October 2021
Bennington Museum Monthly
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Greetings, friends!
Museums, at their best, offer all of us the opportunity to share ideas, experiences, culture, history, and artistic expression in a place that is warm, welcoming and essential to a vibrant community. Bennington Museum strives to fill this role as our community’s cultural center, bringing people together through a common love of this region's wealth of art and history, even in this increasingly fractured world. It is an incredible honor to take leadership of Bennington Museum, an organization that contextualizes our shared history, and challenges us to look at the past with fresh eyes so that we might better see the future.
I invite you to experience the power of this Museum - your Museum - by visiting the galleries or attending any number of Museum events this fall. Thank you for entrusting me to uphold this exceptional community treasure.
Martin Mahoney
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An in-person Bennington Community Theater production
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An in-person multi-site tour exploring Frost's Shaftsbury years
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Monday, 10/11
1:30pm - 2:30pm
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A free in-person event for pre-school kids and families
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Thursday, 10/14
3:30pm - 8pm
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A free event for our highest membership level.
Tour of WACC and dinner at Mezze. Only 6 places remaining.
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Come explore the Museum for the first time, or join us to help welcome our new members and donors. RSVP!
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Saturday, 10/16
10am - noon
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A virtual workshop with mycologist, Sue Van Hook
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A free in-person BHS presentation
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Thursday, 10/21
1:30pm-2:30pm & Saturday, 10/23
10:30am-11:30am
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A free in-person event for pre-school kids and families
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Save the date for this outdoor celebration with the artists
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The Museum Travel Alliance |
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Bennington Museum has joined the Museum Travel Alliance (MTA), a consortium of nearly 100 art museums and other cultural institutions whose members share a deep passion for cultural and art-focused travel. MTA offers access to a curated selection of incredible travel opportunities to member museums, all in the company of renowned curators and scholars.
“We are proud to have the Bennington Museum as part of the MTA family,” says Jim Friedlander, President of the Museum Travel Alliance. “In this pivotal time for the world, art and travel have never felt more vital. As we look forward to exploring the world with renewed vigor in 2021 and beyond, we are thrilled to offer members of the Bennington Museum exclusive opportunities to join our internationally acclaimed experts and go behind the scenes of some of the most significant art destinations, both here in the U.S. and around the world.”
In fall 2021, MTA is offering an exciting exploration of the art treasures of Pittsburgh, and in spring 2022, they are leading a fascinating journey to Santa Fe and Taos. These are just two examples of trips we are highlighting that we think our Bennington Museum members might enjoy, but the MTA offers a great many more. All you need to do is select Bennington Museum as your member organization when you sign up!
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Grants for Electrical Improvements and Trail Accessibility |
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NEW WIRING
Bennington Museum is proud to announce that we have just received a Cultural Facilities grant from the Vermont Arts Council for much needed electrical upgrades. The $15,575 award is a meant to cover half of the costs of a project which will involve replacing knob and tube wiring in two Museum galleries, and installing five new electrical panel boxes. This project will eliminate a major fire hazard and create a safer building in which to house our collections and host programs. If you would like to help the Museum meet the rest of the match for this important project, we would welcome your support!
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THE GEORGE AIKEN WILDFLOWER TRAIL
Recently, the Whipstock Hill Preservation Society pledged to support the efforts of our volunteer trail crew in the amount of $5,000. This gift will allow us grind stumps that make the trail difficult to navigate in places, and to finish removing the last of the diseased pine trees. Thank you to Jackie and Tony Marro for opening the pathway to this funding and for having the plan and energy to follow through with this project.
To be added to the trail crew email list and to learn more about the trail crew work, contact Jackie Marro. Each Saturday, a dedicated group of volunteers meets at the Pavilion at 9am to help move mulch, pull invasives, and otherwise keep our little slice of Vermont hillside in order. Stop by to lend a hand!
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The Curatorial Internship Fund
In the September newsletter we announced that Bennington Museum had received a $25,000 gift to the Museum’s permanent endowment. These funds are intended to provide paid summer internship opportunities for Mount Anthony Union High School (MAUHS) and Southwest Tech (SWT) students with the goal of expanding college and career prospects for our local teenagers.
The Curatorial Internship will run from approximately late June through mid-August, and the intern will be paid the prevailing minimum wage for approximately 26 hours of work per week over that two month period. The application is currently available on the Museum's website and will close on March 30, 2022. If you know any rising juniors or seniors who attend MAUHS, please forward this opportunity to them!
The Curatorial Internship is designed to be flexible to accommodate a student's specific skill set. While curatorial projects may be a primary focus, interns will be encouraged to try out all aspects of non-profit administration, from collaborating with Marketing to communicate what they learn through addendums to the Museum newsletter, to helping to lead one of the Museum's Education programs. This internship provides a bespoke and multi-faceted opportunity to make connections with museum professionals, and to gain valuable experience bringing specific projects to completion under the guidance of Bennington Museum staff.
The Museum looks forward to working with the MAUHS and SWT teams in the coming year to identify prospective candidates and build a long-term pipeline for cultural engagement and increased career prospects for these students. Bennington Museum is very grateful to the donors who made this Curatorial Internship possible and, with their continued support, intends to grow the endowment fund so that eventually two fully funded positions will be available each summer for the benefit of the Museum and our community.
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The Bennington Historical Society |
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Check out the latest newsletter from the Bennington Historical Society. F or BHS updates delivered right to your inbox each month and to help us maintain free and frequent historical lectures and tours, make a gift in support of this program today!
Also new this month, the Regional History Room at Bennington Museum will open to the public on Thursdays in addition to Mondays. Volunteers are on hand to help you find the resources you need, and you may access those resources free of charge.
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Shop Jane Stickle
Just in for Janiacs and fans of "Dear Jane": The Museum store has all your Stickle Quilt merchandise on display and ready for you to take home. If you can't visit the quilt in person this year, you can get your fix through our online shop. To learn more about this fabulous piece of textile craftsmanship, you can also purchase a recording of our Collection's Manager speaking about the history of the famous quilt and the woman who made it. Enjoy!
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Bennington Museum engages and transforms our visitors and our community by connecting you to the region’s diverse arts, rich history, and culture of innovation.
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