Helen Maynor Scheirbeck, Lumbee, was appointed by Congress to the first
NMAI board of directors. She resigned at the end of a two-year term, but
continued to volunteer for the museum until 1999, when she again took up an
official post as assistant director of public programs.
In that position, her primary concern has been to bring talented Native
artists to museum events. The idea is to spread the word, hardly new in
Indian country but not familiar enough by half anywhere else, that Native
art reaches beyond the pow wow grounds and the arts market, to the realms
of film and dance, poetry, music and drama. A recent symposium on poetry
provided ample evidence of that, and future NMAI events will include Native
music and drama. A registry of Native artists is in development.
In addition, Scheirbeck has directed the education department to work with
tribes in identifying the kinds of educational resources they want to share
on the museum Web site (which integrates web and webcasting media). Zuni
waffle gardens are in use there for environmental educational purposes, for
example, and parks are presented as community lands.
