Director’s Welcome
I am looking forward to reading your thoughts. For ours is a time rich with the possibility to listen, and to make clear our positions.
As director of one of the great collections in the world, I represent a profound instrument for communication. The photographs and moving pictures, the books and technologies, and the objects that reflect the legacy of George Eastman are vehicles ready to carry the curious to most any intellectual, emotional, spiritual destination they might venture to travel.
This is particularly true today. For where once it could have been said that museums sat back and waited for their audience to come to them, now museums have stepped forward into their communities to ask how best they might serve. In the past, it could have been said that museums believed their prime responsibility ended with the collection and care of objects held in support of mission. Exhibition and interpretation for the public in these museums was a secondary objective. Now it is clear that our responsibilities just begin with collections and their exhibition.
Both museums and newspapers were masters at making declarations. Neither was very interested in the two-way street of communication. Their pronouncements were entirely one way. Continue Reading »