When Julian Zugazagoitia got job of running the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art last March, I was a tad surprised: it’s a big leap from running the Museo del Barrio, with an operating budget of less than $5 million, to directing the encyclopedic Nelson-Atkins, with a budget eight or so times that (according to public records).
He showed up for his first day of work yesterday, and — journalists being journalists — the Kansas City Star last Friday published an article full of people giving him advice on what to do. I have no idea if he will take their suggestions — some of them bad, imho — but in an another article published the same day, Zugazagoitia told the Star some things that sound far more sensible to me.
He intends to “reposition” the museum, because he said that while the city’s residents take pride in it, they don’t necessarily visit. But he wants to do that mainly with “small things to change the perception of who we are” — such as trying free admission on Thursday nights for two special exhibitions. He complimented some recent little things the museum had done, like providing magnifying glasses for visitors to a Mughal miniature show.
Zugazagoitia recently said two things for which he earns major points in my book:
1) He told the Star that he did not think of the museum’s audience in terms of “various constituencies — Latinos, African-Americans, artists, etc. — requiring programs that speak specifically to them.” Wonderful! A museum director who believes in the universality of art and acts that way.
2) In a press release from the musuem, Zugazagoitia spoke of plans during his first year to “explore the most remarkable treasures from the Museum’s 33,500 works of art in a monthly series of Thursday-evening conversations called Art Tasting with Julián. Beginning Oct. 21, Zugazagoitia and a curator will bring to life the finest works of each collection in the series.”
Wow! Based on his opening talk, and moves, this is a director I can applaud.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art