Organizations From Across the State Receive Funding

One of the Largest Grants Examines the Myths Behind Twilight's Werewolves

Photo information: Wolf headdress (NPS #51), Quileute, courtesy of Seattle Art Museum. Wood, paint, hair; 6 x 17 x 6 in.; National Park Service, Olympic National Park, OLYM-51, Quileute wolf headdress; collected by Fanny Taylor ca. 1916.

Humanities Washington awarded nearly $85,000 to 13 organizations from across the state as part of its 2010 spring grant round. Funded projects include Holocaust education, oral histories about the Vietnam War, and even a twist on the hugely popular Twilight vampire series.

Through its upcoming exhibit, Behind the Scenes: The Real Story of the Quileute Wolves, Seattle Art Museum will create a public forum for clarifying misconceptions of the Olympic Peninsula's Quileute Nation resulting from Twilight.

“This exhibition—organized in conjunction with the Quileute Nation—offers a counterpoint to the fantasy of the Quileute as werewolves, as portrayed in the series,” said Barbara Brotherton, the museum's curator of Native American Art. “Visitors will have a rare opportunity to learn from the Quileute themselves about their history, visual and performing arts, and unique language and oral traditions that recount how the Transformer, Kwá.ti, changed wolves into the first Quileute people.”

The exhibit will showcase wolf headdresses, musical instruments, sculptures, and historic photographs and recordings, which together will give the public an opportunity to learn more about the rich cultural history of the Quileute Nation.