Pottery Project Progress Reports

3 Tribes, City and Museum Form Partnership to Protect Pottery
Summer 2005

ASM has reached, and surpassed, its $2.5M fundraising goal to begin renovation for The Pottery Project: the care and preservation of the museum's pottery collection, the largest Southwest Indian ceramics collection in the world.

Major contributors to the Pottery Project with UA President Peter Likins. Left to Right: Richard Narcia - Governor of the Gila River Indian Community, Leonard Rivers - Vice President of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Agnese Haury, Peter Likins, Terry Enos - Chairman of the Ak-Chin Indian Community

The Pottery Project will create a “viewable vault” and safe-haven for the museum's 20,000 pots, a state-of-the-art conservation laboratory to provide ongoing care and for teaching, and an endowment for programs to interpret and present the pottery.

In an unprecedented partnership, the Ak-Chin Indian Community, Gila River Indian Community and Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community jointly contributed a total of $675,000 to the City of Tucson and ASM.

UA President Peter Likins presents Agnese Haury with a plaque in honor of her contribution. Tucson Councilwoman Kathleen Dunbar and Terry Enos, Chairman of the Ak-Chin Indian Community

The partnership - and the successful completion of ASM's first fundraising campaign - was celebrated at a formal announcement ceremony on December 12, 2003, where Agnese N. Haury was also honored for her contribution of $1M - the museum's first gift at that level.

Tribal funding is being made available through shared revenues from Indian gaming, a component of Indian gaming compacts passed by Arizona voters in November 2002. Shared revenues must be given to a municipality, and Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup's office enthusiastically facilitated the process on ASM's behalf.

The funding is particularly significant in that this is the first time the tribes have come together to support a cultural project of this type. In addition, the gift will support care and protection of materials, not only belonging to the participating communities, but materials from indigenous peoples across the region. In this way, the gift makes an important statement about how we all share the responsibility for stewardship of our past. The gift will also help match ASM's $700K Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Hartman Lomawaima, ASM Interim Director, expresses thanks on behalf of the museum. ASM Advisory Board Co-Chairs (left to right): Frederick T. Lau II, Dennis H. Lyon, Ralph Silberschlag were on hand to thank the donors.

ASM Interim Director Hartman Lomawaima expressed the museum's gratitude: “Those who are supporting the project and the museum are doing so with a true sense of citizenship and spirited enthusiasm. We are very grateful to the leadership and residents of the participating communities for their generosity and for helping us to realize a project that will be a source of pride for people in our state and region for generations to come.”
Full text of Lomawaima's address

Says Mayor Walkup, “It gives me great pleasure to be able to support the preservation of Native American artifacts and to ensure that, through the museum’s collection, future generations have an opportunity to experience and understand our area’s cultural heritage.”

President Joni Ramos of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community adds “We are pleased to partner with the city of Tucson and Arizona State Museum. We’ve made this commitment because preservation of our past allows us to preserve our culture for the future.”

Governor Richard Narcia, Gila River Indian Community, commented on the partnership saying “With the Community's history and culture that is represented at the Arizona State Museum, we believe the contribution that is being made will strengthen the museum’s effort to preserve, protect, and care for these important artifacts. It was only natural to establish this partnership"

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Photos by Jannelle Weakly