Ed. Note: Jana McKeag, Cherokee, is the chair of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, an agency within the Interior Department.

"The Department of the Interior is exploring with affected tribes how to best ensure the protection and future growth of three regional museums - the Sioux Indian Museum in Rapid City, S.D.; the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning, Mont. and the Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko, Okla.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board has determined that it should gradually turn over these museums and their collections to non-federal parties in order to create opportunities for the museums to prosper without being tied to ever-shrinking federal funding. A transfer also will free the local tribes and communities to take a greater ownership and management role over these culturally significant collections.

Several decades ago, the IACB inherited these three small regional museums from the BIA when that bureau decided they were no longer priorities for its own budget. The museums collectively attract fewer than 49,000 visitors annually, and yet consume about half of the IACB's very modest $1 million budget."

Get the Story:
Jana McKeag: Indian Arts and Crafts Board promoting local control of museums (Indian Country Today 12/15)

Relevant Links:
Indian Arts and Crafts Board - http://www.doi.gov/iacb

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