VAM Voice Newsmagazine Fall 2012 by Virginia Association of Museums

Voice

3126 W. Cary St., #447 | Richmond, Virginia 23221-3504 | 804. 358.3170 | www.vamuseums.org | Fall 2012

Photo courtesy of Rich Young.

Exploring Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Move! Museums & Gardens

i Technical Insert: Implementing Wellness Programming Member Profiles: Rappahannock Historical Society & The Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center

Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens: A National Initiative with Local B compiled by Heather Widener What is Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens? Let’s Move! is a national initiative to get kids moving and eating healthy food. Let’s Move! was launched by First Lady Michelle Obama. The goal of the initiative is to reverse the problem of childhood obesity in a generation. Visits to museums and gardens are high-impact learning opportunities with the power to make a difference in children’s lives and their futures. Let’s Move! is about putting children on the path to a healthy future, and offering parents helpful information and fostering environments that support healthy choices. Therefore, museums and gardens are natural partners for the Let’s Move! initiative. There are an estimated 17,500 museums in the U.S. which collectively host at least 850 million visits each year. Through the Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens initiative, museums, zoos, public gardens, historic sites and science and technology centers can join the call to action in fighting childhood obesity. Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens is a project of the US Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Cover Story

Which Virginia and Washington, DC Organizations Currently* Participate? Virginia William King Museum - Abingdon Arcadia at Woodlawn - Alexandria Gadsby’s Tavern Museum - Alexandria Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech - Blacksburg Monticello - Charlottesville Virginia Discovery Museum - Charlottesville

Virginia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum Portsmouth Reston Historic Trust - Reston Children’s Museum of Richmond - Richmond Valentine Richmond History Center Richmond Science Museum of Virginia - Richmond Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden - Richmond Suffolk African American Cultural Society, Inc. - Suffolk

Distirct of Columbia Ford’s Theatre Society Tudor Place Historic House and Garden The Phillips Collection National Children’s Museum Washington Youth Garden Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, The George Washington University Smithsonian Gardens *As of 10/03/2012, according to IMLS.

Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens provides your organization an opportunity to engage new audiences and develop enhanced visitor experiences by adapting existing programs or implementing new initiatives.

Hermitage Museum & Gardens - Norfolk

Don’t worry, you don’t have to forge this

Amazement Square - Lynchburg

Gardening at the National D-Day Memorial’s Victory Garden, Bedford, VA.

Why Should My Organization Participate?

Virginia Living Museum - Newport News

Old City Cemetery Museums & Arboretum - Lynchburg

path alone. The IMLS provides a plethora of resources to help you implement Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens at your institution. For example, you can download web and print logos, approved quotes, press releases, videos, talking points, fact sheets, posters, get links to sample projects and guidance, and receive a monthly Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens newsletter. Additionally, programming resources and resources for parents are available for you to provide to your program participants. All of this can be found online at http:// www.imls.gov/about/letsmove.aspx.

Museum of the Shenandoah Valley Winchester

This is an opportunity to tell your story. Your site can participate in Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens and partner with IMLS to showcase how you are supporting your community to create a generation of healthier kids. The outcomes achieved can have a significant positive impact for your community and your institution.

Morven Park - Leesburg

Norfolk Botanical Garden - Norfolk

What Can My Institution Expect if We Initiate a Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens Program? In September, December, March and June the Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens partners will contact you to ask for a report about action you’ve taken to contribute to the project goals: • • • •

providing eat-healthy, get-active exhibits; providing eat-healthy, get-active programs; providing healthy food service; and providing eat-healthy, get-active inter-

Benefits pretation within food service operations. With help from participants, the government can track our progress on these goals and help inform the public about the important role museums and gardens are playing to address childhood obesity. Your progress report will be combined with those of other project partners to build the national report for the White House. The data from your initiative will not be reported alone but will be aggregated with that of the other Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens participants. Additionally, when you sign up to be a Let’s Move! museum or Let’s Move! garden you agree to take action related to at least one of the first two priorities. Institutions that serve food also select at least one of the second two priorities. These priorities are: 1. Eat-healthy, get-active exhibits 2. Learning about healthy food choices and physical activity through afterschool, summer and other programming 3. Healthy food service 4. Learning about healthy food choices and physical activity using food service operation

The Priorities Explained Priority #1: Eat-healthy, get-active exhibits Ideas for interactive exhibits: • Museums and gardens create exhibits and spaces where families can be physically active, while learning about the appropriate amount of daily screen time. • Museums and gardens develop programs or exhibits to help families learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy food choices and the impact of those choices. • Museums and gardens cultivate organic food/vegetable gardens, provide assistance for school and community gardens and offer related programs. • Museums and gardens provide inside and outside spaces and programs that use principles of universal design to create experiences that enable children and adults of all abilities to actively engage in exhibits and programs. • Museums and gardens create exhibits

and/or host forums or discussions for the community considering the local impact of built environment policies and regulations on human health. • Museums and gardens, many in urban locations, have or build safe and accessible parks and playgrounds on museum/ garden grounds and off-site, in other locations. • Provide outdoor opportunities for children to enjoy recreation activities, including walking, hiking and free play on or off museum/garden grounds. • Museums and gardens work with local government to provide space for children’s indoor and outdoor recreation. • Museums and gardens create exhibits, web experiences or apps that utilize technology to encourage physical activity.

Priority #2: Learning about healthy choices through afterschool, summer and other programs Ideas for programs: • Museums and gardens develop programs or exhibits that help families learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy food choices and the impact those choices can make (see also Priority #1). • Museums and gardens provide professional development opportunities for teachers on nutrition (may or may not be integrated with gardening). • Afterschool programs at museums and gardens offer nutritious snacks and promote good nutrition at home. • Museum and garden restaurants and cafes offer and promote healthy foods; provide only healthy foods in classes, programs or camps. • Museums and gardens offer programs for children and families on how to grow, harvest and cook healthy, organic food. • Museums and gardens provide outreach to schools to train faculty on ways to offer recess that promote physical activity and social skill development. • Museums and gardens serve as community partners, providing afterschool programs that offer and enhance physical activity. • Museums and gardens create exhibits and/or host forums or discussions for the community considering the local impact of built environment policies and regulations

Fall 2012

on human health (see also Priority #1). • Museums and gardens, many in urban locations, have or build safe and accessible parks and playgrounds on museum/ garden grounds and off-site, in other locations (see also Priority #1). • Provide outdoor opportunities for children to enjoy recreation activities, including walking, hiking and free play on or off museum/garden grounds (see also Priority #1).

Priority #3: Healthy food service Ideas for food service: • Museum and garden restaurants and cafes offer and promote healthy choices. • Museums and gardens cultivate organic food/vegetable gardens, provide assistance for school and community gardens and offer related programs (see also Priority #1). • Museums and gardens provide space for local farmers to sell fruits and vegetables. Museums and gardens connect families to farmers through programs. • Museum and garden restaurants and cafes offer and promote healthy foods; provide only healthy foods in classes, programs or camps (see also Priority #2). • Museums and gardens pressure food service providers to develop healthy choices that are appealing to children and young people.

Priority #4: Learning about healthy food choices and physical activity using food service operation Learning ideas: • Museums and gardens create exhibits to help families learn the difference between advertising for healthy and unhealthy food. • Museums and gardens develop programs or exhibits that help families learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy food choices and the impact those choices can make (see also Priority #1 and #2). Find out more about Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens, or register as a participating site, by visiting the IMLS Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens website. z

Technical Insert: Implem

VAM thanks April Cheek-Messier, Vice President for Operations and Education at the National D-Day Memorial in Yoga Richmond for their contributions to this article.

Technical Insert

“Nutritious food, outdoor exercise, increased self-confidence, teamwork, ecological awareness, the wonder of watching a seed become a foot-long carrot those are the products of the W. E. Stevens Family Victory Garden at the National D-Day Memorial. Remembered by those youngsters and perhaps, in due time, refreshed and enriched in garden plots of their own, those experiences will continue to bear fruit long after the season’s soil is turned under in the Memorial’s Victory Garden. World War II ended in 1945, but the victory garden, as a vehicle for discovery, has immediacy still. The value of a harvest like that is beyond measure.” – April Cheek-Messier, Vice President for Operations and Education, National D-Day Memorial

only way to expand your organization’s reach, it is more critical than ever at a time when childhood obesity and Type II diabetes have become all too common across America. Yoga, T’ai Chi, Pilates, walking tours, healthy cooking classes, Victory Gardens, and more are popping up in museums across Virginia, DC, and the country. Sure, Let’s Move! Museums

audience is vital. We spoke with Betty Ann Galway, Lifelong Learning Program Manager at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens (NBG). The NBG offers T’ai Chi, yoga, Pilates,‘boot camp,’ and dance classes in addition to garden gourmet classes, meditation, and walking tours. According to Galway, having such an extensive menu of offerings really adds value to an NBG membership.“I think they are an added benefit to our members and the Hampton Roads community.” The NBG has reported that once people try their wellness programs, they become regulars in the program (which makes them regulars at the Garden). Similarly, the National D-Day Memorial has structured their Victory Garden program so that students visit weekly to weed and water. They also learn about historical gardens and ecology through activities and crafts. These repeat visits have a renewed purpose and result in a passionate and engaged audience.

From the fresh air and exercise inherent in pulling weeds to the nutrition of a garden salad; from knowledge gained in gourmet healthy-cooking classes to added Children work in the Victory Garden at the National flexibility and calm after a yoga In program planning, flexibility is a class; a visit to a museum or garden D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. key. Classes sometimes must move has more benefits these days than and Gardens provides an impetus to join to accommodate a space rental, for exmeet the eye. Increasingly, museum the trend, but the connection between ample. Project Yoga Richmond’s Dana leaders are recognizing the importance wellness programming and museum Walters echoes this,“Soften your ideas of broadening their programming and and garden settings has been well esaround what is ‘appropriate.’ When we engaging new audiences in creative tablished for years.“…Mind-body-spirit let down our barriers, magical things new ways. Smart leaders also recognize activities within the museum setting happen.” As you consider what your that doing so not only meets vital needs encourages cross-pollination which site has to offer, consider too who will in the communities they serve, but also always results in new and exciting devel- deliver your programming, and what positions the museum as a relevant, opments,” says Dana Walters, Director of their needs are. At the Virginia Museum vibrant learning institution where a vaOperations, Project Yoga Richmond. We’ll of Fine Arts (VMFA), for example, Project riety of demographics can turn to enjoy look at some programs that have forged Yoga Richmond appreciates “the wide an ever-wider range of activities. a path and borne fruit – figuratively and open space, the availability of parking The theme for this Fall edition of the literally – for museums and the commu- and bicycle/scooter racks, the natural Voice centers around wellness pronities they serve. setting, the landscaping, and the sound gramming, featuring the Institute of of the water….,” says Walters. In addiPlanning a Program Museum and Library Services (IMLS) tion to working with Project Yoga Richinitiative, Let’s Move! Museums and mond, the VMFA also offers a Mind, Body, Planning wellness programs with an Gardens (see lead article, page 2). and Spirit strand within their Studio eye toward encouraging repeat visits While wellness programming is not the and strengthening your museum’s core School, which includes yoga instruction.

menting Wellness Programming

n Bedford, Betty Ann Galway, Lifelong Learning Program Manager at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, and Dana Walters, Director of Operations at Project

Forging Partnerships

takes time.

In addition to consideration of your museum or garden spaces, also consider who will deliver your programming. This depends on many factors, including the size of your institution, the nature of the program (i.e., are their liability issues that must be considered?), whether your current staff or volunteers are qualified to deliver the programs, and what partnerships would be beneficial to your site, the program, and the community.

The value of community partnerships cannot be overstated. Currently, Project Yoga Richmond, whose mission includes enhancing the quality of life for individuals and communities by nurturing, expanding, and unifying the greater Richmond yoga and movement arts collective, is wrapping up a season of free Saturday yoga the VMFA. Says Dana Walters,“Art and yoga go hand in hand. Yoga opens energetic channels…. [and] looking at a painting, we might find ourselves saying, ‘I bet I could do that!’ - it’s the same energy.” One might call it inspiration; but whether you get your inspiration from yoga or art, cooking or gardening, no one organization can provide it all. By seeking community sponsors to help keep programs accessible and hold down costs, and by seeking experts and volunteers who are passionate about their craft – whether it be Pilates or pruning – you can forge valuable ties in your community.

For example, the National D-Day Memorial has a small staff. They rely on a well-organized network of community partnerships to keep their Victory Garden green. In fact, the project has engaged a dozen different agencies and organizations from the public and private sectors. The Bedford Cooperative Extension Service and 4-H provide gardening and ecology lesson plans, and hundreds of volunteer hours from tilling through harvest. Assisted by members of the Kiwanis Club of Bedford, the Bedford Master Gardeners present a range of garden-based craft activities each week from March to August.“The Victory Garden project is - in every sense of the word - a community project. We found [help] in the shape of volunteers from various civic organizations who assist in the implementation of the lessons. Because our expertise focuses on history instead of science, we ask our local 4-H extension service to provide the lessons. Master Gardeners assist with lessons. Much of our success comes from the fact that this is a popular project and one that local businesses and organizations have supported through grants and sponsorship dollars,” says Messier. Her advice to others? Line up financial backing prior to embarking on a bold new project, and be patient while “working out the bugs” (no pun intended) in the program. This, too,

never held a spade. As the program develops each season, a sense of teamwork appears, as older children help younger ones and sharing becomes commonplace. Friendships form between young gardeners and adult volunteers. New attitudes show themselves, too: motivation, curiosity, and a sense of pride and ownership (after all, the children get to take home and share their healthful bounty with their families!).

The Community & Your Audience At the NBG, staff has discovered a few things about the folks who sign up for their wellness classes. First, as we mentioned, they become repeat participants, and usually become members of the garden. Another thing they’ve learned, points out Galway, is that their wellness classes are attracting a different crowd than a traditional gym’s classes – “Make the classes social…. Most people that take the exercise classes here are not looking for an extreme workout.” Seemingly their audience is looking for a richer experience than they can find at their local gym; one where they can combine physical activity, a love of nature, and socializing. Back in Bedford, many of the children involved in the Victory Garden have

Fall 2012

Participants enjoy T’ai Chi at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. The Victory Garden Program concludes each year in August with an end-ofseason picnic, featuring foods grown in the Victory Garden. A newfound community gathers to recognize the hard work that goes into the project, to reflect on what has been gained, and to celebrate the success of their combined efforts. Indeed, each season grows a group of youths who have become passionate about gardening, have learned their history and science, and who have made memories to cherish forever at the museum’s garden. z

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Fall 2012

VAM & F.C. Vogt Conservation Assessment Grant Winners:

Rappahannock Historical Society and Frede

Member Profiles

In our Member Profile, we are featuring the two organizations that were recently awarded VAM’s F.C. Vogt Conservation Assessment Grant. The program is for

VAM institutional members and is sponsored by F.C. Vogt Company - a Richmond-based professional conservation firm dedicated to the preservation of antique furniture and wooden artifacts. This year, we were able to make two awards. One went to the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center for the assessment of a Civil War-era trunk of great historical significance to the Battle of Fredericksburg. The second grant was awarded to the Rappahannock Historical Society in Washington, Virginia for the assessment of three wooden artifacts related to domestic life on the frontier. Rappahannock Historical Society

The Rappahannock Historical Society (RHS), a largely volunteer, 501(c)3 organization, founded in 1965, is “committed to collecting, preserving, interpreting and disseminating the unique history and heritage of Rappahannock County, promoting knowledge of the past for a better understanding of the future.” They are governed by a board of directors and rely solely on memberships, donations, sales and small grants for income.

it conducts extremely detailed property searches, producing comprehensive histories of real estate parcels. The RHS has also provided research support for a county project to erect 33 Virginia Civil War Trails markers and has conducted a number of marker dedication ceremonies. The Society sponsors an annual early evening, family-oriented, New Year’s Eve event, Last Night Rappahannock, now in its third year, featuring music, food, and yes, a touch of local history.

The RHS facility (ca 1820 with a year 2000 addition) includes an office/ The small muWooden Mill Gear to be assessed reading room, seum contains under the VAM / F.C. Vogt Conservation library, boardroom, Assessment Grant local artifacts, museum and both owned archival storage. and on loan to The organization serves a diverse the society. These items range modern audience: genealogical refrom portraits, farm implements, searchers, researchers investigating a communion set, a wooden gear a range of specific topics, commuwheel from an old mill, old school nity members with knowledge and desks, a bayonet used both in the interest in local cultural traditions War of 1812 and the Civil War, and and economy who often share numerous small items. As visitors their knowledge and documents; tour the museum, the Rappahancounty residents to whom the RHS nock County story is tailored to reaches out with varied programs, individual interests. A recent grant and visitors to the county who are from VAM will allow a conservator looking for something to do. to provide advice on preservation techniques for several of the most Outreach activities include a important wooden artifacts. variety of topics such as: antique appraisals, the local Apple industry, RHS has also recently received a old post offices, stories of former grant from the Virginia Foundation residents of present-day Shenanfor the Humanities (VFH) in support doah National Park, concerts of of the initial phase of digitizing Civil War era music, and historytheir archival holdings. This projoriented road rallies. The Society ect will allow the RHS to move toalso produces numerous booklets ward an on-line catalog of holdings on county history, a CD with a list and to create web-based multi-meof local cemetery ‘residents,’ and dia presentations on various topics.

ericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center As part of the effort, they also plan to collaborate with colleagues from Encyclopedia Virginia at VFH to explore ways in which portions of local historical society collections with wide appeal may be shared with broad audiences. Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center There is a lot in store for the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center’s (FAMCC) visitors and members this coming year. This fall the Museum is opening two new exhibitions dealing with textiles. The first show, Community Artist Series: Fiber Art exhibits the work of local fiber artists. The intent in curating this exhibition was to highlight the diversity of work within fiber art and to promote the art form in the region. Continuing with the Museum’s textile driven exhibitions for the fall is Quilt National, a traveling exhibition on loan from the Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio. This exhibition of contemporary quilts serves as a perfect catalyst for the public to rethink what can be done with the art of quilt making. To complement these shows the Museum is teaming up with the local arts center Libertytown and the University of Mary Washington Galleries, who are “Sycamore Tree / She” Needle felted wall piece by local fiber artist Barbara Posey. It will be featured in “Community Artist Series: Fiber Art”

also hosting textile exhibitions, for a joint exhibit preview on October 25.

were chosen to represent different genres, mediums, and interpretations, reflecting just a small sampling of Fredericksburg’s visual arts. They each painted a creation within the Museum’s galleries, producing impromptu works of art infused with the energy and enthusiasm of the event. The liveliness of community participation helped in the construction of the final product. All artwork was then auctioned to benefit the FAMCC.

Additionally, as part of its continuing Civil War sesquicentennial participation, the FAMCC recently opened a new exhibition titled Picturing the Civil War. This show debuts several pieces from the Museum’s collection, and explores how the visual arts (in often moving, and sometimes bizarre ways) served both If you are interested in commercial learning more about and emotioneither the Rappahanal purposes nock Historical Socifollowing the Photo from FAMCC’s “First Friday Concert ety or the Fredericksconflict. burg Area Museum Series” in the Historic Market Square. and Cultural Center, On the education front, in an effort visit them online: to provide program opportunities for an even wider audience, the Rapahannock Historical Society FAMCC is developing three new http://www.rappahannockhistsoc. programs to provide more oporg/ tions for middle and high school students. The first, History through Fredericksburg Area Museum and Symbols, will utilize the Museum’s Cultural Center currency exhibition to provide http://www.famcc.org/ learners a better understanding of the history of the American currency system and its usage. The second, Big River, Big News, will incorporate multimedia to teach students about life along the Rappahannock River. Finally, Connecting a Country will give students the chance to understand the concepts of the railroad and highways systems, as well as mapping skills. Finally, the Museum’s popular Art Comes Alive! program is back for the third year in a row. On September 22 the FAMCC hosted a fun-filled evening of local artists, music and great food. The artists

Fall 2012

Museum News in Your VAM News Save the Date for another fantastic VAM conference - to be held March 9 - 12 at The Homestead in Hot Springs, VA. The Homestead has extended a fantastic room rate of just $95/night for conference attendees - plan to join us!

families connect with each other and make memories as they learn and care for the environment together.” Virginia Living Magazine recently featured the James Monroe Museum’s loan of the Rembrandt peale portrait of Monroe to the Virginia Executive Mansion.

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Visitation Survey Please take a moment to complete this quick, 7-question visitation survey! We’ll use the data to make the case for YOUR museum as we advocate on your behalf at the state and national levels.

Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts VAM announced the 2012 Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts Honorees in September. We received over 120,000 public votes this year! Christina Newton, VAM’s VCI Project Manager, recently represented the Association and the Virginia Collections Initiative at the Connecting to Collections Exchange during the AASLH Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah!

Upcoming Programming from VAM

MUSENET

collections management Speakers: Mary Helen Dellinger, Manassas Museum System; Gretchen Bulova, Gadsby’s Tavern; final speaker to be determined. Exhibits in permanent or changing museum galleries have always been the primary method of providing access to our collections for the public. But many museums are finding new ways to share their collections, through programs and non-traditional exhibit venues that can reach a bigger audience, or allow more of your collection to be on view. Join us for a day of exploring these non-traditional, yet very effective, methods for showcasing your collection to the public.

New Online Course: Marketing and Development for Collections Care

VAM is teaming up with John Tyler Community College to bring you quality online classes to meet your needs and conform to your busy schedule. Check out our latest addition - Marketing and Development for Collections Care begins October 9th and runs through October 29th.

Priority: Disaster Plans

Be prepared and register today for one of these great upcoming sessions presented by the Virginia Collections Initiative:

Using Personality Styles for Better Customer Service November 13th, Union Station, Petersburg Certificate credit: education/ outreach or external affairs Speakers: Bobbie Walker, Virginia Tourism Corporation; Nicole Dressler, Portsmouth Museums; Jennifer Thomas, VAM Knowing a little bit about how different visitors think and why they act they way they do can make the job of a docent or educator much easier. This workshop will introduce you to different personality types, and how they each learn differently, and then give you a refresher course on how to make sure your customer service skills are up to the challenge of responding to all sorts of personalities! This is a great workshop for all front line staff, and those who train them!

Member News

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) announced the Virginia Living Museum has been awarded Top Honors in Marketing for budgets under $175,000 for its Protect What’s Precious campaign. “This award provides well-deserved national recognition for the creativity and marketing expertise of the staff at the Virginia Living Museum,” said AZA President and CEO Jim Maddy. The AZA Marketing Award recognizes excellence in marketing campaigns developed and executed by its AZA member institutions.

In a new study published on Forbes.com, “Top 100 Lead Response Companies at salesforce.com’s Dreamforce 2012,” Guide by Cell (a VAM business member) was ranked in the Top 100 for response time to inquiries out of over 4,300 companies included in a blind study. Congratulations! Patricia Hobbs, associate director/curator of University Collections of Art and History at Washington and Lee, was one of 32 academic museum and gallery leaders from throughout the United States attending the inaugural Leadership Seminar of the Association of Academic Museums and Gallery (AAMG), and the only participant from Virginia. While attending the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Annual Conference recently in Phoenix, Arizona, Virginia Aquarium Executive Director Lynn Clements was honored for her outstanding efforts as the outgoing chairman of the AZA Government Affairs Committee. Additionally, Clements was recently elected to the AZA Board of Directors and began her three year term at the conclusion of the conference. As such she will be the board liaison to two committees: Government Affairs and the Enterprise Committee. Congratulations, Lynn!

The James Monroe Museum recently announced two Bowley Scholars - CanOctober 15, 2012 - Charlottesville dice Roland and Sarah Mendelsohn. Both January 28, 2013 - Hampton Candice and Sarah are juniors at Mary February 25, 2013 - Danville Washington and have already dived headMarch 25, 2013 - Fredericksburg on into a number of curatorial tasks. This year, the Bowleys will be working on digital Registration fee is $25 per person and imaging of collections, loan organization, includes lunch, materials, and a “disaster “The Protect What’s Precious Campaign was a education, and exhibit development. planning wheel” for the first 15 registrants! major rebranding to tap into the emotion of the unique experience awaiting visitors to Congratulations to Gari Melchers Home Non-Traditional Ways to Showcase the Virginia Living Museum,” said museum and Studio at Belmont for being voted Fredericksburg’s #1 attraction on TripAdviyour Collections Executive Director Page Hayhurst. “The sor. October 22nd, National Sporting Library, campaign was a great way to showcase Middleburg; Certificate credit: exhibitions or the value of the museum as a place where

Backyard, and Beyond... The Valentine Richmond History Center will host the Richmond History Makers Celebration on October 16th. Honored this year are John C. Purnell, Jr., Dr. Charles Price, Homeward, Dominic Gibbons Barrett and Ralph White.

Hails and Farewells

Martha Katz-Hyman has accepted a new position - as collections manager at Chippokes Plantation State Park. She’ll be working primarily with the Farm and Forestry Museum collection that is now the responsibility of the VA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation. On Aug. 25, water from a flash flood inundated Congratulations Martha! the entire lower level of the main museum building at the Virginia Living Museum (VLM), Sarah Whiting is the new executive director as well as the Wason Education Center. This at St. John’s Church in Richmond. Formerly of was the worst flooding in the museum’s 45Preservation Virginia, Whiting replaces Kay year history, overwhelming floodgates that Peninger, who is moving out of state. Brian R. were designed to withstand a 100-year flood. Pitney, President of St. John’s Church FoundaMuch of the damage will be covered by insur- tion Board of Trustees, had this to say: “Sarah ance, but the museum must raise $50,000 is uniquely qualified and a perfect fit for the to meet the insurance deductible. This is the Foundation. She is skilled in fundraising, historsecond time this year that the museum been ic preservation, building collaborative partnerflooded and the second time it must meet the ships, and in bringing diverse groups together insurance deductible. to attain strategic goals. I am looking forward to working with her.” Best of luck to both Sarah The d’ART Center held a dedication and and Kay in their new adventures! ribbon-cutting of a new Landmark Sculpture on October 3, 2012. Honored guests welCaroline Nichols recently accepted a position comed d’ART’s new Landmark into the heart with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as writer of the City of Norfolk. This vibrant 14 foot steel in the Advancement Division of the Foundasculpture delivers a striking piece of public art tion. Nichols started in this position in August. and a recognizable landmark to downtown Best of luck Caroline! Norfolk. With the monumental help of world class sculptor and Norfolk native, Rodney The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Carroll, the d’ART Center will be noticed, from Virginia has appointed art historian Melissa Main Street, the waterfront and beyond. Jordan Love as the museum’s first full-time academic curator. She joined the museum On August 15th, Stratford Hall’s rare book staff Aug. 15. The position, funded by a threecatalog went on-line as Stratford became year, $315,000 Andrew W. Mellon an active partner, along with the libraries Foundation Grant, strengthens the at Mount Vernon and Gunston Hall, in the museum’s curatorial and academic Founding Fathers Library Consortium. programming mission as a teaching institution. Love will develop Recently, thieves stole the American flag from educational programming around the Virginia War Memorial. “I was appalled that the museum’s exhibitions that someone would commit a despicable act like will both enhance the learning of that,” said Virginia War Memorial’s Executive students at the University and the Director Jon Hatfield. “I don’t know why they public’s understanding of art. would have singled out our national flag which we as Virginians and American’s honor.” The Museum of the Confederacy A new flag was donated by Pharaohs Soul mo- welcomes two new members on torcycle club. Members of the club said they their development team, Conwere compelled to do something - to show stance Bowden and Amanda Powtheir love for our nation’s veterans. Despite ers. VAM welcomes you too! the fact the flag was pilfered, Hatfield said he is grateful the community came through: “I Waterford Foundation has aphave been proud as an American to see the pointed a new executive director. outpouring from locally and around the State, Kenneth W. Rosenfeld will be the as people felt the same way that I do.” this award-winning preservation organization’s new executive director, starting October 16. “We are

delighted that Ken Rosenfeld has enthusiastically accepted our offer of employment,” says Foundation President Walter Music. “He brings 15 years of partnership development, community relations, and program administration to our organization, as well as the political experience he gained as chief of staff for a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors earlier in his career.” Welcome, Ken! Elizabeth Hutton Turner will step down in January as the University of Virginia’s vice provost for the arts, a position she has held since its creation in 2007, after completing her five-year term. Turner, who also is University Professor of modern art and teaches in the College of Arts & Sciences’ McIntire Department of Art, returned to the University - where she earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees - from The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., where she was senior curator. A noted scholar of 20thcentury American art, her work as a curator and educator has brought new perspectives on a wide range of artists who bridge the relationship between America and Europe during the modernist period. “As the University’s first vice provost for the arts, Beth oversaw significant growth in arts programming, the display of public art on Grounds, and the expansion of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection and The Fralin Museum of Art,” Executive Vice President and Provost John Simon said. “In her five years, she established the role of vice provost for the arts as collaborator and advocate.”

Call for Governing Council Nominations Would you or someone you know make a great VAM Council member? Want to get more involved in your state museum association? Find out more and nominate yourself or a colleague today. Nominations are due by December 1, 2012.

Fall 2012

In Memoriam: Joe Gutierrez ing on the development of the galleries and programming for the new American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, which will open a few years from now.

Dear Members, The Museum world is a little less groovy these days. Our good friend, mentor, colleague and cheerleader Joe Gutierrez left us on July 17, 2012 after a brief yet valiant battle with cancer. Joe was a true force of nature. He was always passionate about what he did, and what he did was extraordinary. Throughout his career he was a school teacher, a maritime historian, an educator, an author, a faculty member, a director, a reviewer, and a president. He was also a devoted husband and father. He loved travel, and music, and time with friends. A child of the 60’s, for Joe, things were never just “ok” – they were “groovy.” And if someone seemed upset about something – anything – Joe would say “Peace signs! Peace signs!” A native of Winston-Salem, NC, Joe headed east for his college years – to East Carolina University where he received his B.A. in Political Science and History and then his M.A. in American History (Civil War Maritime) a few years later. Then he headed west – all the way to Wyoming where he taught school and attended the Taft Institute of Government at the University of Wyoming. But the call of the sea was strong, and Joe came back east, this time to Virginia, where he led the education department at The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News for eight years. Then it was on to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation where eventually Joe would lead the Museum Operations and Education division as Senior Director. In that role, he was responsible for all public programming, including museum exhibits, re-created structures and ships, costumed interpretation, education programs, special events and volunteers at both Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center. Under Joe’s leadership, the new permanent galleries at Jamestown Settlement opened in 2006 and he was actively work-

Joe also loved to give back to the communities that helped shape him. He gave back to the higher education community by serving as Vice-Chair and then Chair of the Thomas Nelson Community College Local Board. In the Museum world, he was one of the early volunteer leaders of the Peninsula Museums Forum, and became heavily involved with the American Association of Museums (AAM), serving as both executive committee member for EDCOM and as a peer reviewer for the MAP and Accreditation programs of AAM.

VAM is creating the Joseph A. Gutierrez, Jr. Memorial Fund* as a way to honor Joe’s commitment to your state museum organization. We invite you, if you are able, to contribute to this fund, and encourage you to share with us your ideas for how the fund could best be used to honor Joe’s legacy. In closing, we on Council wish farewell to Joe, a true leader and a caring individual. We are all better off for having had Joe in our midst. Let us carry forth with the good work he started, knowing he is cheering us on.

Sincerely,

Anna Holloway, Tracy Gillespie, and And then, there was VAM. As president of the or- Margo Carlock ganization from 2010-2012, Joe exemplified the true meaning of leadership. Joe worked closely with staff and was always available for assistance and as a sounding board for ideas. He pushed us to excel on behalf of members, but reined us in when we needed to recognize the limits of our resources.

* Visit www.vamuseums.org and click on the “Donate” link in the upper-right to make a donation to the Joseph A. Gutierrez, Jr. Memorial Fund.

He was optimistic about the years ahead for VAM, but he knew that we had to plan ahead to secure VAM’s future. Joe insisted that Council examine our current funding sources, as well as look for new sources. Two ideas that Joe encouraged Council to explore were increased advocacy for our organization, and the potential establishment of an endowment fund.

Our Governing Council President, Tracy Gillespie VP, Planning & Resources, Al Schweizer VP, Programming, Gary Sandling Secretary, Barbara Batson Treasurer, Sean Fearns Past President (Acting), Scott Harris Past President (Acting), John Verrill Ex-Officio Member, Robert C. Vaughan Ex-Officio Member, Robin Nicolson Directors Gretchen Bulova Donald Buma Norman Burns April Cheek-Messier Diane Dunkley His untimely passing has Lin Ezell Debi Gray left us with a void that Page Hayhurst cannot easily be filled, Anna Holloway but has also left us with Melanie L. Mathewes the motivation to conRobert Orrison tinue his work on behalf Cheryl Robinson of VAM. We are actively Barbara Rothermel advocating for VAM (and Charlotte Whitted

for Virginia museums overall) at the State and National levels. And while Council is still considering the formation of an endowment fund, we are pleased to say that

O u r St a f f Executive Director, Margo Carlock Deputy Director, Jennifer Thomas Communications Dir., Heather Widener Accountant, Su Thongpan

O u r Vo i ce VAM Voice is a member benefit published quarterly for museum professionals and volunteers. The editor encourages readers to submit article proposals. Contact the Communications Director for more information. O u r Co nt a c ts Phone: 804. 358.3170 Fax: 804. 358.3174 www.vamuseums.org membership@vamuseums.org mcarlock@vamuseums.org jthomas@vamuseums.org timetravelers@vamuseums.org hwidener@vamuseums.org O u r News D eadlin es Spring: February 15th Summer: May 15th Fall: August 15th Winter: November 15th Our Mission The mission of the Virginia Association of Museums is to serve as the resource network of the Virginia and District of Columbia museum community through education, technical assistance, and advocacy.

Project Manager, VCI, Christina Newton

Fall 2012