The Pratt Museum is a local museum in Homer, Alaska

Homer, Alaska

Homer is a city located in Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population was 5,364. One of Homer's nicknames is "the cosmic hamlet by the sea"; another is "the end of the road"...

 concerning Kachemak Bay

Kachemak Bay

Kachemak Bay is a 64-km-long arm of Cook Inlet in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula. The communities of Homer, Halibut Cove, Seldovia, Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Kachemak City are on the bay as well as three Old Believer settlements in the Fox River...

 in Southcentral Alaska. The museum's motto is "art, science, and culture of Kachemak Bay." The museum focuses on subjects like early homesteading

Homestead Act

A homestead act is one of three United States federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title to an area called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River....

, Native Alaskan

Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...

 traditions, local contemporary art, and an exploration of the marine and terrestrial life around Kachemak Bay.

Exhibits

The main gallery's exhibit at the Pratt Museum is entitled Kachemak Bay: An Exploration of People & Place, which explores the cultures that have existed in Kachemak Bay and contemporary life in Kachemak Bay, from early Native Alaskans to the homesteaders of the 1930's and 40's to the current fisheries

Commercial fishing in Alaska

Commercial fishing is a major industry in Alaska, and has been for hundreds of years. Alaska Natives have been harvesting salmon and many other types of fish since the early 17th century. Russians came to Alaska to harvest its abundance of sealife, as well as Japanese and other Asian cultures.-Job...

 that sustain the Kachemak Bay town of Homer.

One major attraction for visitors is a pair of live-feed wildlife cameras, one set up to view seabirds such as puffin

Puffin

Puffins are any of three small species of auk in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly coloured beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among...

s, cormorant

Cormorant

The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...

s, and murres on Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, and the other set up to view brown bear

Brown Bear

The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...

s fishing at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park

Katmai National Park and Preserve

Katmai National Park and Preserve is a United States National Park in southern Alaska, notable for the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and for its brown bears. The park covers , being roughly the size of Wales. Most of this is a designated wilderness area, including of the park...

 across Cook Inlet

Cook Inlet

Cook Inlet stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage....

. Both are controlled at the museum, and although the BearCam is controlled by an interpreter from the museum staff, the SeeBird Camera has a joystick placed in front of the viewing screen for visitor use. The SeeBird Camera (or Gull Cam) is also available online during the summer months, although it is controlled by the visitors at the museum and not the online visitors.

Facing the Elements is an art exhibit along a forested trail behind the museum. During the summer months, the community creates art to line the trail. Each year new art pieces are created to decorate the trail.

The museum also hosts a number of interactive activities, from fish-feeding on Tuesdays and Fridays to tours of the harbor on the Homer Spit

Homer Spit

The Homer Spit is a geographical landmark located in Homer, Alaska on the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula. The spit is a long piece of land jutting out into Kachemak Bay. The spit is also home to the Homer Boat Harbor. The harbor contains both deep and shallow water docks and serves up to...

 on Fridays and Saturdays.

Expansion

The Pratt Museum is, as of 2010, looking to expand their facilities, due to a lack of space, the need for a new roof, and inadequate storage space for its collections

Collection (museum)

A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented...

. The creation of a new building has been a matter of debate throughout the community. The current building is "one of Homer's oldest, continually occupied public buildings" and so hosts historical value for the town, and has the potential, with renovation, to be larger than a new building assuming the same cost. However, a renovation would last an estimated 20 years instead of the 50 years that a new building could provide. The new building would also be one-level, eliminating the need for staircases and elevators that use up space and would have other efficiencies not possible with the current building. The Pratt Museum's Board of Directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

has decided to support the creation of a new museum building, and expects to begin designing the building sometime in 2010.