Saturday, Nov. 4, 6 p.m.
at the Swedish American Museum
The Swedish American Museum’s annual fundraising event is a night of fun and celebration of Swedish and Swedish-American heritage and culture.
This years gala will be held on Saturday, Nov. 4, 6 p.m. at the Swedish American Museum.
This year we are honoring Tamara Biggs, who has been making exhibitions for over 40 years, beginning in 1981 as a preparator at Chicago’s Field Museum. After five years as a project manager at Denver Museum of Nature and Science, she became director of exhibitions at Chicago History Museum, where she led an award-winning team for 22 years. Together they created nearly 100 exhibitions, four of them winners of the American Alliance of Museum’s Excellence in Exhibition award, one a winner of the Allan Bérubé Prize from the Committee on LGBT History, and one a winner of the Costume Society of America’s Richard Martin Exhibition Award, as well as five MUSE awards for exhibit media. She was a founder of the Chicago Cultural Alliance, a consortium of ethnic museums and cultural centers, and has served on the boards of National Association for Museum Exhibitions and the National Indo-American Museum.
Tamara has worked with the Museum since 2012 to envision, plan and implement an updated core exhibit on the second floor, beginning with an analysis of Dream of America and a successful grant to upgrade collections storage. In 2019, we received a $500,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to create We Are America. With half funded by IMLS and half fundraised by the Museum during our 40th Anniversary campaign in 2016 and 2017. Tamara has been with us throughout the process, and her guidance and knowledge have been instrumental every step of the way.
We are now in the middle of the update and anxiously await the grand opening of We Are America in late 2023 or early 2024.
The Silent Auction is online again this year
Sunday, Oct. 29, 11 a.m. - Saturday, Nov. 4, 9 p.m.
A silent auction will be held online.
To donate to the silent auction please click here.
The auction will open on Sunday, Oct. 29, 11 a.m. and close on Saturday, Nov. 4, 9 p.m. You will also have an opportunity to learn the online bidding program and start placing your bids at the Museum. Please note that the Museum is closed on Mondays.
More Gala Information
This year we are offering two types of tickets. More information will come shortly.
Tickets for the Gala will go on sale shortly
Please note that the Museum is closed on Mondays.
Program Book
The program book for the Gala is a great way to let people know about your business or to leave a message of support to the Museum and Tamara. To place an ad in the program book please click here.
Thank you to our Sponsors!
There are many different levels of sponsorship. For more information use the link below.
To become a sponsor please click here.