Inspiration, Aspiration, and Warm Receptions
The new Executive Director, Scott Pollock, reflects on his first month at MMAM.
My first four weeks at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum have been full of inspiration, aspiration, and a lot of warm receptions and genuine guidance from community members, business owners, artists, and visitors who have all been touched by the museum in some way or another. My suspicions were spot on. It is clear MMAM has emerged as a valuable community asset and vibrant cultural and arts destination that people are here to support.
The Proclamation issued by the City of Winona dated July 27, 2006, opening day of the Minnesota Marine Art Museum.
As someone who has invested a great deal of energy measuring social impact for arts nonprofit organizations, I am constantly on the lookout for baseline data for which to measure our progress. It only took me two days to stumble into some odds and ends in the humble, but nevertheless inspiring office space at the museum. Two specific items stood out to help me in my quest.
First, a Proclamation from the City of Winona dated July 27, 2006, by then Mayor Jerry Miller. In it, it states that “local vision, imagination and generosity and a commitment to the highest standards of quality have materialized the Minnesota Marine Art Museum” and that the museum “will be a cultural magnet to the world that welcomes visitors of all ages and backgrounds and is committed to meeting their needs.”
It is not often you encounter a museum in its infancy acknowledging it is here to serve a social purpose for the community. Quite often, it’s the opposite. Until very recently, museums have long been plagued by focussing their efforts on the art, rather than the people they serve. Collecting art, treasures and trinkets and assembling them under one roof, or vessel, is the very idea that museums were born of. The Audience played second fiddle. It has taken a social media revolution, and a global pandemic as a reminder, to realize that many of our arts and cultural institutions are here to in fact serve audiences, by serving art. So for me, as a community-focussed museum advocate, I was thrilled to see that visionaries like Mayor Miller, and the City of Winona, laid the groundwork and provided the blessing for MMAM to mature into a vibrant, and treasured community asset. A place where programs like Seasonal Saturdays serve up not only good times and memories, but serve as the social fabric for a community to come together and co-create meaningful engagement with the arts.
Scott Pollock meets community members at a January 29, 2022 meet and greet on MMAM's river walk.
The second thing that popped out at me was a small 8.5” x 5” book, The Power of Fastenal People, written by Bob Kierlin, the founder of Fastenal and collecting partner of the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. Paging through the book, I paused at some apt advice that really seems to illustrate how MMAM has both embraced and been embraced by the community, and its nearly 2,000 members. In chapter four, Mr. Kierlin points out that “[o]rganizations succeed to the extent that they bring out and use the creativity of all of their members.”
That statement echoes the creativity and ingenuity I see in the staff and leadership I have encountered in my first four weeks. As someone invested in servant leadership, I truly appreciate this sound advice. And the more time I spend at the museum and in the community, it is clear, MMAM has grown into a sum of its parts. It is no coincidence that MMAM was the first museum in Minnesota to re-open safely during a global pandemic and is beginning to return to pre-pandemic visitor levels.
Over the next few weeks and months, I am looking forward to continuing to listen to the communities that the museum serves; learning more about their needs, and co-creating ways for MMAM to meet them. I am equally excited to work with our members, visitors, and community members to support MMAM’s return as a vibrant cultural anchor for the region, safely and smartly bringing back art unveilings, exhibition openings, gallery events and special programs like MMAMs Seasonal Saturdays. In the meantime, I’ll continue to move into my new work space, hopeful to uncover relics as inspiring and visionary as Mr. Miller and Mr. Keirlin’s.
Stop in if you can, and I’ll be happy to show you around.
Scott Pollock
Executive Director
Minnesota Marine Art Museum