To celebrate both Pride Month and the fact that it has won a prestigious award for its exhibit on LGBTQ life on Vashon, the Vashon Heritage Museum will have a special open house from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 27.
Masks will still be required in the indoor exhibit areas, but the open house will be a long-awaited milestone — due to COVID, only the outdoor portions of the museum have been open to the public since March of 2020.
It’s a chance for islanders to come together again to revel in “In and Out: Being LGBTQ on Vashon Island,” an exhibit that opened with great fanfare in June 2019. During the open house, it will all be visible again as the Museum celebrates the announcement that the show is the recipient of an Award of Excellence by the American Association for State and Local History (ASASLH).
“In and Out” is an interactive and collaborative exhibit and series of programs and films that depict the stories of LGBTQ islanders as vignettes within cells that are part of the honeycombed beehive of the community. It features an AIDS memorial garden, an interactive gender garden, and a closet with a soundscape that visitors must pass through in order to come out and access the exhibit.
The exhibit also includes a timeline of international, national, state and local events from 560 B.C. forward that puts Vashon’s queer history in context.
The AASLH Award of Excellence is the third and most prestigious prize bestowed on the exhibit.
The awards program was initiated in 1945 to establish and encourage standards of excellence in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of state and local history throughout the United States. The AASLH Leadership in History Awards not only honor significant achievements in the field of state and local history, but also bring public recognition of the opportunities for small and large organizations, institutions, and programs to make contributions in this arena.
Ellen Kritzman, co-curator of “In and Out,” said that winning the prize was both thrilling and rewarding, as a reflection of the team that created the exhibit, the stories it told about islanders, and the Heritage Museum’s deep support of the show.
Kriztman’s co-curator, Stephen Silha, agreed.
“I don’t think there is another community in the United States, certainly not one of this size, that has done anything like ‘In and Out,’ said Silha, adding that the exhibit had garnered interest from other places in Canada and the United States who were interested in borrowing elements of the show to reflect their own communities.
“In and Out” will close in September, as the Museum opens “Natural Wonder: An Island Shaped by Water,” an exhibit being created in partnership with the Vashon Nature Center.
Next up at the Heritage Museum, opening July 10, will be a presentation of “Whale People: Protectors of the Sea,” an outdoor exhibition with an IMAX-style film projection venue.
This exhibit, a traveling, show created by the National History Museum, features a 3,000-pound killer whale totem and an award-winning film that tells the story of the environmental emergency through the figure of the orca.
Limited new hours of the museum being open to the public will coincide with that July 10 opening.
The Vashon Heritage Museum highlights the universality of the human experience, by preserving and conserving Vashon-Maury Island’s diverse cultural, social, and natural history, from first peoples to the present day — connecting the past and present, and demonstrating how history influences our future.
For more information on the museum and its programs, visit vashonheritagemuseum.org.
