Sustainability Work

Focus on Climate and Sustainability through Responsible Stewardship

The Anchorage Museum is committed to pursuing sustainable practices that positively impact people and place. We work throughout our organization and with many individuals and organizations to address the ways climate change is impacting lifeways.

We accept financial support from a diverse group of funders who respect our organizational values. Our individual and corporate donors believe in our mission, but they do not shape it. As we adapt to our changing world, we commit to continuing conversation about these complex issues and the ways we all, as nonprofits and community members, can align around shared values and what it takes to be financially viable while living our values for the benefit of the communities we serve.

Our Commitment

Situated on Dena’ina land, the Anchorage Museum is committed to sustainable practices that result in positive, measurable impacts to the lands, waters, plants, animals, and people.  We have the responsibility to care for people and planet by promoting equitable access, amplifying Indigenous and diverse voices, and advancing solutions to the climate crisis that are grounded in shared knowledge. Through internal evaluation and action, we will be a source of opportunities and possibilities to co-create healthy futures for all. 

The Ongoing Work of Museums

Our work to reduce our carbon footprint and protect the environment is ongoing. We are committed to continue working towards increasing sustainability and supporting our communities in the same. We think museums have an important role to play in working towards a better future.

Across Platforms and in Collaboration

We are interested in public programs and raising awareness, as well as improving our own practice. With exhibitions, we are thinking about and changing the way we transport items and share information and ideas. We focus on connections and reconnections to the natural world. We host Seed Lab, a space and set of programs that focuses on sustainable and healthy communities, looking for ways we as a museum and all of us can continually examine our systems and assumptions to become more responsible and greener. We amplify the voices of artists and audiences and their concerns and hopes for tomorrow—in programs, podcasts, exhibitions, publications, albums, sound recordings, convenings, and more. We work in Alaska and across the world, collaborating with creatives, other museums, and nonprofits.

We work in partnership to shape and share international museum principles for sustainable practice through groups such as Ki Culture, American Association of Art Museums, FORMS, the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and stay aware of other efforts such as the Bizot museum group.

PROGRESS SO FAR

The Anchorage Museum has been curating exhibitions and working with artists around climate change since 2011. Visit our blog to learn more about current efforts.

PLEDGES

The AAM Museum Exhibition Materials Pledge is an invitation to museums and museum exhibition designers to continue their thoughtful conversations about the definition of sustainability for your institutions, using the latest research in building science in selecting exhibition materials.

The Gallery Climate Coalition is an international community of arts organisations working to reduce our sector’s environmental impacts.

The GCC’s primary goal is to facilitate a reduction of the sector’s CO2e emissions by a minimum of 50% by 2030, as well as promoting zero waste.

Currently, the Climate Toolkit embraces 32 goals across nine focus areas for addressing climate change. Read more at climatetoolkit.org.