download the 2008-2009 annual report - Norman Rockwell Museum

membership continuedTraining and incentive programs for Museum staff, as well as a more prominentmembership presence within the Museum, set the stage for more proactiverecruitment of members. The Museum also intensified membership outreach atkey Museum events, including the Stockbridge Community Breakfast, World RhythmsCommunity Day, and exhibition openings, as well as at gatherings of the BerkshireYoung Professionals, SPARK, Berkshire Creative, and other community groups.Library memberships are a growing membership category for the Museum, and animportant tool for broadening its reach and accessibility. Sixty-eight regional librariesfrom Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York participate in this program, whichenables library patrons to “check out” a pass for four individual admissions.Corporate membershipsRecognizing the vulnerability of corporate memberships in a sustained recession,the Museum sought to shore up and retain its corporate membership base. Salesand marketing staff continued efforts to attract new members, and focused onfinding creative ways to support and secure relationships with existing corporatemembers. Though renewing members tended to downgrade their commitment inthis economic climate, the Museum believes preserving relationships with businesspartners over the long term is of vital importance.museum advancementIn its 40th anniversary year, Norman Rockwell Museum has reached new milestones,thanks to its widening community of supporters. The Museum gratefullyrecognizes the investment of many individuals, businesses, foundations, and governmentagencies in its exhibitions and programs, conservation and collection care,strategic planning, the new Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies, and the“Sharing Rockwell’s Legacy” campaign.Such investment makes it possible for the Museum to take Norman Rockwell andother historic and contemporary illustrators on the road to new audiences acrossAmerica through traveling exhibitions; to inspire thousands of visitors year-roundthrough lectures, workshops, and school programs; and to preserve Rockwell’slegacy for new generations.Rockwell Center for American Visual StudiesIn August 2008, the Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded a Museumsfor America grant of $136,400 as seed money to launch the Rockwell Center forAmerican Visual Studies. With this vital funding, the Museum began putting itsbusiness plan into action. In February 2009, it announced the appointment of theRockwell Center’s inaugural Curator, Joyce K. Schiller. And in June 2009, the Museumconvened its first Illustration Partners Network meeting to establish commongoals within the illustration art community and to plan for joint opportunities.Operations, Preservation, and Physical PlantNorman Rockwell Museum received a one-time Economic Stimulus Grant of$50,000 through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Museumoperations also benefit from a three-year general operating grant awarded by theMassachusetts Cultural Council.National Endowment for the HumanitiesPreservation and Access funding enabledthe Museum to hire Jessika Drmacich asArchivist to rehouse and order Rockwell’svoluminous records, starting with the fanmail he received from admirers around theworld. The grant will continue to fund theorganization of Rockwell’s business correspondence.In May 2009, a $25,000 grantfrom the Town of Stockbridge CommunityPreservation Committee further advancesthe digitizing, inventorying, and preservingof Rockwell’s Stockbridge PhotographicCollection. Previous support allowed thecuratorial team to develop its StockbridgeModels exhibition, on view at Stockbridge’snew Town Hall.The Cultural Facilities Fund of theMassachusetts Cultural Council and MassDevelopment awarded two significant grantsthis year: $38,000 to support campus-widearchitectural Master Planning, and $190,000in capital funds to address immediate infrastructure needs. The 1772 Foundationstepped forward with a $20,000 grant to install a Fire Suppression System inthe Rockwell studio, which was matched by a gift from the Burton D. MorganFoundation, at the request of Trustee John V. Frank. The dry pipe system will provideimportant protection to the structure and its priceless contents, all the more essentialin light of this year’s updated interpretation of the studio to reflect Rockwell’swork surroundings in 1960.Next Generations of AudiencesSeveral donors underwrote programs for youth. The Red Lion Inn, CountryCurtains, and Blantyre continued their sponsorship of Kids Free Every Day,32 33