THE NEXT 40 YEARS

Plains Art Museum celebrates a milestone birthday and welcomes a new museum director and CEO

Words by Alicia Underlee Nelson Photography by Kensie Wallner Photography

FFargo’s Plains Art Museum is celebrating 40 years as a regional art hub and community gathering place with a native North Dakotan as museum director and CEO. Dickinson native Andrew Maus took the helm in January 2016. After almost six years as executive director of the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, Minnesota, Maus is excited to be back with the very organization that first made him fall in love with museums back in college.

“I started working at the front desk and it was the first time I had a job that I truly loved,” Maus said. “And it opened up my eyes of what a museum could really be. The Plains isn’t a traditional museum. What makes it great is what it does for the community. It’s a cultural and civic place.”

Maus would be drawn back to Plains Art Museum not once, but twice. After receiving a BA in studio art and a Master of Science in public administration/nonprofit management from Minnesota State University Moorhead, Maus managed fundraising and public relations for the Village Family Service Center in Fargo. Then he returned to the Plains Art Museum in various roles, including curator, director of education and curator of public programming.

Now back for his third stint at Plains Art Museum, Maus is excited about what the next 40 years will hold for the museum. “It’s a complex organization that already has a really great relationship with the community,” he said. “We’re going to build on what makes us unique and our strengths as a museum.”

Community involvement remains a cornerstone of the museum’s mission and Maus points to several projects as illustrations of successful art and community integration. Maus helped develop the business plan and programming for the Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity and established a print studio partnership between the museum and his alma mater MSUM during his previous stints at Plains Art Museum and both the Center for Creativity and the print partnership continue to evolve and grow.

The recently completed pollinator gardens outside the museum have introduced native and edible plants to the grounds around Plains Art Museum and the Buzz Lab connects students, educators, environmental artists and food producers under the banner of sustainable urban gardening. The museum is a partner in the Heritage Garden that’s under development on the site of the decommissioned power plant along the banks of the Red River in Moorhead. And it continues to promote opportunities and career development for Native American artists from North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin through a three-year project funded by the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation.

The Plains Art Museum Spring Gala is perhaps the most-buzzed-about event of the museum’s season. Scheduled for May 7, it’s a high-energy night that combines food, drinks, art and a rollicking atmosphere. The theme for the evening is 1976, in honor of the museum’s 40th birthday, so expect some serious disco-era fashion along with savory snacks from Mosaic Foods, decadent desserts from Nichole’s Fine Pastry, wine and beer tasting from Happy Harry’s Bottle Shop and live music from Heart & Soul. The evening is topped off with an art auction that’s reached near-legendary status as both a fundraiser and a showcase for local art.

“I’ve experienced many galas and I feel like they keep getting bigger and better every year,” said Maus. “It’s a party, but the results are seriously impactful for the arts community here. It’s our largest fundraiser and we wouldn’t exist without it.”

The gala captures the open, celebratory spirit that Maus wants Plains Art Museum to be known for.

“If we do our jobs right, we will provide something that I think is inspiring and meaningful for anybody,” he said. “If we do our jobs right – which I think we do – you don’t need to come with anything, just an open mind.” [AWM]