The Future

As we embark on this new era of leadership, the MAH aspires to redefine the museum experience, bursting the bounds of traditional gallery walls into our shared public spaces. Building on our strong tradition of engagement and co-creation, where all members of our diverse community are embraced as active contributors to the museum, we now take that energy out into places new and familiar to ignite shared experiences and unexpected connections throughout Santa Cruz County.

We will do this in part through a new, rotating series of activations. This may take the form of a contemporary sculpture in a community garden, a pop-up intervention on the beach, or an interactive tour through a historic location; it may include a participatory work wrought by many hands, a performance on a public trail, or an installation on the side of a building.

Then, starting in September 2021, we will introduce a series of biennial festivals, to take place on alternating years, featuring innovative, immersive, and place-inspired works by local, national, and international artists. Held in open-air sites around the MAH and the County, these admission-free events—to include a reimagined GLOW light festival and a new, outdoor multidisciplinary spectacle of visual, performing, and media arts—will inspire wonder and delight while serving as catalysts for community interaction. We will expand access to all community members via new admission policies, and through our new “Virtual MAH” exhibitions, screenings, concerts, activities, and digital gallery. Our hope is that that MAH becomes more than a place you go—but a collection of creative and cultural experiences that meets our community wherever they may be, whether indoors, outdoors, offsite, or online.

At the MAH you will continue to find beloved programs and exhibitions—from our participatory series on social impact issues, Día de Muertos celebration, partner-driven events, and school field trips to bilingual family programming. Supporting these will be content-aligned activities and opportunities designed to help forge thematic connections that enhance contextual interpretation and elevate the work. New exhibitions and installations by artists and collaborators from around the globe will inspire, cross-pollinate, and increase exposure to our thriving creative community, while programs like a copresented speaker series, summer music and film events, and family days at the MAH will enrich our robust slate of offerings. We plan to invite cultural partners to use our facilities as a resource to further their own missions, and to launch an art and history outreach program offsite in the community.

In these ways we will ensure that the MAH offers something for everyone—from those who find their way to Abbott Square for food, drink, and creative happenings; to those who enter the exciting world of art and history that is the MAH itself; to those who don’t get

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downtown often but still appreciate their world transformed by public art, or the enlightenment of an educational experience. We believe the MAH can be all of those things—at once a space to communicate needs, perspectives, and ideals as it is a place to be awestruck by an exceptional work of art or insightful revelation about our past.

One of the most creative and forwardthinking community museums in the country, the MAH has been an industry leader, distinguished by its trailblazing

programs and interdisciplinary approach to community building. Together we will continue and expand upon that tradition through meaningful, place-based work that animates and enlivens Santa Cruz County, moving the MAH forward in a way that is relevant and responsive to our diverse community while upholding and furthering our reputation as a cultural and social innovator.

To make this vision a reality, the continued philanthropic investment of a broad community of supporters is essential.

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“The MAH is a temple of creative chaos, the anchor of a vibrant new town square, a Santa Cruz cultural crossroads that attracts close to 150,000 visitors a year.” —Good Times