We Can’t Go Home Again

Dear Friends,

Humanity itself is being challenged in every way right now. All people are grasping for the new normal, this phantom idea that we have somehow returned to a time and place that is post-plague and predictable. Many people continue to live on the edge of (fill in the blank). The inertia blanketed us all during the pandemic and yielded a world wholly other than what we lived in before. The world was replaced with an almost replica of itself, and the old world is gone. In the words of the great Southern author Thomas Wolfe, we “can’t go home again.”

For me, what I valued before we entered the plague shutdown and its aftermath is what I still value: love for family, friends, and of course, museums, specifically, the Albany Museum of Art. How can museums be for everyone? At the AMA, the coin of the realm is community. We must build community through our programs and ethos to be inclusive of becoming the museum we are meant to be.

In the words of the irrepressible Elaine Heumann Gurian, friend, and museum thought leader:

It is perhaps more critical than ever that museums systematically review and publicly demonstrate actions of empathy, respect, welcome, moral judgment, nuanced complexity, and civility to encourage in the citizenry the practice of public behaviors necessary for maintaining a working democracy.

But in reinforcing the background role of intentional, mindful, and empathetic behavior, public institutions of trust (and museums are among the most trusted) can help collectively rebuild the foundation of shared values and practices— frayed now—so needed for knitting together a generous and inclusive society.

These ideas should not be a revelation, but a call to action. We heed this call to become more responsive to social realities. Our exhibitions, programs, and artists train an eye toward our collective history and shared future. Our deep history includes Native American tribes that lived here for millennia before they were expelled by the U.S. government in the early 19th century. W.E.B. Du Bois, the author of The Souls of Black Folk, called this region “the buckle of the Black Belt” and “the Egypt of the Confederacy,” acknowledging centuries of slavery squarely. The chains of history continue to shackle society today as personal and social traumas know no linear time. Instead, they are imprinted on us and the world we live in. As Abraham Lincoln said, “We cannot escape history,” so let’s give up trying.

While the vision and practice of the AMA are to serve our community, we acknowledge history through our programs and exhibitions. At the same time, we remember our legacy must do right by our community. Our work today, informed by the past, must make us proud of each of us here in Southwest Georgia.

With the AMA, there is a sense of opportunity, unlike in any other art museum in any other community. The AMA has unlimited potential to become more impactful and relevant at this crossroads in its story. We shall continue to address the artistic connections between Southwest Georgia and the world while pragmatically remaining in sync with our collective civic life. We are transforming to become a more cohesive arts community.

Sincerely,

Andy

Museums Advocacy Day

Albany Museum of Art Executive Director Andrew J. Wulf, Ph.D., and Director of Education and Public Programming Annie Vanoteghem traveled to Washington, D.C., Feb 26-March 1 to help make the case for the nation’s museums during the American Alliance of Museum’s Museums Advocacy Day.

The annual event enables museum advocates to meet with federal humanities officials and lawmakers’ staffs, making legislative teams aware of how their decisions directly affect museums across the United States. This is especially important at a time when museums and the communities they serve are recovering and rebuilding during tough economic times in the wake of the pandemic.

Wulf and Vanoteghem had the opportunity to meet with National Endowment for the Humanities Chair Shelly C. Lowe, as well as staff in the legislative offices of U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and U.S. Reps. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany; Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, and Rick Allen, R-Augusta.

“All of us, as representatives of museums, coordinate to push a positive agenda for major issues museums are facing today, but we also had time to talk about our own museums and what’s happening under our roofs,” Wulf said. “Our presence there was educating them on our project (to relocate the AMA to downtown Albany), and how it will have far-ranging appeal across the region and the state. One of the benefits of talking with the staff members is they are typically young and energetic, and really want to do a great job for their representative or senator. They were very careful listeners to our cause.”

Building Museums Conference

In mid-March, Wulf, Director of Development and Membership Chloe Hinton, and Director of Curatorial Affairs Katie Dillard joined Shawn Ingram, the AMA’s fundraising counsel with Arts Consulting Group, and the AMA’s lead architect Monika Smith with DLR Group to make a presentation in Atlanta at the Mid-Atlantic Museums Association’s 2023 Building Museums Symposium.

The presentation Bold Move: Imagining and Creating a New, 21st Century Version of the Albany Museum of Art explored the early phases of the museum’s adaptive reuse design process as the AMA looks to relocate to the former Belk department store in downtown Albany.

“People who attended the presentation were excited,” Wulf said. “We showed the history of this institution. We looked at urban plans on where we are and how we are relocating, and what it means to move even just a handful of miles to downtown. We showed floorplans, interior and exterior renderings, and addressed fundraising strategies as well.”

Art Museum Directors Conference

At the end of March, Wulf traveled to Charlotte, N.C., for the Southeastern Art Museum Directors Conference. The conference was organized by the Southeastern Museums Conference.

“It was a revelation to be in the same room with about 50 other art museum directors from the region, from small, medium, and large museums,” Wulf said. “It included strategies by museum leaders about how we work in these new circumstances post-pandemic. Themes included working with boards, programming, and leading teams from the perspective of the uncertainty of the pandemic and what it means today. We looked at a cross-section, from how teams function to how individuals cope with trauma and shifting current events. There was a lot of sharing and a lot of inspiration coming from all sides.”