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MUSEUM OF INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART
Fiscal Year Feats
$90,000
raised for Vernick Auditorium renovation
$79,000 raised to refresh Multiple Visions: A Common Bond $89,000
raised for exhibitions
$24,000
raised for education
$37,000
received in grants
$17,000
raised from special events
$173,000
in endowment payouts
5,535
collection works online
4,000
Folk Art To Go kits distributed to Santa Fe families
Museum of International Folk Art
Folk art connects the world A Year of Transformation
Thanks to a long history of stewardship and strong personal relationships at the Museum of International Folk Art, and in spite of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, fiscal year 2020 (July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020) ended on a resilient note of fiscal and programmatic achievement. The Museum of New Mexico Foundation raised a total of $617,000 for the museum’s exhibitions and education programs, along with other initiatives, in FY2020.
During the pre-pandemic months of the fiscal year, museum guests enjoyed popular in-person exhibitions, including Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe, a collaboration with Germany’s Vitra Design Museum. This was complemented by a well-attended symposium on Girard’s design and collecting legacy. “The great success of the exhibition and this terrific conference advanced scholarship and brought our Girard Wing into focus,” says Museum of International Folk Art Executive Director Khristaan Villela. As a result, the Girard Wing benefited from $79,000 in funding to refresh its exhibition spaces. While the museum fell silent in the final months of FY2020, a creative clamor ensued in the community for the museum’s cultural and educational offerings. Working from home, museum staff kept folk art lovers connected through an ambitious calendar of online experiences. “The museum did an extraordinary job of moving its offerings online,” says Jamie Clements, President/CEO of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, which provided private funding to support online education initiatives. “These virtual activities will certainly become a permanent part of the museum’s outreach to the world.”
Reaching Out to the World
The museum’s Facebook page hosted four concert broadcasts, while its website launched the Docent’s Choice blog, in which volunteer docents discuss favorite collections objects. A brand new museum YouTube channel aired nearly 60 videos, including a 360-degree virtual tour of the
Left: Abad Eloy Lucero, Trastero, 1999. Museum of International Folk Art Collection. Photo © Jack Parsons. Right: Girls, Environmental Enrichment Panel # 3001, Alexander Girard for Herman Miller, 1971. Vitra Design Museum, Alexander Girard Estate. From the exhibition Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe, organized by Vitra Design Museum. Photo courtesy of Girard Studio, LLC © 2020.
Girard Wing, an online presentation of A Designer’s Universe and other virtual exhibitions.
In another notable expression of their commitment to their constituents, especially youth, museum educators created and distributed more than 4,000 Folk Art To Go kits. They also introduced and provided teachers with new bilingual lesson plans.
Furthering New Mexican Furniture
Fiscal year 2020 provided other reasons to look ahead, including an exciting museum partnership on a new book on 20th century New Mexican furniture. Written by Carmella Padilla with photography by Jack Parsons and selected essays by Robin Farwell Gavin, the museum’s curator of Spanish Colonial art from 1987 to 2003, the project honors the legacy of Murdoch Finlayson, a trader, preservationist and collaborator on the project before his death in 2018.
The book explores a century of New Mexican furniture, from 1920 to 2020, in all its substance and style: as practiced in the hands of its makers, as promoted through schools and social movements, as admired as collectible art. Several items from the museum’s furniture collection are featured.
“We have a long history of scholarly and public interest in New Mexico furniture, and this project is an opportunity to raise awareness of our furniture collections,” Villela says. “Eventually, we would like to see our furniture storage vaults completely renovated to continue to preserve this artistic legacy.”
An independent fundraising initiative by Padilla and her team has generated significant support for the project, attracting funding from 40 private donors (see page 26) to date. The Museum of New Mexico Foundation is serving as fiscal agent in this unique public-private partnership.
