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Art, History, & Adventure (AHA!) for JCHS Education Programs

Thank you for supporting lifelong learning!

Thanks to everyone who made a spring gift and participated in our 2022 AHA! Auction, we raised over $10,600 for JCHS education programs!

We’re grateful to everyone who supported our education programs for learners of all ages during the month of May. While our 2022 auction has ended, you can support and participate in the lifelong learning all year long.

Visit our donation page to make a gift to JCHS education programs and visit our public programs page throughout the year for details on all the latest free and low-cost programming we offer.

If you didn’t get to participate in the 2022 auction and are curious about the items and experiences that were up for bidding, you can still visit our auction page.


About Our Annual Spring Fundraiser

Curiosity is one of JCHS’s core values. We believe that we are all learners and teachers, and that fostering curiosity can lead to a lifelong love of learning. Research consistently shows that curiosity is important not only to individuals, but also to communities and societies. People with open mindsets are often interested in considering new information and perspectives, are comfortable being challenged, and are okay with being uncomfortable.

We have a vested interest in supporting people and communities in the sustained pursuit of new questions. We hope to satisfy and inspire voracious curiosity at every age and learning level, and we ask our community to support that directly every spring by participating in our AHA! Auction.

Our suite of art and history education programs that engage learners at every age includes:

  • Our annual Dig In! program for early learners. Launched in 2021 and held each November, this partnership with the Burke Museum celebrates fossils with stations throughout the museum including dig pits where kids can try their hand at being junior paleontologists.
  • Education Trunks for elementary school students. In early 2022, we launched our refurbished Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula Education Trunk. Developed in partnership with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, this trunk contains objects and resources for use in Jefferson County classrooms.
  • Downtown walking tours for middle school students. As part of Northwest Maritime Center’s Maritime Discovery Program, JCHS leads walking tours of downtown Port Townsend each spring for 7th grade classes from around Jefferson County.
  • A group project with high school students throughout the state. Working with Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, JCHS is hosting a group project during this year’s Youth Heritage Project where students from throughout the state will participate in a design charet with us. Participants will help JCHS understand how youth can and should be represented in our reimagined exhibitions as part of the New Jefferson Museum project.
  • Immersive learning programs for adult learners. Our host of programs for adult learners includes our popular First Friday Speaker Series; our Vanishing Murals walking tour highlighting some of the ghost murals of Downtown Port Townsend; and our first slate of History Hikes, a series of guided hikes at historically significant sites around east Jefferson County presented in partnership with North Olympic History Center.

People of all ages contribute to the richness and diversity of our local arts and heritage, and we truly believe that bringing people together at every age to learn, share, and be inspired by that heritage is essential to building a curious and open-minded community.