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Pratt Museum, Homer, Alaska

Left to right: Mary Chute, Acting Director, Institute of Museum and Library Services; Heather Beggs, Pratt Museum Director; Native community representative of the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq Nick Tanape; First Lady Laura Bush. Photo by Steven E. Purcell.Click image for a larger version.

The Pratt Museum’s commitment to building strong community partnerships, especially with native villages around Kachemak Bay, helped earn it a place among the 2005 recipients. Permeating its many community programs and exhibits is an invitation by the Pratt Museum to make connections between worlds—natural and man-made, land and sea, native and non-native, scientific and spiritual. The museum asks its visitors to stop, listen, reflect, and think in new ways, and be moved to fully participate in community life.

Native community representative Nick Tanape, who works with the Pratt Museum to present his traditional lifestyle to visitors, will accept the award alongside Pratt Museum Director Heather Beggs, and Pratt Museum Board President Philip Alderfer.

Biographies of Participants

Nick Tanape, Interpreter of the Aluutiiq/Sugpiag Lifeways
Nick Tanape has presented the traditional lifeways of the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq for thousands of visitors to the Pratt Museum in Homer, Alaska. It is his way of ensuring that the ancient culture of his people will live on. Mr. Tanape has now agreed to travel to Washington, DC to share his story and his connection to the Pratt Museum.

When Nick Tanape arrived, he had traveled further than any individual to be at this event. He is leaving Homer, where the temperature is below zero, snowstorms are blowing, and Augustine Volcano is spewing off and on. But harsh elements, long distances, and separation from family are familiar to Nick, part of a tradition shared by his people. He remembers well how his father would leave his village in the fall, not to return until August, hunting all winter, then kayaking over 1,000 miles in the rough seas of the Gulf of Alaska from Cook Inlet to Kenia Fiords to Prince William Sound to deliver his goods and supplies to the coastal villages along the way.

Heather Beggs, Museum Director
This is Heather's third year as Director of the Pratt Museum. She serves on the Board of Directors of Museums Alaska, the statewide museum association, and has presented at annual conferences of Museums Alaska and the American Association of Museums. Prior to the Pratt, Heather worked as a Staff Attorney for Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in New York, advising low-income artists and nonprofits on their arts-related legal and business issues. She worked for several years at the Indiana University Art Museum while completing her MA and JD at IU-Bloomington. Heather also holds a music degree from St. Olaf College and enjoys every opportunity to sing and play in community music ensembles. Originally from Oregon, she loves Alaska's outdoor lifestyle and always keeps skis and hiking boots ready to go.

Philip Alderfer, Board President
Philip Alderfer is a local businessman and owner of The Alderfer Group, a Homer-based real estate, land development, and home design firm. He graduated from Syracuse University and holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan State University. An avid outdoorsman, he can often be found across Kachemak Bay hiking with his wife, Amy, and their dog Piper. Mr. Alderfer was elected to a three-year term in 2004.