Autry Museum Of The American West

The autry promotes research and educational activities, encourages the development of groundbreaking scholarship, and reaches a broad audience through programs and publications. Its research library provides exemplary stewardship of the renowned library and archives collections, inspires scholarship by a multidisciplinary research community, and fuels discussion about the past, present, and future of the american west. Autry research fellowships are awarded annually to support scholarly projects concerning the study of people and cultures of the american west.

The education department is dedicated to enriching the experience of all visitors through thoughtful, entertaining and engaging classes, programs and activities. Throughout 2024, which includes the second semester of the 2023-2024 academic year and the first semester of the 2024-2025 academic year, the autry served 12,545 k-12 students in-person, including students from title i schools who came through the all-aboard bus program. Through online, via digital tours, lessons, primary source collections, and other interactive features, the autry education department served 20,980 unique users online in 2024. The autry education department also offered its outreach programs in which museum educators go into classrooms across los angeles county. Through the autry in residence program, (continued in schedule o)the autry served 9,529 third, fourth, and fifth grade students. Through the autry classroom curators outreach program, the autry served 1,195 k-16 students. The education department offers programs exploring diverse aspects of life in the west through the autry's art and artifacts and meets california state content standards in history/social science for kindergarten through 12th grade. Examples of these standards include cowboys: past and present (for kindergarten through 2nd grade), sculpture explorers (for kindergarten through 2nd grade), tongva: the first peoples of los angeles (for 3rd through 8th grades), the california gold rush (for 3rd through 6th grades), trails west (for 3rd through 8th grades), and waterways (middle and high school grades). The autry also offers older students a deeper understanding of the story of the west through innovative outreach programs. Museum educators work in local schools to bring together students, teachers, and museum professionals to learn about history in fun and engaging ways, including the annual student visual arts exhibition. The autry also supports the professional development of educators through the autry classroom curators program, which help los angeles-area teachers to create object and project-based learning units, and the autry educators' institute, which offers multi-day professional development learning opportunities for educators.

Native voices, the autry's resident theatre company and the sole actors' equity theatre in the country, is devoted to developing and producing new works for the stage by native american, alaska native, native hawaiian, and first nations playwrights. It is widely respected in native american and theatre communities for developing native playwrights and theatre artists, telling native stories by and about native people, and providing the public access to these plays and playwrights. Native voices performances and readings take place inside the autry's theatre, with recordings of select readings of short plays and plays in development also available to audiences. Museums have long embraced the idea of being "safe spaces to ask unsafe questions"places where visitors can explore complex or contested histories within a respectful framework. Increasingly, audiences also look to museums as safe spaces for social connectionplaces to be together across difference.in 2024, public programming reflected this shift through large-scale festival gatherings and participatory experiences that fostered shared engagement. Highlights included the american indian arts marketplace in early summer, outdoor film screenings on the museum lawn, live music and salsa dancing on the plaza, an evening open house co-produced with kcrw, and a day-long fall family block party. The year also saw expanded offerings in live music, meditation, art workshops, and maker events, emphasizing creativity and connection.the long-running what is a western? Film series continued its exploration of the diverse films that define and reinterpret the western genre. Each screening featured a guest lecturer who contextualized the film's significance within the broader understanding of the american west.