Dear Friend of the HRM,

As the year draws to a close, I am filled with gratitude and pride—for our Museum, our community, and especially for you, the supporters whose generosity makes everything we do possible. This year reaffirmed the HRM’s role as a vital cultural anchor and regional leader: a place where art, history, science, and lived experience intersect, guided by access, excellence, and innovation. None of this happens by chance—it happens because you choose to invest in the Museum and in the people we serve.

In 2025, we:

• Were recognized with the inaugural Bridgemaker Prize from the Art Bridges Foundation, with special acknowledgement from philanthropist Alice Walton, recognizing the HRM’s leadership in connecting communities and disciplines.
• Presented 17 exhibitions this year, advancing scholarship, ingenuity, and equity. Among them, the groundbreaking Smoke in Our Hair: Native Memory and Unsettled Time was named a New York Times Critic’s Pick and will travel to museums nationwide beginning in 2027.
• Brought music, song, dance, theater, and innovative performances into our galleries, historic home, Planetarium, and riverside Amphitheater; we even hosted a murder mystery in the galleries. Wellness programs—including meditation, sound baths, and yoga—created moments of introspection, reflection, and self-care.
• Welcomed thousands to Free First Fridays, ensuring the Museum is open and accessible to all. In total, over 80,000 visitors came through our doors—including 6,500 students—from every district in our County and from 43 states across the US. One of the greatest joys of the year was connecting with so many of you, sharing ideas, stories, and laughter when we all needed it most.
• Celebrated the 30th anniversary of our award-winning Junior Docent Program, bringing alumni from across the country back to the Museum to celebrate longstanding bonds. We also welcomed a dynamic new cohort to our teen leadership program.
• Expanded our collection, adding hundreds of new artworks by emerging and contemporary artists, and completed the digitization of more than 7,000 historic images—many never previously seen and soon to be freely available online.

These accomplishments are especially meaningful given federal, county, and city budget cuts that we are navigating. That the Museum not only endured but thrived is because of you. Your support is not marginal—it is transformative and has always been about more than dollars. It’s about vision, community, and shared responsibility for uplifting cultural life. Please make your tax-deductible gift to the HRM by December 31. At HRM, every gift is felt, every commitment shapes what we can offer to our neighbors and future generations.

With gratitude and tenacity,

Masha Turchinsky
Director and CEO

Image: Sarah Sze. Day, 2003. Offset lithograph and screenprint. Private collection. Featured in DRAW: Heat.