For Immediate Release
ARLINGTON, VA – The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the only organization representing the entire scope of the museum community, announced today that Hallie Winter, curator at the Osage Nation Museum (ONM) in Pawhuska, OK, is the recipient of the 2018 Nancy Hanks Memorial Award for Professional Excellence, honoring a museum professional with less than 10 years’ experience in the field.
As curator, Winter also serves as the museum’s director. In this role at a small museum, her position encompasses not only duties typical of both museum curators and directors, but she also has filled several other roles since her appointment as curator in 2015, including education director, programs director, and exhibition designer.
“Ms. Winter’s hard work and ingenuity completely renovated the ONM from a 77-year-old assortment of tradition-bound exhibits to a fresh, innovative, and transformative space where community members feel at home,” said Raymond W. Red Corn, Assistant Principal Chief of the Osage Nation, who nominated Winter for the award. “In a short span of time, Ms. Winter managed to recapture the founding spirit of the ONM: to preserve and interpret Osage Nation history, culture, and art.”
The award will be presented at the Alliance’s 2018 Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo in Phoenix on May 7. First given in 1985, the Nancy Hanks Memorial Award recognizes a specific achievement that has benefited either the honoree’s home institution or the museum field in general. The award commemorates the lifelong support by the late Nancy Hanks of cultural endeavors, and in particular her encouragement of young professionals in the cultural arena. Nancy Hanks served eight exceptional years as Chair of the National Endowment of the Arts.
“We commend Hallie for her achievements, which extend beyond her museums’ walls and into the community,” said Laura Lott, president and CEO of the Alliance. “Her work also has impacted her colleagues in tribal and small institutions, through her participation in panels at conferences and other discussions in the field.”
A graduate of SUNY Buffalo State College, Winter also serves as a member of a local arts organization, Preserving Arts in the Osage, and is also on the planning committee for Oklahoma Creative Communities – Pawhuska. She presented at AAM’s 2017 Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo in St. Louis in a session titled “Museum Rehab: Starting Over at the Osage Nation Museum.”
About the American Alliance of Museums
The American Alliance of Museums has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community. Representing more than 35,000 individual museum professionals and volunteers, institutions, and corporate partners serving the museum field, the Alliance stands for the broad scope of the museum community. For more information, visit www.aam-us.org.
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Media Contact:
Joseph Klem
Director, Public Relations
American Alliance of Museums
202-218-7670
jklem@aam-us.org
