Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Research Center Museum Studies Fellow Douglas Worts
'We are hoping to create a type of think tank, guided by our Research Center and the Museum Studies Fellowship, to encourage deep thinking about what we do as museum professionals.' - Robert Kret, Director of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Santa Fe, New Mexico (PRWEB) August 28, 2014
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum announces a new Museum Studies Fellowship for museum professionals. The first-of-its-kind program will provide opportunities to a community of museum professionals for collaborative work and exploration of new ideas, as well an opportunity for museum professionals to work on their own independent research. Toronto, Canada native Douglas Worts has been appointed the 2014 fellow.
“We are hoping to create a type of think tank, guided by our Research Center and the Museum Studies Fellowship, to encourage deep thinking about what we do as museum professionals,” says Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Director Robert A. Kret. “Our goal is to build on the work of each fellow to benefit the local museum community.”
The fellowship program will appoint one museum professional per year for a month-long residency in Santa Fe. Worts, the first recipient, has more than 30 years of museum experience, has made extensive contributions to scholarly museum studies literature, and has taught and lectured on several continents.
“Our initial goal for the fellowship program is to consider the museum visitor experience,” says Eumie Imm Stroukoff, Emily Fisher Landau Director of the Research Center. “We selected Douglas Worts based on his extensive and varied experience. We believe he provides a fresh outlook to the issues facing museums and the ability to lead insightful discussions about them.”
“It is an honor to be the first Museum Studies Fellow at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Research Center,” says Douglas Worts. “My focus will be on the development and use of cultural measures-of-success as a way of helping local museums build new and stronger links to local communities.”
The fellowship program will include a workshop for community museum professionals and leaders of cultural institutions, independent research and writing by Worts, and an interview and Q&A for the public. “During Doug’s month here, we hope to capitalize on his experience and thoughts about culture and sustainability,” says Imm Stroukoff. “We are looking forward to it.”
###
ABOUT GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM:
To inspire all current and future generations, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum preserves, presents and advances the artistic legacy of Georgia O’Keeffe and modernism through innovative public engagement, education, and research. Opened in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1997, the Museum counts O’Keeffe’s two New Mexico homes as part of its extended collection. The Museum’s collections, exhibitions, research center, publications and educational programs contribute to scholarly discourse and serve a diverse audience. For more information please visit http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/.
ABOUT GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM RESEARCH CENTER:
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Research Center opened in July 2001. Research in American Modernism is pursued through fellowship programs, as well as through public lectures, a triennial Book Prize, symposia, and other activities. The Research Center has library and archival collections related to Georgia O’Keeffe, her contemporaries, American Modernism, and related regional histories. Since its inception, over 70 scholars have received stipends in its fellowship program and spent time in Santa Fe pursuing independent research in a variety of areas, including: art, architecture and design, literature, music and photography. In 2014, the Research Center is expanding the scope of its scholarly research to include museum studies and initiated the Museum Studies Fellowship program.