The Abbe Museum Endowment Campaign:
Building Bridges of Cultural Understanding
Now in its 80th year, the Abbe Museum has thrived through the foresight, personal involvement and generosity of many. It relies on annual income derived from sponsorships, grants, membership, and donations to fulfill its misson to promote the understanding and appreciation of Maine’s Native American culture, history and archaeology. The Museum’s collections, exhibitions and programs focus on the Native American traditions in Maine and explore the broader Native American experience, past and present.
But the Abbe is a museum and more! While our core is based on the history of Maine's Native American culture, we use the opportunity to expand the vision to include multiple perspectives to include diverse interpretations and appreciation.
Your opportunity to help the Abbe strengthen its resources and stability to continue and expand into the next 80 years is NOW! Growing the Endowment will allow a greater percentage of the Abbe budget to be funded by this income. The Endowment Fund is mananged conservatively and helps level fluctuations in other sources of museum income for more consistent planning.
Secure the Vision
Widely respected for the excellence of its exhibitions, programs, archaeological research and collections care, the Abbe is one of the foremost museums of Native American cultures in the Northeast. Among the museum’s most exciting growth opportunities are program enhancements that will bring Native and non-Native people together, thereby building cross-cultural understanding. This will further strengthen the museum's profound influence on how people of diverse cultures understand and appreciate one another.
Therefore, the Abbe's goal is to raise $4 million in four years to continue the museum’s important work into the future.
Native Connections: New and Expanded Abbe Initiatives
A larger endowment will ensure the financial stability and consistent funding of the museum. The staff is poised to undertake exciting initiatives to increase Native peoples' participation in the Abbe and share knowledge of their artistic and cultural traditions with the public.
Possible Programming Enhancements Include:
• Expansion of Educational Resources to help teach the "Wabanaki Initiative." The Abbe is considered an important resource for helping educators comply with the law that requires schools to teach Maine Native American history and culture. To meet this need, the Abbe presents teacher workshops. But additional opportunities exist for more in-depth formats such as summer institutes for teachers.
• Development of a Native Garden at the downtown Abbe in conjunction with Penobscot elders, teachers and interns passing on ancient traditions to new generations of Native learners interested in maintaining their cultural knowledge.
• Increasing Collaborations to present programs and panel discussions that widen knowledge and foster understanding of issues that affect Native people today such as the threat of the Emerald Ash Borer Beetle, and the importance of the Penobscot River Restoration project to the economy, environment, and history of the Northeast.
• Expansion of the Native Artists-in-Residence. Funded by the Maine Arts Commission, a two-week program in fall 2004 illustrated the value of having elementary school students learn about Wabanaki art and cultures through interaction with two Passamaquoddy basketmakers. This initiative would make it possible for the Abbe to provide artists’ residencies during the school year and the summer.
• Enhanced Programming of Native Visual and Performing Arts. Additional funding will enable the museum to expand its program of music, dance, storytelling and other performing arts by Maine and other Native artists, as well as craft demonstrations and hands-on workshops by Native craftspeople.
• Continuation of the Waponahki Student Art Show. A highly successful annual exhibition presented since 2001, this project is a collaboration of the Abbe and Maine Indian Education. With proper funding this experience could be expanded to include students in all four Maine tribes and circulated more widely in and outside of Maine.
• Creating Exhibitions and maintaining an ongoing array of world-class exhibitions, enhanced by the endowment, will enrich visitors’ experience of the Abbe, deepen their understanding of Native American cultures and continually engage audiences, existing and new.
• Improvements in technology to provide greater access to programs available on the Abbe web site for increased learning and collaborative opportunities.
• Expanding Cross-Cultural Programs. The Abbe’s educational programs complement its exhibitions by interpreting Wabanaki cultures, history, art and archaeology for diverse audiences. Among these programs are those that give non-Native visitors an opportunity to interact with and learn from Wabanaki people. Endowment funds will enhance the Abbe’s educational offerings, including programs that bring Wabanaki and other Native American artists and scholars to the museum.
• Enhanced Care of Collections. Increased endowment will help the Abbe care for its significant collections that span 10,000 years of history in Maine. The collections comprise a variety of objects and materials such as animal skins, wood splints, sweetgrass, birchbark and quills that require careful and sometimes costly conservation treatments. From a 100-year-old birchbark canoe to intricate beadwork on fragile fabric, each object needs its own special care to preserve it for future generations.
The Abbe's most critical role is that of a good will ambassador. The museum’s leadership and staff work very hard to maintain a direct connection between the Wabanaki people and the general population interested in learning about them. The Abbe consistently strives to preserve the past, to educate in the present by utilizing the knowledge of Wabanaki people, and to maintain a constant focus for the future.
—Madonna Soctomah, former Representative of the Passamaquoddy Tribe in the Maine Legislature
Your gift or pledge may be made in one of the following ways:
For more information please contact:
Pepper Cwik, Development Director
(207) 288-3519 or pepper@abbemuseum.org