Piper Trust Awards $200,000 Grant to Arizona’s Heard Museum

PHOENIX, ARIZ. – The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust has awarded a $200,000 grant to the Heard Museum to strengthen the museum’s initiative to draw more local residents and families with children on a year-round basis. The grant was one of five grants given to arts and culture organizations by the Scottsdale-based foundation.

The funding will support increased family programming as well as a new interactive exhibition, “Every Picture Tells a Story,” which illustrates through visual imagery and storytelling how Native American artists are inspired by the wildlife and vegetation of their surrounding environments. Families can journey through seven distinct geographic regions of the country, experiencing visually and through hands-on activities the unique environmental markers within the various areas.

The exhibit’s environment-inspired designs will create an experimental gallery abound-ing with vibrant scenes that tell the stories of Native people from seven different regions — the Hot Southwestern Desert, Red Colorado Plateau, Vast Grassy Plains, Icy Arctic Tundra, Rocky Northwest Ocean Coast, Forested Great Lakes and Marshy Rio Grande River Basin.

The exhibition is scheduled to open October 5 and 6 with a grand opening celebration. In addition to the exhibit’s many interactive and take-home activities, visitors can see artists at work through demonstrations, watch a performance that shows how stories are told through music and dance, and help create a giant felt mural like those made by Inuit people from the Arctic.

The Heard Museum is a private, nonprofit organization that was founded in 1929 by Dwight B. and Maie Bartlett Heard to house their personal collection of primarily Native American artifacts. Today, the internationally acclaimed museum is known for its extensive collections of Native American cultural art and fine art, unique exhibits, special events and innovative programming.