By: Matt Foss, director
One of the most important and fun aspects of my role as the director of the Woodson Art Museum is completing American Alliance of Museums reaccreditation site visits. Not only is it a great opportunity to visit other peer institutions across the country, but also to meet fellow Museum workers and important stakeholders for those institutions. It also gives me the chance to evaluate our own operation here at the Woodson to make sure we continue to follow best museum practices and continue the high level of quality for everything we do.
My predecessor Kathy Foley was a long serving reaccreditation site visitor and continues to volunteer her time for the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) in this role in retirement. In fact, I was quite bitter last summer when Kathy was asked by AAM to visit the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY. As I’ve extolled numerous times in this blog and other formats, I am a baseball fanatic and would have relished the opportunity to visit the Fenimore and then spend time at the National Baseball Hall of Fame nearby. I love Kathy to death, but she barely knows Mickey Mantle from Mickey Mouse. It seemed like a missed opportunity to send a baseball neophyte to such hallowed ground.
Figge Art Museum, Davenport Iowa
Just a few weeks ago, I completed another AAM reaccreditation site visit, this time to a fellow art museum in eastern Iowa. While not immediately identifiable as a hotbed of baseball lore, there was one stop I wanted to visit while in the area.
Located really in the middle of nowhere, the site where they filmed most of the movie Field of Dreams is an understated, yet powerful destination that seemed to bring out the inner kid or movie lover in those visiting-myself included. Although nobody will be emerging from the corn for the next few months, and the skies were gray, it was still a beautiful day to tour the grounds and the baseball field itself.
At the Field of Dreams filming location
Regardless of opportunities to channel my inner eight year old, being an AAM reaccreditation site visitor is an important responsibility to not only ensure other peer institutions are engaging in best practices, but also to look at the Woodson Art Museum in the mirror and confirm that we are on the forefront of current museum trends so that we continue to serve our community as best as we can. After another visit to a peer institution, I believe we are. Maybe this is heaven . . .
Featured Image at top: Deborah Butterfield, Half-Moon, 2007, cast bronze with polychrome patina, Figge Art Museum Collection
