2015 ATALM Museum Summit: Training and Educational Challenges and Opportunities for Native Peoples

In this panel, Joe Horse Capture, Associate Curator; Marian Kaminitz, Conservator; Cynthia Chavez Lamar, Asistant Director for Collections; and Kevin Gover, Director, all at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, discuss the ways in which museums can contribute to the training and professional development of Native students to work in museums. In particular, they provide an overview of the opportunities -- internships and fellowships -- that the Smithsonian and other institutions offer to Native students in the US. Finally, Kevin Gover addresses issues surrounding the care of Indigenous collections according to Indigenous traditions and protocols, as well as the importance of including Native voice into museums in order to change wrong and inaccurate narratives and representations of Indigenous peoples. This panel was part of the Museum Summit during the pre-conference activities for the 2015 ATALM annual conference in Washington, DC on September 9, 2015.