City Council Memorandum
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DATE: MARCH 22, 2022 FROM: MUSEUM DEPARTMENT WARDS: ALL
SUBJECT: GRANT AWARD OF $19,150 FROM THE ASSOCIATION OF TRIBAL ARCHIVES, LIBRARIES, AND MUSEUMS FOR AN ORAL HISTORY SERIES ON THE INDIGENOUS BOARDING SCHOOL EXPERIENCE – SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION ISSUE:
Approve the acceptance of a grant award in the amount of $19,150 from the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums for an oral history series on the Indigenous boarding school experience and authorize a supplemental appropriation in the same amount.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
That the City Council:
Approve the acceptance of grant funding in the amount of $19,150 from the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums for an oral history series on the Indigenous boarding school experience; Authorize the City Manager or his designee to execute all grant documents with the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums including making minor and non-substantive changes to documents associated with the grant as necessary; and With five affirmative votes, authorize an increase in revenue and appropriate expenditures in the amount of $19,150 in the Grants and Restricted Programs Fund, Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) Program.
BACKGROUND:
The Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) is an international nonprofit organization funded through a variety of private and public sources. Members include the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The organization maintains a network of support for Indigenous programs, provides culturally relevant programming and services, encourages collaboration among tribal and non-tribal cultural institutions, and articulates contemporary issues related to developing and sustaining the cultural sovereignty of Native Nations. The organization was incorporated in 2010 as an outgrowth of a 2002 conference held in Mesa, Arizona.
DISCUSSION:
ATALM announced a funding opportunity the fall of 2021 called “Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan” with an application deadline of December 13, 2021. ATALM was one of seven (7) U.S. organizations to receive funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to help Indigenous cultural organizations recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Grants of between $5,000 and $50,000 for one-year programs were available to non-tribal entities that partnered with tribal entities. ATALM staff strongly encouraged the application of the Museum of Riverside, working in partnership with the Sherman Indian High School and UC-Riverside.
The Museum of Riverside’s grant award will support a virtual and in-person humanities-based project called “Boarding School Stories.” The project comprises recording and presenting stories from the heritage of California’s Ajachemem, Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Luiseño, Tataviam, & Tongva peoples, specifically documenting the effects of the boarding school experience. Five tribal members’ interviews will become a documentary first screened at Sherman Indian High School. Project includes a discussion with scholars and culture bearers Terria Smith (Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla), Lorene Sisquoc (Mountain Cahuilla/Fort Sill Apache), & Clifford Trafzer (Wyandot ancestry).
The Grantor mandated a 14-day response period for return of funding agreements related to the ATALM program. Because of the very short response timelines and modest award amount, the Museum Director, in consultation with the City Manager’s Office and City Attorney, has signed the attached funding agreement associated with this grant.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT:
This item contributes to Strategic Priority No. 1, Arts, Culture and Recreation, and specifically Actions 1.2.1 and 1.2.2 relating to diversifying programming and the audiences to whom these programs are made available.
This item aligns with each of the five Cross-Cutting Threads as follows:
Community Trust – As the main museum remains closed, programming that can be developed and presented outside Museum walls is essential to maintaining connections with the community. A program series in partnership with the Sherman Indian High School and UC-Riverside adds substance to the City’s intentions regarding diversity and inclusion.
Equity – The Museum strives to develop programming that draws upon the unique experience of a broad range of the local population.
Fiscal Responsibility – The ATALM grant provides a non-City means of funding a valuable program.
Innovation – This virtual and in-person program will take advantage of contemporary technologies to ensure preservation of unique stories and dissemination of them to audiences in and beyond the community. The program will assist the Museum in supporting the schools as they work to meet ethnic studies teaching mandates.
Sustainability & Resiliency – “Boarding School Stories” is at its heart a story of resilience and cultural sustainability. By enhancing the availability of these histories, the Museum meets its own mission to preserve and interpret the cultural history of the Riverside region.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The total fiscal impact of this action is $19,150. Upon Council approval, an increase revenue and an appropriation of expenditures in the amount of $19,150 will be recorded in the Grants and Restricted Programs Fund, Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) Program revenue account no. 9923200-339000 and expenditure account no. 9923200-440309. The grant does not require a City match.
Prepared by: Robyn G. Peterson, Ph.D., Museum Director
Certified as to
availability of funds: Edward Enriquez, Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer Approved by: Lea Deesing, Assistant City Manager
Approved as to form: Phaedra A. Norton, City Attorney
Attachment: Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums Grant Agreement Museum ATALM Grant Acceptance ● Page 3