Background

"I use (the Museum) as a learning experience for my students. As an art instructor, I use it as a venue to encourage them." - Hugh McPeck, artist and teacher

Built in 1968, the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center has undergone several expansions and transformations - ever striving to serve as Anchorage's cultural and artistic center.

Today, as the museum embarks on its latest evolution, 90 percent of its wide-ranging collection lies out of sight, in storage, where most visitors will never see it. Expanding the facility and its mission is driven by a desire to present and interpret more of what the museum already has - while facilitating the return of more than 600 Alaska Native artifacts from the Smithsonian Institution and incorporating The Imaginarium and its science-driven mission into the museum.

The Anchorage Museum's $116 million project includes funding for both the building expansion and an increased endowment. The endowment will help support the higher costs of a larger building, staff, education and exhibit program. Construction began in spring 2007 and is expected to be complete in 2010.

The greatest beneficiary of the expanded museum will be the community, which will have a new home for the symbols of our northern life that crystallize the experience of modern Alaska while respecting the lessons of the past.