Description
The Project :
The Shaker Museum seeks support for the continuation of the collection manager position that previously was funded by the Foundation’s 2016 Responsive grant to the museum. The 2016 grant underwrote a transformative collection project to establish a fully accessible online catalogue of the museum’s large and unparalleled collection of Shaker objects. The project dramatically heightened awareness not only of this important collection, but also of the organization, catalyzing major strides in donor cultivation and fundraising.
The upshot is that the museum is now in the process of securing a permanent space in Chatham, NY, and launching a renovation that will include the creation of state-of-the-art storage space and exhibitions galleries for the collection. In order to prepare for this previously unanticipated transition, and ultimately for its first, year-round public facility, the museum requests partial support for the continuing position of collections manager. The collections manager will carry out further organizational and evaluative tasks to fully calculate the storage needs of the collection and simultaneously devise a comprehensive collection plan that will include proposed refinements, deaccessions, and transfers.
The work of the collection manager has been clearly defined and its progress projected in detail. Collection categories have already been established and reviewed, and considered programmatically. A collection plan has been outlined preliminarily and awaits fuller development and levels of approval. The collection manager’s object-by-object review will begin in June with the aim of aligning all collection objects with the new plan.
Rationale for Funding :
Having maximized the outcomes of the Foundation’s 2016 grant, the Shaker Museum is well on its way in a new phase, during which it will achieve long-needed secure and climatized collection storage, and public gallery spaces. As a capstone to the successfully- executed digital collection project, this modest grant invests in the success of the transition period the museum has now entered. This is the right work to underpin an exciting stage in the museum’s development.
The museum’s director has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to advance complex collection projects and to see their role in advancing the museum’s larger strategic progress. The current collection manager has developed a deep knowledge of the collection that will facilitate execution of the work now at hand.