Volume III | March 21 2021
We Are Honored To Share Very Exciting News With You!
Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History is Selected to Participate in National Museum Assessment Program 
Danville, VA | March 16, 2021 – The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History (DMFAH) has been selected to participate in the Museum Assessment Program (MAP), which is administered by the American Alliance of Museums. Through guided self-study assessment and on-site consultation with a museum professional, participation in MAP will empower DFMAH to better serve the citizens of Danville and Pittsylvania County by facilitating its meeting and exceeding the highest professional standards of the museum field. 
The museum's participation is made possible through funding provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). MAP helps museums strengthen operations, plan for the future, and meet standards through self-study assessment and a consultative site visit from an expert peer reviewer. 
DMFAH has chosen to do a MAP Collections Stewardship assessment in order to update its current collections, include out new collections, as well as optimize and standardize our archival practices. We hope to, at the end of the year, give full access to all of our holdings for university scholars, researchers, students and the community. 

“A museum makes a city a cultural destination…even if people never go inside the museum, they see its exterior, and it creates an impression… the building is a persistent reminder of art and culture.” Peter Kageyama, Love Where You Live. 

"Choosing to be part of the MAP program is indicative of the commitment to civic involvement, public service and overall excellence on the part of the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History,” said Laura Lott, president of AAM. "Studies have shown America's museums to be among the country's most trusted and valued institutions. MAP is designed to make them even better." 
Since its creation in 1981, the MAP program has served over 5,000 museums. MAP is supported through a cooperative agreement between AAM and IMLS. For more information, including a complete list of museums participating in MAP, please visit www.aam-us.org/map, call 202-289-9118 or e-mail map@aam-us.org. Our website also has information about museums across the country who have previously participated in MAP and other AAM Excellence Programs (such as Core Document Verification and Accreditation). 
AAM is the only organization representing the nation's entire museum community and has been dedicated to promoting excellence within the museum field for over 100 years. For more information about AAM, visit www.aam-us.org. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. To learn more about the Institute, please visit: http://www.imls.gov.

We share this assessment nomination with you, and everybody in our community who has helped us use your histories and creative skills to make a difference in the world, both prior to Covid-19, and also while facing the challenges of the pandemic, and now going through vaccination procedures.
Internships and Volunteers make a difference at the DMFAH
The DMFAH understands that cultural narratives and Art can also be a valuable tool in helping people deal with loss and trauma. When COVID-19 hit, we adapted our outreach programs, and worked with our community partners to ensure our continuous engagement with Dan River Region groups, students and families. We opened the Storefront gallery in partnership with Rick Barker, the River District and a very generous grant from the Creative Communities Partnership. This 500 Craghead Block Gallery in the River District is an example of the Museum meeting the community where they were during this past year. Another example is our new WANDERLOVE campaign that brings the whole Dan River Region together through a colorful fiber art project, which will be installed for the 4th of July along the River District Riverwalk. The Museum is also working to bring meaningful Smithsonian Exhibition programming to our agricultural communities through an exhibition that will be launched in Chatham in the fall of 2021 called Crossroads. For this new programming we are calling for volunteers and for Interns. To find out more about our volunteer program and to sign up HERE https://www.danvillemuseum.org/volunteer

To find out more about our Internship program and how to sign up HERE. .

You can contact the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History Executive Director if you have questions about the new volunteer and internship programming.
MUSEUMS ARE FACING A CHANGING WORLD
Directors Report on Virginia Association of Museums (VAM) Conference March 17-19
Focus sessions related to museum themes of access and inclusion. Highlights included the voices of historically under-represented groups, as well as better access to local collections, including objects from diverse sites, people and perspectives. The DMFAH might find itself sometimes constrained by traditional narratives that do not always accurately reflect the museums’ history or its visitors.
Seven Characteristics that all Museums should have
by Richard Josey, Founder of Collective Journeys
Veronica Gallargo and Richard Josey spoke about building foundations of inclusive organization. The cornerstones of this foundation would be a shared sense of belonging, a center that would apply the welcome to all and to apply seven characteristics to programming (1)Diversity of voices (2) recognition & value (3)Learning and Development (4) support & resources (5)Collaboration as a Norm (6)Intensionally Inclusive (7) Sense of belonging. These characteristics will support fair treatment and equal access to all who visit our museum sites.
African American Foodways Tour at Stratford Hall
Joining Stratford Hall for the Colonial Foodways program featuring 18th- century baker Justin Cherry, who demonstrates baking in a clay oven and feature recipes from colonial America, including one from Richard Henry Lee, was one of the highlights of the conference. We remember so much through cultural rituals which involve the preparation of food. Foodways are the eating habits and cooking practices of a people in a geographical region and historical period. Foodways include cooking ingredients, how foods were prepared, who ate the food, and how they ate it. ... In the colonial period, for example, some slave owners and masters rationed food.

Programming can be done virtually via Zoom and registration is required.
An Interdisciplinary team from the National Museum of the United States Army discussed their award winning-docent training program.

The National Museum cultivates individuals who are passionate about the U.S. Army and care about sharing the stories of the men and women who have worn the Army uniform throughout our nation’s history. There are many volunteer opportunities, such as visitor services, special events, tours, education, gardening and administration. The National Museum builds a diverse group of volunteers with varied backgrounds and experiences. Specific educational degrees or work experience are not required. All are encouraged to apply! Volunteers receive benefits that include, but are not limited to: discounts at the gift store and a local restaurant; opportunities to interact with a diverse group of people from all over the world; training about the Museum collections and exhibits; connecting with the community; invitations to special programs and events, as well as tickets for Friends and Family. Should we offer the same for our volunteers and Interns at the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History?
The Modern-Day Monuments Men & the Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab at VMNH
The Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab (CHML) is a collaborative effort between the Virginia Museum of Natural History (VMNH) and the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI). The CHML operates through a distributed workforce of archaeologists, art historians, GIS experts, and other heritage practitioners, and provides global monitoring capability for cultural heritage threatened by armed conflict and natural disaster. Among other technologies, the lab utilizes high-resolution satellite imagery provided by industry partners to rapidly identify destructive event and threats to monuments, museums, archives, historic buildings, archaeological sites, and landscapes. Through its partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, the lab works with the US Army Reserve’s recently reactivated Monuments Officers (38G/6V), and other key stakeholders at research and response-oriented organizations. To find out more about the original program and the Monument’s Men, please see the film trailer HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CreneTs7sGs
No Win Situation: The Lost Cause & preservation in 2020
This summer, in the wake of demonstrations sparked by the deaths of George Floyd and other African American victims of police brutality, protesters and city contractors toppled four Confederate monuments along Richmond’s Monument Avenue.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has announced plans to dedicate almost $11 million to reinventing the historic boulevard. Eventually, writes Phillip Morris for National Geographic, the politician hopes to “repurpose parts of Monument Avenue to better reflect Virginia’s and America’s diverse heritage and not shy away from hard truths about the racially divided past.”
Northam’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year allocates $25 million to transforming historic sites across the state: “These investments will help Virginia tell the true story of our past and continue building an inclusive future,” says Northam in the statement. “At a time when this Commonwealth and country are grappling with how to present a more complete and honest picture of our complex history, we must work to enhance public spaces that have long been neglected and shine light on previously untold stories.”
As Gregory S. Schneider reports for the Washington Post, Northam asked the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) to spearhead the community-driven Monument Avenue project. (The Richmond museum is home to Rumors of War, a 2019 Kehinde Wiley sculpture created in direct response to the Confederate statue–lined promenade; per the VMFA’s website, the piece mirrors a statue of a Confederate general but commemorates the “African American youth lost to the social and political battles being waged throughout our nation.”)
Trendwatch: Navigating a Disrupted Future
In 2021, museums face rapid, transformative shifts on all fronts. In response, this 2021 edition of TrendsWatch focuses on issues museums must attend to right now, to minimize harm to their communities and ensure their own survival. The report addresses: Closing the Gap created by inequalities of wealth and power. Digital Awakening can be initiated by essential technologies for pandemic survival and future success: understanding how caring for the vulnerable in a time of crisis is important, understanding how the pandemic is reshaping higher education after COVID-19, and devising ways to survive an era of uncertainty through strategy.
Understanding the Black Travel Experience

This session explored the journey we have been on to create more inclusive experiences for black travelers as they visit Virginia’s top attractions, cultural destinations and historical sites. In this panel discussion James Warren and Justin Reid (Virginia Humanities) came together to discuss the importance not just of readying your museum for equity but also considering the roads and travel to your museum for African American museum travelers. Is your city a welcoming place for African Americans and do they have access to local African American Histories in your region? These are the questions black travelers have: (1) What are the signals in the environment (2) Do I see others like me (3) What is my risk for harassment.
James Warren, spoke about the findings of the Travel and Tourism Research Association's
Marketing Outlook Forum, held on October 8th, 2020, to develop a deeper understanding of the needs, values, and emotions of African American travelers in Virginia — and how they're using that insight to improve consumer connection throughout the travel experience.
Danville Museum is a Voting Station. The City Of Danville is Having Two Elections in 2021
Tuesday, June 8, 2021 – Democratic Party Primary
Tuesday, November 2, 2021 –
General Election for Governor, Lt.
Governor, Attorney General, 14th House of
Delegates and City Constitutional Officers.
 
The Swanson Studio will be used as a polling place for these elections. We will send a reminder out a couple of weeks before each election.
It was during this week in 1941 that the National Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C.
 The National Gallery was the project of Andrew Mellon, a wealthy industrialist and Secretary of the Treasury. In 1880, 25-year-old Mellon traveled to Europe with his friend Henry Clay Frick, a fellow Pittsburgh businessman who would go on to become another of the nation's richest industrialists and they came back enthusiastic art collectors.
Mellon bought pieces slowly over the decades. In the late 1920s he served as ambassador to Great Britain, and he was inspired by the National Gallery in London to create something similar in the United States. In 1930, he had the rare opportunity to purchase art from the Hermitage, the greatest art museum in Russia. Mellon purchased 21 paintings, including work by Raphael, Rembrandt, Botticelli, Titian, and Jan van Eyck.
In 1936 Mellon wrote to President Roosevelt offering to donate his collection as well as $15 million to build a museum that would house it. Mellon had a vision for a national museum of the highest quality, and he insisted that it should not be named after him, figuring that other art collectors would be more likely to donate to a place called the National Gallery of Art than the Mellon Gallery. Pope designed it in the Neoclassical style, with wings extending from a central rotunda, and incorporating gardens and fountains. Construction began in June of 1937. Neither Andrew Mellon nor John Russell Pope lived to see it completed — they died within 24 hours of each other in late August. The building was finished at the end of 1940, and the next few months were spent installing art. By 1966 the original building was full, and construction began on a second building — this one geometric and modern to house the modern art collection.
When the National Gallery opened in 1941 President Roosevelt gave the dedication speech. He said, "To accept this work today is to assert the purpose of the people of America — that the freedom of the human spirit and human mind which has produced the world's great art ... shall not be utterly destroyed."
Admission is always free to the public.
(The Writers Almanac/March 17,2021)
The DMFAH Auditorium Ceiling
We thank Tommy Watson and his great team of crafters ( Kenny Powell, Buck Watson, Frank Musick) for restoring and painting our plaster ceiling in the auditorium. We also thank the Daly Foundation for their generous grant to make this tremendous restoration job possible. This allows us to offer this beautiful space up to small celebrations for the public, camp theater productions and community groups for meetings. For Those Interested in booking the Auditorium for small venues like Birthdays, Wedding Anniversaries, Wedding receptions, Bridal parties, Bachelor parties, Tea parties and Children’s parties, now is the time to start contacting us. We recommend keeping your quest lists to about 30 people, while we wait for all to get vaccinated in Virginia.
As you are all knitting and stitching and doing crochet structures for WANDERLOVE, keep in mind for Women’s month, the beautiful handmade sculptures of a Japanese-American sculptor, who despite persecution, made her mark.
Seven years after her death, Ruth Asawa is finally being recognized as an American master. What can we learn from this overdue reappraisal?
“The Japanese-American Sculptor Who, Despite Persecution, Made Her Mark” by Thessaly La Force in The New York Times Style Magazine, tells the story of how Asawa was rediscovered after fading from the public eye.
“In a culture of acknowledging those who were previously overlooked, when artists and their earliest champions are finally getting their dues, there is a satisfaction in witnessing the record be corrected. Yet a purely revisionist approach ignores the ways in which Asawa’s art is still remarkably contemporary; how it is a clear articulation of midcentury art’s engagement with spatial abstraction. I have stood in a gallery hung with Asawa’s wire sculptures, where the movement of my own body has caused them to sway, the shadows of the woven wire dancing against the floor. For a moment, I was quietly transported elsewhere — to the deep sea, to a forest or maybe to someplace altogether unearthly.”