Nina Mason Pulliam cared deeply about enhancing the quality of life in the communities where she and her husband, Eugene C. Pulliam, worked, lived and prospered. Together, they worked to add to the vibrancy of civic life in their dual hometowns of Indianapolis and Phoenix. Today, Mrs. Pulliam's special love of Southwestern art and Native American culture is memorialized through grants to two legacy grantees, the Heard Museum in Phoenix and the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis.

Heard Museum
For over 75 years, the Heard Museum has served as a Phoenix landmark and a place where visitors from around the world can learn about the heritage and the living cultures and arts of native peoples, particularly peoples of the Southwest. Nina Mason Pulliam's relationship with the Heard began 50 years ago with her election as a trustee. She later was named a Life Trustee in honor of her active interest and generosity. In the 1960s, Nina and her husband Eugene Pulliam spearheaded a successful campaign to put the Heard Museum on solid financial footing. Their lead gift, including stock in Central Newspapers, Inc. that eventually grew to 100,000 shares, helped to establish an endowment fund and encouraged other individuals and companies in Phoenix to donate to the campaign.

"Both Nina and Gene Pulliam's support during their lifetimes and the Trust's support since 1998 have been a source of enormous strength to the Heard Museum," said Frank Goodyear, director of the Heard Museum.

In 1998, the Trust awarded a legacy grant of $1.5 million to fund the Heard Museum's major new pavilion, which is the centerpiece of the education expansion and bears Mrs. Pulliam's name. The Nina Mason Pulliam Pavilion ties the expanded campus to the existing museum. It encompasses a new main entrance, three exhibition galleries, a working studio for artists in residence, a collection care and storage hall, a research library and archives, and administrative offices.

In 2003, the Trust awarded the Heard Museum a second grant of $500,000 to support a $7.6 million capital project for the reinstallation of the "HOME: Native People in the Southwest" galleries and to update and revitalize this award-winning signature exhibit. Millions of visitors have toured these galleries since their 1984 opening, but after 19 years, the exhibit needed revitalization. The two-year project, which enables the Museum to exhibit 50 percent more of its treasures from the permanent collection, uses technology and new exhibition techniques to enhance the visitor experience. The reinstallation is a natural progression in the artistic expression and the worldwide stature of the Heard Museum.

The Museum is located in downtown central Phoenix. To explore the "HOME: Native People in the Southwest" and other current exhibitions at the Heard Museum, visit its web site at www.heard.org or call 602-252-8848 for more information.

Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art
Nina Pulliam's lifelong focus on children and their educational experiences, combined with her interest in Native American culture, are embodied in the Nina Mason Pulliam Education Center, housed at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis. The Museum exposes visitors to rich and vastly different artistic visions of Native Americans and the American West from the early 19th century to the present.

Education plays a key role in every aspect of programming at the Eiteljorg Museum. Each year approximately 20,000 school children participate in special tours. When the Museum learned that Indianapolis Public Schools had little funding for field trips, it began a program that waives admission for kindergarten through eighth grade students, and later extended the program to include low-income families from an adjacent neighborhood.

To better accommodate such programs, the Trust provided a legacy grant of $1.5 million toward the Museum's new education center. The 6,000-square-foot facility, which opened last month, will allow up to 50,000 school children and thousands of lifelong learners to extend their visits each year to the Eiteljorg by exploring art, history and cultures of the American West and native peoples of North America in a hands-on setting. The new space houses a resource center and library, two visual and performing arts studios, a technology studio, and an outdoor learning area. The library contains books, DVDs, videos and other resources, and has content available online through the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library system. With the Center's additional display space, the Museum can expand its artist-in-residence program for contemporary traditional arts.

"We know that to educate our guests, we must engage them. Our new Nina Mason Pulliam Education Center allows us to offer schools and families more classes and workshops that make the stories, concepts and lessons found in our exhibitions come alive," says Martha Hill, vice president of the Museum's public programs and visitor services. "We will also offer additional training programs for teachers, giving them resources that can be used at the Museum and in the classroom."

The Nina Mason Pulliam Education Center is a product of the Museum's Eye on the Future campaign, which was launched in 1997 to secure the Eiteljorg's long-term financial future and to expand the Museum facility. The Eiteljorg, which opened in 1989, is located in Indianapolis' White River State Park. To obtain information about the Museum and learn more about exhibits and events, call (317) 636-WEST (9378) or visit www.eiteljorg.org.