MUSEUM SNEAK PEEK FOR THE SENIOR COALTION

The Museum of Nebraska Art has been undergoing some intense construction and renovation, which peaked the interest of our Senior Coalition group, so we took a closer look inside! Executive Director, Andrew Dunehoo, and Curator, Karissa Johnson, along with Construction Lead, James Dube, guided the group on an extensive tour through the renovations and extension of the building. All of which can be followed on their website https://mona.unk.edu/mona/.

Those in attendance were Heather Ullman, Karissa Johnson, Andrew Dunehoo, John Wolf, Deb Onate, Jane Fruge, Steve O'Brien, Doug Nibbe, Betty Streff, Steve Wickham, Bob Lammers, Tammy Jackson, and Robert Fitzgerald.

Additional photos and videos of the final project can be seen on their website.

An article from the MONA website gives a history of how the museum became what it is today.

A Brief History

The institution that would become the Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) was conceived in the mid-1970s by several visionary arts educators on the faculty of Kearney State College who recognized the need for an organization dedicated to Nebraska arts and artists. In 1976, the “Nebraska Art Collection” and its inaugural Board of Directors began with fewer than 30 pieces of art and a dream to create a collection and a showplace from which to celebrate Nebraska’s unique artistic heritage. Statewide support of this endeavor was acknowledged in 1979 when the Nebraska Legislature recognized the fledgling collection as the official collection of the state and designated Kearney State College—now the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK)—as the institution that would provide support for the collection.

A locally initiated effort to provide a home for the collection culminated in 1986 with the purchase and renovation of the historic building that had served as the Kearney Post Office since 1911; this building had been added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. MONA was dedicated and opened to the public in October 1986. In 1993, after dedicated community support helped fulfill the terms of a $1 million challenge grant from the Peter Kiewit Foundation, the renovated and enlarged building we know today was opened. (to read more, click here)