THE MUSEUM THE STORY OF THE SIXTIES AND WOODSTOCK
“How will we know it’s us without our past?”
— John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
RICHIE HAVENS’ OUTFIT WHEN HE OPENED THE WOODSTOCK MUSIC AND ART FESTIVAL
INTRODUCTION Bethel Woods Center for the Arts inspires, educates, and empowers individuals through the arts and humanities. We are committed to leveraging our success as a concert venue and cultural center, and to using our creative capital for the health and economic vitality of the region. We draw inspiration from our unique place in history and have rapidly become known locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally as the premier Sixties cultural museum and exploration center. The Museum at Bethel Woods is the Center’s history hub, serving over 40,000 ticketed guests annually through permanent and special exhibits, public programs, and historic preservation. Through the lens of the 1969 Woodstock festival, The Museum interprets the lessons of The Sixties and connects people, young and old, with past events and issues that continue to shape our lives. “Cultural landscapes are a legacy for everyone. These special sites reveal aspects of our country’s origins and development as well as our evolving relationships with the natural world. They provide scenic, economic, ecological, social, recreational, and educational opportunities, helping communities to better understand themselves.
— C harles Birnbaum, The Cultural Landscape Foundation 2
BETHEL WOODS CENTER FOR THE ARTS
THE MUSEUM — THE STORY OF THE SIXTIES AND WOODSTOCK
CURRENT PROGRAMMING AT THE MUSEUM The Museum connects our guests to the music, politics, popular culture, and ideals of the 1960s through exhibitions, collections, public programs, and the historic site. Inspiration and empowerment comes most often through shared experiences, and The Museum at Bethel Woods brings people together to share The Sixties in direct and engaging ways. Families, friends, and classmates all gather at The Museum, where the music, images, objects, and interactive exhibits spark meaningful discussions and a deeper understanding of our history. It is not an uncommon sight to witness a grandfather and granddaughter discussing racial segregation, observe friends debating why we fought the Vietnam War, or overhear a child ask, “Did you really wear that?”
The Main Exhibit places the Woodstock festival within the context of the entire decade of the 1960s. Through rich multimedia installations, authentic artifacts, sights, and sounds, the Museum’s immersive Main Exhibit weaves a story about the American experience from the Cold War through hard-fought struggles for civil rights, to the divisive issues of the war in Vietnam and the rise of youth counterculture. The common thread was always the music—the rapid evolution of popular music and the fashions, technologies, and attitudes that complemented it, all of which joined together at the Woodstock festival. The Museum’s Main Exhibit offers guests of all ages a chance to see Woodstock as an illustration of the societal forces that preceded it, connecting the decade of The Sixties to today’s issues, and inspiring them to be engaged in their own communities. Changing Exhibitions in The Museum expand the educational opportunities of the Main Exhibit. Major exhibitions in the Special Exhibit Gallery have featured Vietnam, 60s counterculture, rock fashion, human rights, and the cultural contributions of musical icons, such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, and The Beatles. Smaller exhibition spaces, such as The Museum’s Corridor Gallery and new Crossroads Gallery, are effectively used to showcase individual artistic expression of and about The Sixties, as well as historical narratives about focused topics. Since 2011, The Museum has also brought sculpture and art installations to the grounds from some of the region’s well known artists, giving our community access to fine art that they may not otherwise experience.
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Collections are an important aspect of any museum’s work. Our Permanent Collection of artifacts, memorabilia, photographs, video, clothing, and archival materials, preserve the physical record of an entire decade and help tell stories through exhibitions, publications, lectures, and scholarly research. As time moves on, many of these stories might otherwise fade from our memory. Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of our collections have been donated to The Museum by people who recognize the importance of preserving touchstones of the past and who support The Museum’s commitment to collect, interpret, and care for these irreplaceable treasures. In addition to preserving archival objects and materials, The Museum maintains a growing library of oral and visual histories that capture the first-hand experiences of people associated with the Woodstock festival, the Civil Rights Movement, the music industry, and other important aspects of The Sixties and its legacy. In short, we hope The Museum’s collections will inspire and empower people well beyond the confines of their display. Public programs that support the lessons of The Sixties enrich The Museum experience and offer all our visitors access to a wide range of opportunities to learn, grow, and find inspiration. • School programs, such as “Explore The Sixties,” use the Main Exhibit and Special Exhibitions as starting points to engage K–12 students in curriculum-based themes inside and outside the classroom. • Documentaries and other films are screened for the general public throughout the year, in support of Special Exhibits and the lessons of The Sixties. • Lectures, book-signings, and walk-talks by curators, artists, historians, musicians, docents, and other experts allow for expanded understanding and engagement with the specific topics of our Special Exhibits as well as broader themes throughout The Museum.
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BETHEL WOODS CENTER FOR THE ARTS
THE MUSEUM — THE STORY OF THE SIXTIES AND WOODSTOCK
The Woodstock Festival Historic Site has been a destination for devotees of peace, love, and music since the 1969 festival itself. We take our role as stewards of this hallowed ground and the legacy it represents very seriously. We are committed to preserving and interpreting it as a public trust, so that it may continue to inspire people for generations to come. Each year, people from around the world make the pilgrimage to the Woodstock monument to reconnect with the ideals of brotherhood and free expression, and each generation who visits finds something in the experience to connect to their own lives. The site is also a magnet for the musicians who come to Bethel Woods to perform, whether they played Woodstock or weren’t even born yet. They recognize the ongoing legacy of that musical and cultural event, and they often comment on just how moving the experience of visiting the site is for them.
“Old places…speak to that need for belonging in a way that little else can. They give us the chance to feel a connection to the broad community of human experience, a community that exists across time, and they help us understand that the lives we lead are not insignificant—that what we do will have an impact on the future.”
— Stephanie K. Meeks, President, National Trust for Historic Preservation
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THE MUSEUM — THE STORY OF THE SIXTIES AND WOODSTOCK
ACADEMIC, CAREER, AND SITE PRESERVATION OPPORTUNITIES Scholar in Residence Strengthening The Museum’s ability to discover new insights into the continuing impact of The Sixties and to draw new conclusions about long-held ideas, the Scholar in Residence program at Bethel Woods benefits the community by attracting academics to the region. The work of these scholars complements The Museum’s exhibits and public programs, expanding the reach of our reputation and scholarship through publications, programming, and outreach into the community. The Scholar in Residence program is a major step in The Museum’s strategic goal to establish itself as a leading authority on the decade and legacy of The Sixties.
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BETHEL WOODS CENTER FOR THE ARTS
High School Hands-on Museum Recognizing that high school students in our region, like students elsewhere, have very few examples of career paths that can inspire them to achieve, the Hands-on Museum Program would offer selected students direct experience in the museum work environment. Learning from The Museum’s professional staff and our partners in higher education, these high school students would work with artifact and archival collections, exhibitions, operations, marketing, customer service, and other real-life museum departments. These experiences will open students’ eyes to new opportunities for liberal arts graduates, ideally inspiring them to reach further than they thought they otherwise might. Preservation and Interpretation of the Woodstock Festival Historic Site Following through on the recommendations of our Cultural Landscape Report, stewardship and interpretation of the Woodstock festival site will engage the community in the work of historic preservation, archaeology, technology, and history. Portions of the project, such as restoring the network of woodland trails that were an important part of the Woodstock festival, may rely on community volunteers and students to do the planning and on-the-ground work. College archaeology students would be involved in locating historic footings of the concert stage, towers, and backstage structures. Of course the community would also be invited to observe and participate as desired.
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“We built Bethel Woods to create a better place for people of this county and region to live, work, and play. Our kids are our future. Let’s give them every opportunity to flourish here, to become successful, and contribute to society.”
— Alan Gerry, Founder and Chairman
MISSION
CORE VALUES
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a
• We draw inspiration from our unique place in history.
not-for-profit cultural center that inspires, empowers, and educates individuals through the arts and humanities.
VISION
• We encourage individual creativity and expression. • We recognize and value the arts and humanities and their
contribution to physical and psychological well-being and its
positive impact upon individuals and communities.
A unique educational, performance, and
• We honor the participation of staff, volunteers, and donors and count
retreat environment focused on building
creative capital to inspire individuals to
• We create a safe and enjoyable environment for all who work and visit.
contribute positively to the world around them.
as essential their contributions to Bethel Woods’ mission.
• We leverage our success for the economic and social benefit
of Sullivan County.
• We maintain our grounds and facilities to the highest standards. • We respect all individuals and value diversity of ideas, abilities,
BETHELWOODSCENTER.ORG
and expression. Photos by Kevin Ferguson and Michael Bloom.