Spokane opens doors to new Museum of Arts and Culture

By Nicholas K. Geranios

Associated Press

SPOKANE — With heavy snow falling outside huge picture windows overlooking the Spokane River, civic leaders on Wednesday opened an early Christmas present for the city.

The $28 million Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture opened its doors after a decade of planning and more than two years of construction.

In a nod to the Indian culture and artifacts that are a major focus of the museum, the opening prayer was given by Richard Mullen, a preservation officer for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.

"We want to remember the people who came from the land, the Spokanes and Coeur d’Alenes," Mullen said, "and the people who came later."

The museum complex is in Browne’s Addition, an area of old mansions and vintage apartment buildings. It was built with $20 million in state funds and more than $8 million in private donations.

Numerous speakers trumpeted the elegant new building as a tourist attraction, a source of local pride and a way to heal some old wounds with area Indian tribes.

"I want to thank our Native American brothers and sisters for the rich culture they share," Mayor John Powers said at the dedication.

The museum expects to lure 150,000 visitors a year.

Secretary of State Sam Reed, who is also head of the Washington State Archives, said cultural and historical tourism is a $10 billion industry in Washington.

"This will be a major player for us," said Reed, who grew up in Spokane.

The new museum incorporates and renovates the existing Cheney Cowles Museum building, but the centerpiece is a new six-level addition built of wood and glass.

Speakers said its collection of American Indian artifacts will rank among the best in the nation.

"This is a world-class museum for Spokane, Washington," said Bruce Eldredge, the chief executive officer.

The first exhibit in the Indian galleries will be called People of the Rivers: Lifeways of the Northern Plateau. It will focus on the history of four cultures in the Spokane area: the Coeur d’Alene, Spokane, Kalispel and Colville tribes.

Future shows will focus on the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and other tribes that occupy what anthropologists call The Plateau, a region that ranges from the Fraser River in Canada to the Blue Mountains of Oregon, and from the Cascades to the Rockies.

There is also an art gallery, and an exhibit called Home Towns that focuses on the more recent history of the Inland Northwest.

Among the many artifacts in Home Towns is the last stoplight on I-90 between Seattle and Boston. It was removed from downtown Wallace, Idaho, in 1991 when a bypass was built over the town.

State Sen. Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said it was a struggle to get so much in state funds for a museum in Eastern Washington.

"This is something that tells us who we have been and who came before us," Brown said.

Stacey Cowles, publisher of the Spokesman-Review newspaper, led the statewide search for private donors. He also lauded the museum’s recent affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

One of fewer than 100 museums in the nation to have that relationship, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture will get to borrow items from the Smithsonian’s collection of 142 million artifacts.

"The Smithsonian connection will bring art from all over the world," Cowles said.