NEA awards $20,000 grant to Center of the West for Paul Dyck Collection catalogue

National Endowment for the Arts awards more than $27.6 million across nation

Includes $20,000 awarded to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West

This week, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced awards totaling more than $27.6 million in its first funding round of fiscal year 2016, including an Art Works award of $20,000 to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and its Plains Indian Museum to publish a catalogue based on the Paul Dyck Plains Indian Buffalo Culture Collection.

In its first 50 years, the NEA awarded more than $5 billion in grants to recipients in every state and U.S. jurisdiction, the only arts funder in the nation to do so. The Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields.

“The arts are part of our everyday lives,” says NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “No matter who you are or where you live, they have the power to transform individuals, spark economic vibrancy in communities, and transcend the boundaries across diverse sectors of society. Supporting projects like the one from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.”

Rebecca West, Curator of Plains Indian Cultures at the Center of the West, agrees. She notes, “Support for the publication of a catalogue of the Paul Dyck Collection creates an opportunity for us to share the works in this collection through the writing of two notable scholars: Curator Emerita Emma Hansen, and artist and Plains Indian Museum Advisor Arthur Amiotte.” The full-color catalogue, titled Legacies: Indian Art from the Paul Dyck Collection, will feature 150 object images interwoven with the essays.

West continues, “This collection is known for its strong pre-reservation and early reservation content, and the catalogue is a continuation of our efforts to highlight the cultural significance of these masterworks in American Indian art.” The Center acquired the Paul Dyck Collection in 2007, and, in 2009, received a Save America’s Treasures grant for its long-term preservation.

In 2013, the Center’s Plains Indian Museum opened a gallery dedicated exclusively to the display of a selection of 80 objects from the 2,000-object collection. That project was facilitated by grants from NEA, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Wyoming Humanities Council, as well as private donors.

In addition to the highly-anticipated catalogue, to be published by University of Oklahoma Press, future plans include developing a traveling exhibition of objects from the collection. Find out more about the Paul Dyck Plains Indian Buffalo Culture Collection at centerofthewest.org/our-museums/plains-indians.

Since 1917, the award-winning Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, has devoted itself to sharing the story of the authentic American West. The Center is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. For additional information, visit centerofthewest.org or the Center’s Facebook page.

Image: Bear claw necklace, Central Plains, ca. 1860. Otter hide, grizzly bear claws, glass beads, abalone shells, red ochre, porcupine quills. The Paul Dyck Plains Indian Buffalo Culture Collection,  acquired through the generosity of the Dyck family and additional gifts of the Nielson Family and the Estate of Margaret S. Coe. NA.203.1585