CHANGING FROM WITHIN: Welcoming New Perspectives to Our Institutions A program organized by Historic Cherry Hill, Albany in collaboration with the Museum Program, NYSCA. Friday, May 31, 2002 9:00 a.m. - 4 p.m. Scheuer Auditorium The Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Avenue New York, New York How do challenging ideas become implemented in history and art museums? What impact do new approaches have upon the staff? How does change effect the museum's public dimension? These questions have confronted museum professionals for more than 20 years and recently, a number of museums in the greater New York area have launched innovative initiatives to ensure that new voices and new perspectives are embraced. This daylong program will highlight some of the latest work being done, and will explore the internal and external issues that often arise as risks are taken. Participants will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and share experiences during each session. This program is funded in part with a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. 9:00-9:30 Registration and Coffee 9:30-10:30 Introductory Remarks Brian Wallis, Chief Curator & Director of Exhibitions, International Center of Photography. Having recently moved from its old facility in a mansion on upper Fifth Avenue to a new midtown campus that includes a new school and renovated museum space, the International Center of Photography has radically altered its approach to exhibition practices. How has this new ideological slant updated the institution's historic engagement with photojournalism and "concerned photography"? In this introductory session, Wallis will show the impact of this revised mission with regard to museum staffing, collections, archives, exhibitions, online information resources, inter-museum collaboration, fundraising, and installation design, setting the stage for the discussion of particular projects later in the day. 10:45-11:45 Case Study Presentation Bill Adair, Director of Education, The Rosenbach Museum and Library. Located in Philadelphia, the Rosenbach was the home of two brothers who were dealers and collectors of rare books, manuscripts, fine and decorative arts. When founded in 1954, the mission of the museum was to preserve the two brothers' personal collections and since then, the holdings have continued to grow. As Director of Education, Adair's challenge has been to establish relevancy of the collections for contemporary audiences in a major urban center. He will describe a variety of educational initiatives he has undertaken, including work with contemporary artists, and school-age students. 12:00- 1:00 Lunch (provided) Participants will have the opportunity to have lunch with a presenter of their choice. 1:00-2:00 Case Study Presentation Fatima Bercht, Chief Curator, El Museo del Barrio, NYC. El Museo del Barrio was founded over 30 years ago as a community based organization by a group of concerned educators, artists and activists who saw a void in the preservation and interpretation of Puerto Rican cultural heritage. Today, the museum's 8,000-piece collection is comprised of Caribbean and Latin American art, including pre-Columbian domestic and ceremonial artifacts, traditional arts, paintings and works on paper. Because the cataloguing process informs future exhibitions and publications, incorporating multiple perspectives can lead to exciting programming possibilities. Bercht will describe the unusual approach El Museo del Barrio has taken to catalogue its collections, including research by outside anthropologists, art historians and others as well as the incorporation of oral histories. 2:15-4:00 Case Study Presentation Program participants will view The Jewish Museum's exhibition, Mirroring Evil: Nazi Imagery/Recent Art. Norman Kleeblatt, the Susan and Elihu Rose Curator of Fine Arts, Carol Zawatsky, Director of Education, and Joanna Lindenbaum, Assistant Curator of the exhibition, will then discuss several issues related to the mounting of the show, which has drawn extensive media attention. The works of art in the exhibition use images from the Nazi era as a paradigm for evil in contemporary life. They also show how pervasive images of the Nazi era have become in popular culture. The exhibition includes two works acquired for the museum's collections and seventeen borrowed pieces. The staff will discuss the evolution of the exhibition, the museum's partnerships with other institutions in New York, and the benefits of the public and private dialogues that the museum has hosted in relation to the exhibition. Changing From Within is organized by Historic Cherry Hill, a historic house museum located in Albany, New York, in collaboration with NYSCA's Museum Program. $35 (2nd registration from same institution $25) ____ Name(s)______________________ Title(s)________________________ Institution____________________________ Address_______________________________ Telephone_______________ Fax_________________ E-Mail_______________________________________ Mail Registration form and payment to: Historic Cherry Hill 523 ? South Pearl Street Albany, New York 12202 For more information, contact Historic Cherry Hill at (518) 434-4791; [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kristin Herron Director, Museum Program New York State Council on the Arts 175 Varick Street, 3rd Floor New York, NY 10014 Phone: 212-741-7848 email: [log in to unmask] url: www.nysca.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).