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-53- attention to contemporary design will certainly bring in the work of minority designers. There are no exhibitions or publications planned for 1989 or 1990 with African or Afro-American themes, though a graduate student in the Cooper-Hewitt's M.A. program continues to work on a thesis entitled "Funeral Decorations: the Afro-American Traditions." The Museum is in the early stages of planning a program, possibly in conjunction with Hunter College Elementary School, to encourage minority youngsters to consider careers in the design arts. Another program might feature presentations on youthful minority talents at work in the design professions. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden collection includes 123 works by 17 artists known to the staff as Afro-Americans but has likely additional works by artists whose racial background has not been recorded in the files. The Museum's collecting in the next two years cannot be assured to swell this list substantially in that considerable research and field work is often needed to identify an artist's work as desirable for acquisition and then to locate and purchase a suitable example of the proper medium, scale, subject, and quality. Public programming at the Museum over the last two years has included several films which would be of interest to the Afro-American community, such as films on South Africa, a documentary on Romare Bearden, a film on White and Black graffiti artists, and a film dealing with folk art and blues in the Deep South. In May 1988 the Museum will host a film series in which approximately half of the producers will be Black; other future projects include commissioning a Black artist for a forthcoming site-specific exhibition in the Museum's "Works" series and, perhaps in 1991 or 1992, a retrospective exhibition of a major Black American sculptor. National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum's major exhibition, "Black Wings," opened in 1983 and continues to tell the story of the Black experience in American commercial, military, and aerospace aviation from World War I to the present through photographs, mementos, and a narrated film. Accompanied by the publication of the book, "Black Wings," the exhibition is also associated with an archival collection of related printed and photographic material which has been used extensively by students and scholars. Other public programming at the Museum has included special all-day symposia, such as the "Blacks in Aviation: Three Historic Films" to be held on April 29, as well as specific features each year during Black History Month; in addition, the Museum is developing a brochure targeted at minority school children on career opportunities in museum work, with a focus on aerospace artifact restoration. National Associate Program The National Associate Program lists eight minority Smithsonian staff members who have lectured and performed in programs of direct interest to Black audiences in thirteen cities during 1986-1988; in addition to repeating the successful "African Art at the Smithsonian" seminar in Washington, D.C., in January 1989, the Lecture and Seminar
