Art museum’s new strategy emphasizes ties to community
The Milwaukee Art Museum began rolling out a new “strategic direction” this week that emphasizes strengthening its relationship with and responsiveness to its Milwaukee County community.
In discussing the museum’s strategizing, director Marcelle Polednik made a point of saying they deliberately avoided the word “plan,” because the world is changing and evolving too dynamically to spell out three to five years’ worth of specific steps.
Polednik identified four pillars of the strategy:
❚ Art relevant to our community.
❚ Robust community programming.
❚ Expansive hospitality.
❚ Impact aligned with financial strength and discipline.
By the end of March, the museum will launch a Listening Lab inside its galleries, where visitors can experience a work of art along with several different kinds of narratives and information about it. Visitors can offer input and feedback and raise issues. As Polednik described it, the Listening Lab could serve as a rolling focus group to help the museum determine which kind of story to tell about a work of art.
MAM also plans to highlight culturally and socially relevant elements of works on view.
“We want to make it possible for all people to see themselves at the museum and better understand the world through the art we hold in the public trust,” Polednik said in a media statement.
As an example of the kind of culturally engaged work that MAM could do in the future, Polednik pointed to “The San Quentin Project: Nigel Poor and the Men of San Quentin State Prison,” a 2018-’19 show. In connection with that work, MAM trained a number of formerly incarcerated people to serve as guides to the exhibit.
MAM has commissioned artist Derrick Adams to create a mural about how African American life intersects with Milwaukee history for summer 2021, said Polednik and photography & media arts curator Lisa Sutcliffe.
To carry out these initiatives, MAM plans to hire a deputy director of curatorial affairs, likely by June, and a curator of community dialogue. Both will report directly to Polednik.
Future initiatives to ensure the museum is serving a diverse local audience could include hiring paid docents and pop-up art shows presented in other city locations.
Spectrum Nonprofit Services led a task force drawn from the museum trustees, staff, volunteers and docents to develop the plan, which was approved by the museum’s board of trustees. MAM’s last strategic plan was announced in 2006.
Current museum exhibits include “A Modern Vision: European Masterworks from the Phillips Collection” (through March 22), the photography exhibit “Portrait of Milwaukee” (through March 1) and “The 2020 Scholastic Art Awards: Wisconsin Exhibition” (through March 15).
General admission to the museum is $19, $17 for students with ID and seniors 65 and older, free for children 12 and under thanks to a Kohl’s sponsorship.
Admission is free to members, free to Wisconsin K-12 teachers with valid school ID or pay stub, and free the first Thursday of each month.
People who participate in WIC, FoodShare, BadgerCare and Medicaid are eligible for a $20 family access membership. Visit mam.org/memb ership/details/family-access.php for details.