DONOR PROFILE
The Atwood Foundation DONOR SINCE:
2014
THE ATWOOD FOUNDATION has supported the Alaska Humanities Forum by providing grant funding and also collaborating as thought-partners in programming across the Anchorage community since 2014. Ira Perman has led the Atwood Foundation for eight years as its Executive Director, and for three years prior to that as a trustee. He also served as Executive Director at the Alaska Humanities Forum from 2000-2006. We recently asked Perman about the two organizations’ alignment of mission and vision, and his thoughts on the role of arts and culture in building community.
What is the Atwood Foundation’s mission and focus?
The Atwood Foundation supports programming within the greater Anchorage community that its founders, Bob and Evangeline Atwood, supported during their lives—primarily arts and cultural organizations, the military community, civic organizations, and journalism. Bob and Evangeline Atwood moved to Alaska in 1935 when Bob became the new owner, editor, and publisher of the Anchorage Times. Throughout the remainder of their lives, the pair were active in every aspect of building community and business life in Anchorage. Among his many contributions, Bob was instrumental in Alaska’s bid to achieve statehood as the Chairman of the Alaska Statehood Committee; he helped found Alaska Methodist University (now Alaska Pacific University); and was part of a group to finance construction of the Anchorage Museum. He played a role in securing federal funds for several construction and development projects including the Anchorage International Airport, and he worked to persuade international carriers
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A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L 2020
to make Anchorage a base stop on transpolar flights. ABOVE : Elaine, Robert, Evangeline, and Marilyn Atwood. Bob helped to organize the OPPOSITE : Robert Atwood was the owner, editor, and publisher original Anchorage Roof the Anchorage Times. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ATWOOD FOUNDATION tary Club and served as its president and he was also active with the Anchorage director, but the theme of the work is the Chamber of Commerce, serving as chair of same: bringing Alaskans together to build its military-civilian advisory board. Evangeline was committed to supporting and move communities forward. The first Forum program that the a wide range of community organizations, Atwood Foundation supported was including founding the Alaska World Affairs Council and serving as its Executive Leadership Anchorage (LA). The Atwoods were leaders and worked alongside Director. She was active in organizing other leaders in their community. They the Anchorage Chapter of the League of recognized the need to continue to develop Women Voters, Alaska Women’s Club, and new leaders for the future. LA does an Alaska Statehood Association. She was also exceptional job of preparing leaders an amateur historian and her interest in by grounding each cohort in history, Alaska history, politics, and journalism led readings, conversations—getting people her to write seven books featuring stories talking to each other. When your town’s from Anchorage and across the state. population grows, that’s not as easy to When they arrived in 1935, Anchorage do. And with LA’s project based-learning, was a remote town. The Atwoods had a there’s an immediate impact in getting vision of building a city in the image of something done for the community—very cities in other parts of the country and “Atwoodian.” Europe with music, arts, culture, and In the past two years, the Atwood a thriving civic life. They brought that Foundation has added grants to support the vision to life through the development Forum’s conversation programs that engage of the Times and as servant-leaders and people in thoughtful, purposeful dialogue philanthropists. and the exchange of ideas. We were How do you see the Forum’s work especially interested in the Forum’s Danger playing a role in fulfilling the Atwood Close Alaska programming focused on Foundation’s vision? Why does the building connections between the military Foundation invest in the Forum? community and civilians—Bob was very involved with growing and keeping the base The Alaska Humanities Forum and the here in Anchorage and a proponent of what Atwood Foundation are both about it could do for the city. community building. I think about the What future projects are you planning metaphor of a quilt—Alaska is such a culturally and historically diverse place. The with the Forum? Forum pulls all those diverse pieces of cloth We’re just starting conversations about together and knits a strong community out of that diversity. The Forum’s programming developing programming to recognize is more expansive now than when I was the the 50th anniversary of The Alaska Native
