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The following is an address given to the members of the Monterey Museum of Art
at the Annual Meeting on July 28, 2009.
From the Executive Director:
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Annual meetings mark the end of one year and the beginning of another. Typically, we use these occasions to pat ourselves on the back for yet another year of successful growth and achievement. To say that the year just concluded was challenging would be an understatement. The year ahead will be likewise test all of us who are committed to the Museum and our community. During the course of last year’s economic events, I found myself reflecting on the organization’s core values and artistic vision which can be found in our Strategic Plan. Among those that particularly resonate with me are some of our core values:
- Creative thinking, risk-taking and the application of new concepts;
- Groundbreaking original scholarship;
- Excellence, integrity and quality.
A few key phrases from our Vision Statement are also worth remembering:
- Imagine exhibitions of international significance forging new scholarship with broad public appeal;
- Imagine events and programs to fuel the mind and feed and soul in a place where children, young people and adults gather;
- Imagine being one of our region’s principal visitor destinations;
- Imagine a nexus—a museum so fully integrated into the community fabric to become a facet of everyday life and a source of pride.
At no time do we add the disclaimer “when it’s convenient,” or “when it’s easy.” Rather, these statements represent who we are and what we believe. During last year and for the one to come, we’ll be doing a lot more with a lot less. Some of the changes you’ve noticed. For the time being, we’ve discontinued our print newsletter and will be redesigning our website to include new features. Instead of two opening nights, we’ve now offer a “preview” on a single evening, with a cash bar.
Our artistic goals are ambitious, yet they are realistic in our abilities to raise funds to accomplish them. Our Pacific Street location will become the primary showcase for our extraordinary permanent collection focusing on the history of the Monterey Peninsula Art Colony. This year, we’ll be launching curriculum-based programs for 3rd, 4th and 5th grades with the goal of providing Monterey Country elementary students with an on-site Museum experience and a unique window into California history. La Mirada will continue to showcase temporary exhibitions, primarily on contemporary art.
The exhibition lineup for this year is impressive:
Our popular bi-annual series MontereyNow will be expanded to four times a year. In October, we launch a new contemporary series of national scope called In Process. The inaugural exhibition will showcase Mark Licari, a rising star based in Los Angeles. Following In Process will be a retrospective on Bay Area abstract painter Roland Peterson. It gives me great pleasure to announce the long term loan of four Gottardo Piazzoni murals from the DeYoung Museum (part of the group created for the San Francisco Public Library). These will be dramatically installed in our courtyard gallery in a stunning exhibition devoted to this seminal Swiss-Italian-American modernist who lived in Carmel Valley.
Debuting in May will be the evocative work of two of America’s most celebrated video artists: Sam Taylor Wood and Eve Sussman. This will be an important year in planning and preparation for West to East: The Exchange of Postwar Abstraction Between New York and San Francisco. A grant from the prestigious Henry Luce Foundation has permitted significant work to be accomplished on this exhibition scheduled to open in 2012. A national tour and catalogue published and distributed by a major university press are in negotiation.
Miniatures will continue and will be bigger (not smaller) than ever.
The importance of the Arts Regional Initiative Grant from the James Irvine Foundation cannot be overstated. This award—$300,000 over a three-year period—is being directed to audience research (including focus groups and exit surveys) and marketing. For the first time, we’re finding out who our audience is, what we’re doing well and areas in which we can improve.
Fifty years ago, in 1959, the Monterey Museum of Art was born. It is no accident that a region home to one of our nation’s most illustrious art traditions supports a thriving Museum which celebrates our past while actively supporting the creativity of our own time.
To all of the artists, visionaries, donors, collectors, staff, board, Museum members and visitors, both past and present: Thank you and Happy Birthday!
E. Michael Whittington
Executive Director
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