Dear Friends and Supporters of Five Oaks Museum,

The community you have built with us over the past five years makes us incredibly proud. Together we nurtured deep and genuine relationships with people, land, and story– those that have been here since long before Washington County, as well as those who make up this vibrant community today. We revitalized community understanding of the Kalapuan peoples, learned about the deep connections between Hawaii, the Pacific Islands, and the Pacific Northwest, celebrated gender fluidity over time, uplifted the story of the student-led movement #StandUpFG, and took our story back to its roots, honoring the centuries-old gathering site for which we re-named our museum.

We are writing today to let you know that Five Oaks Museum will be closing its doors for good at the end of April. The past five years have been an incredible journey. We shifted from solo leadership to co-leadership; from in house curation to community-based exhibition design; from perpetuation of settler mythology to full-spectrum histories. Our work provided a platform for hundreds of local artists, educators, and culture keepers to share their gifts with our community. We unfalteringly executed our values of Body, Truth, Justice, Land, and Community. As Steph Littlebird remarked when learning of the closure: “The work that we were able to do at Five Oaks Museum, nothing can ever take it away.”

Now, Five Oaks Museum is a story; one that belongs to all of us. If our work inspired or held meaning for you, now it is time for you to carry that inspiration and meaning out into your own life. How can you use your own voice, your own platforms, your own everyday tactics to live your values fully? If our values resonate with you, they are now yours to implement. Tend to your Body so you can show up for what you believe in. Deepen your relationship to Land so that you can learn and heal your way to true reciprocity. Find what is Truth in the world for you, and embrace it. Seek Justice for yourself and your neighbor. Thrive in the Community that is nourished around you by these efforts.

While we are heartbroken not to be able to share the next season with you, and all that was in store, we are also filled with deep gratitude for the support you have all provided. Your generosity allowed us to explore new methods of historic storytelling, artistic expression, and leadership. Few get to live that kind of institutional change, and it has been a life-changing honor to even have the chance.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for being on this journey with us.

Sincerely,

The Board and Staff of Five Oaks Museum