. The MFA grant allowed the Pratt Museum to bring its educational programming in line with this new focus and to market itself to year-round and summer residents in Homer, Alaska, including adults and children, artists, scientists, Native Americans, and others. Among the many public offerings created are a National Park Service Laureate Program involving work on a BearCam; sixteen Special Speaker, exhibit-based training and learning sessions for museum staff, partners, and interested members of the public; and numerous ongoing programs and activities for adults and children. Ongoing programs include “Evening with the Gardener,” “Forest Ecology Trail Evening Hike,” “Feed the Fish” and “Object at Hand,” which feature science, art, and cultural activities. In addition, hands-on activities and study kits were provided to visiting school and education groups; new internship opportunities were created for middle and high school students and non-school Native Americans that included preserving a whale skeleton, conducting a Homestead Cabin Visitor Survey, and participating in local archaeological work; The Museum also revised and disseminated an Education Program brochure. The project involved a number of partnerships with federal agencies such as the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as local science and arts organizations; these partnerships continue to evolve.