The Restructuring Initiative: A Reflection on the Coe Center’s Final Journey
- Santa Ana Pueblo at the Coe Center: (Left to right) Coe Center Vice Chair Laurence A.G. Moss, Collections Manager Rose Burns, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer and Director Monica Murrell, Governor Myron Armijo, Cultural Resource Coordinator Jerrett Lujan, and Cultural Resources Technician Thomas N. Armijo picking up pieces, January 31, 2025.
A Legacy of Connection and Stewardship
The Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts plans to conclude its formal operations by the end of this year, a transition marked by profound reflection and gratitude for the journey shared. Leading the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts from its inception to these final moments of “giving it all away” has been one of the greatest honors of my life. The Coe Center was founded to celebrate and support Indigenous art and creativity, fostering connections between the public, artists, scholars, and communities. Inspired by Ralph T. Coe’s passion for art, cultural exchange, and understanding the human condition, the Center was built upon his vision of ethical stewardship and engagement. However, the Coe Center was never intended as a memorial to him or the Coe family—rather, it was the starting point for a broader mission of collaboration and learning from each other through art. Now, as we approach the conclusion of this chapter, our focus remains on the extraordinary opportunity created when we come together with respect, generosity, and shared purpose.
What is Rehoming?
When the Coe Center initiated its Restructuring Initiative, the first question that we addressed was, “what will happen to the collection?” These are not merely objects–they are vessels of cultural memory and significance. They are living beings, to be treated with respect and compassion. We have come to thinking about rehoming as a process of returning these entities back to original communities, or finding other regional institutions that are already close with them. We have embraced rehoming as a broader concept that encompasses voluntary and proactive efforts to ensure that the collection will find meaningful homes where they are accessible, visible and appreciated, ideally within cultural context. In rehoming with original communities, the collection might be displayed, incorporated into educational programs, or be put back into use. In rehoming with institutions or organizations, the Coe Center has sought like-minded recipients that are open to collaboration with, and unfettered access by, original communities, along with having robust educational programming that spans all ages and backgrounds. Rehoming means continued accessibility.
Signing the Deed of Gift: Governor Myron Armijo and Coe Center President & Executive Director Rachel de W. Wixom finalize the transfer, January 31, 2025.
The Rehoming Program: Stewardship in Action
The heart of the Coe Center’s Rehoming Program is unlike traditional de-accessioning processes. This is ground-breaking work, as we have done our best to prioritize the needs and desires of the communities, and in some cases specific artists, from which these pieces originated. We have prioritized their desires first, with “traditional” museums in secondary position.
In April 2024, the Coe Center issued our Rehoming Request For Proposal (RFP) with a six month deadline to September 2024. In that time, we disseminated the RFP through our contacts, collaborators, and openly across social media platforms and our website. Even despite the deadline having passed, the Coe Center presented on the Rehoming Program (and the RFP) at the ATALM (The Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums) annual conference in October. We extended the deadline until the end of 2024, as were committed to prioritizing home communities and knew that many needed more time to meet the RFP needs. We learned a tremendous amount through this process, and actively had to evolve throughout.
The Art Institute of Chicago visits the Coe Center: Associate Curator of Textiles Janet Purdy with Chair of Arts of Africa Costa Petridis, March 2025.
Now that the proposals have been received, all requests have been carefully reviewed by the Coe Center Board of Directors and Staff working in tandem, and who collectively have decades of relevant professional and cultural experience. There had been much information gathered from these RFPs, along with the initial interactions with home communities and museums alike. This took time and needed to be weighed properly prior to the Board ultimately voting upon the final decisions. As of this newsletter, I am happy to share that decisions are now made, the Rehoming recipients have been notified.
Our work has not ended here, however, and this process is anything but simple. After the recipients’ acceptance, we issue crucial documents (Deeds of Gift) that need to be formally completed, as these legally transfer ownership to their new homes.
Besides the official paperwork dance, logistical arrangements for physical transfer needs to happen, which might include in-person pick-ups or deliveries, or packing and shipping to longer distances. Many participants have opted for shipping; some communities have expressed a preference to pick up their pieces in-person.
Our New Mexican neighbors, the Pueblos of Zia, Santa Ana, and Taos, sent representatives for a drive to meet us at the Coe Center, and each of their visits brought meaningful and kind exchanges. Traveling from further afield, the Kenaitze Tribe will be arriving to the Coe Center in May, along with the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes for their pick-up. In other cases, the Coe Center has offered to take the pieces home: as I write this, we are planning to drive tomorrow to Acoma Pueblo’s Sky City Cultural Center and Haak’u Museum to bring home sixteen pots. In June, we plan to travel to Great Falls, Montana to rehome seventy-two works with the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana. The Coe Center is also actively coordinating with regional museums, like the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, and The Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois.
The actual act of rehoming may include essential and specific cultural protocols to be honored, with objects being handled in ways that respects its history, presence, and significance. The Coe Center tried to remove financial barriers for home communities by covering travel expenses for pick-ups and shipping costs, and honoring cultural protocols for physical handling be it via in-person visits or carefully managed packing and shipping. It has been more than just logistics—it has been about recognizing the human element, creating a welcoming environment, and ensuring that each rehoming is handled with patience and compassion. There are still many other recipients where the details remain in the works, however, we anticipate meeting our deadline of November 1, 2025, for the collection to be entirely rehomed (or, on their way). We remain dedicated to our commitment to an established timeline toward dissolution. This rehoming program is only one example of how an institution can return works but, we hope it is an important precedent example that will give rise to similar work in the future. May those endeavors improve upon our process, and accelerate the concept widely.
The Challenges and Benefits
Completing the Rehoming Program continues to require careful planning, legal agreements, logistical coordination, and respectful transfers. This work strengthens cultural revitalization efforts, creates educational opportunities, and attempts to restore objects to their origin communities. This work includes the challenges of legal complexities, financial constraints, and navigating institutional perspectives, all of which remain part of a broader conversation. Even more simply, the weather can interfere: the pieces being returned to the Mi’kmaq Nation cannot ship before May as a precaution of potentially bad weather.
The Rehoming Program has seen enthusiastic participation from more than thirty-five participants, the majority of which are home communities and Indigenous museums, alongside a few more “traditional” museums. To name just a few more that haven’t already been mentioned: the Alaska Native Heritage Center and the Alutiiq Museum—both in Alaska, the Seminole Nation Museum and Osage Nation Museum—both in Oklahoma, the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, and the Haida Gwaii Museum in British Columbia. A few recipient museums are the Brooklyn Museum in New York, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Missouri, the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, the Eiteljorg Museum in Indiana, and the Plains Art Museum in North Dakota.
Regarding museums, rehoming represents an evolving approach to stewardship and collaboration, encouraging ethical collecting policies, as well as, fostering new partnerships with Indigenous communities and reinforcing public trust. The Coe Center’s actions are helping to evolve those institutional perspectives by creating an example of ethical rehoming.
Returning home: On March 14, the Coe Center transported pieces back to Acoma Pueblo, delivering them to the Sky City Cultural Center & Haak’u Museum. Governor Charles P. Riley and Director of the Sky City Cultural Center & Haak’u Museum Maureen Chavez open the boxes.
Looking Ahead
As the Coe Center winds down, the Rehoming Program will continue through the end of 2025. This fall, we plan to accompany recipients with Rehoming grants to further honor and support these objects within their new homes. The final grant amounts will be determined after the Coe Center has assessed its remaining financials at that point. The Coe Center archive, which includes object files, past program documentation, and all manner of paperwork associated with the founder, Ralph T. Coe, still requires organization and scanning, with much of this information transferring with objects to their new homes. However, the remaining hard copies and files scans, among other historical materials, will hopefully find a home at the American Archives of Art–this too is under negotiation. In addition, the Coe Campus will be transferred to an exciting, leading local non-profit, but because these negotiations remain underway, we will look forward to sharing this important announcement later this year.
A Lasting Legacy
And so, it is with some sadness that I declare this to be the final The Virtual Coe E-newsletter. Although we are discontinuing it, please do stay updated about our rehoming progress via the Coe Center’s social media platforms (Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok) and our website. We will continue to post about our Rehoming Program progress, and our website will continue to provide enriching information about our past programs. Our website will remain available into the future for those interested to learning and sharing about our experience. Also, stay tuned as we plan to publish an article summarizing the impact of our Rehoming Program sometime in 2026, and it will hopefully articulate our journey with lived experiences, shared stories, and more.
Lastly, I have no doubt that the spirit of the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts, will continue to resonate because it is deeply rooted in respect and reciprocity. May it inspire future generations to embrace the profound power of cultural exchange. Thank you all for being a part of this extraordinary journey. And, thank you to all the past and present Coe Center Board Directors, staff, volunteers, visiting artists, and all the collaborators, who guided the way and contributed toward our shared success. The Coe Center’s story does not end here.
The Art Institute of Chicago visits the Coe Center: (Left to right) Associate Curator of Arts of the Americas Andrew J. Hamilton, Chair of Arts of the Americas & Senior Vice President of Curatorial Strategy Sarah Kelly Oehler, Chair of African Arts Costa Petridis, Objects Conservator Kristen Gillett, Collections Manager of Arts of the Americas Kate Weinstein, and Associate Curator of Textiles Janet Purdy, March 2025.