Board Chair Letter

A Letter from our Board Chair Wilson D. Mudge

Like the woods and fields of Chautauqua County, RTPI is a special place for me. Alongside close family friends and mentors, my mother worked for many years as a volunteer and later a curator of the collection here, helping to preserve and share with our community Roger Tory Peterson’s tremendous legacy of art that fosters understanding and reverence of the natural world we share. As the newly-elected Board Chair, I’m excited to help RTPI not only carry on that tradition, but achieve much more of our potential to illuminate, inform, and inspire. Our task now is to bring life to the bold strategic vision we recently adopted - RTPI Rising. With the goal to become a museum of regional and national significance for Art that Matters to the Planet, we are committed to developing the organizational capacity to meet that vision. My own goals for the next year and beyond include further engaging and expanding our board, with broad, active representation from our own community as well as passionate art and nature advocates from around the country, and building the financial resources we need to fulfill our mission. To that end, as described in this report, we are in the second year of our three-year Phoenix Fund campaign to raise $1.4 million – or more – to support our development as a strong, effective, and resilient organization. We appreciate the support of our many steadfast friends, and look forward to welcoming many more of you to join us as we keep on rising.

Roger’s art still matters to the planet. For almost 90 years, Roger’s field guides have been the gold standard for connecting people with the natural world in deep and meaningful ways.