Winter Landscape / Anstiss Holden Eldred
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January 2021
Bennington Museum Monthly
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Dear culture lovers, neighbors, friends,
As 2020 draws to a much anticipated close, please accept the thanks of everyone at Bennington Museum for your support during this year of transitions and challenges. Throughout the pandemic, the dedicated Board and staff have remained positive, flexing our creative muscles to find new ways to engage the public, while observing guidelines for the health and safety of our community and patrons.
Since I began as interim director in November, I have often been asked how Bennington Museum is doing. Bennington Museum is doing well, thanks to you, managing our limited resources and maintaining a working team that continues to provide outdoor community opportunities like the courtyard concerts and food this summer, engaging virtual programs such as the newly launched Art at Lunch series, and collaborative exhibits from Painting at Home with Grandma Moses to NBOSS at the Museum to Across the Street. We have faced this year with innovation, determination, and creativity, mastering Zoom, offering digital memberships, and embracing new technologies that make our offerings more easily accessible to our community online.
We are extremely grateful to the many Museum members who have renewed their memberships recently, often at higher levels, to our corporate sponsors who have joined our donor roll despite facing their own COVID-related hardships, to everyone who made a gift this year, as well as to those who gave again to the end of year match challenge. This amazing support has provided the resources we need to confidently seize the opportunities ahead.
Although closed January through March, we will continue to provide virtual programs and exhibitions as we prepare to launch the 2021 exhibition season. Please do not hesitate to send questions or comments about Bennington Museum and our plans for a bright and prosperous new year to [email protected]. I would love to hear from you.
With best wishes,
David Pilachowski
Interim Executive Director
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VERMONT UTOPIAS: IMAGINING THE FUTURE
Thank you the 25 artists who participated in our winter exhibition and closed bid auction. We sold 26 works by 15 of these talented regional artists for a total of over $14,000 - more than any previous year. The proceeds will be split equally between the artists and the Museum, which is a very nice end of year gift. We hope you all enjoy your holiday purchases!
Meanwhile, the Virtual Trivia Night benefit, which served as a stand-in for our annual December gala, was attended by over 80 people, and earnings from tickets sales, sponsorships, and donations brought in nearly $16,000 for the Museum. In case you are curious, the winning team called themselves the Catamounts, and were followed closely by the Aggressive Chewers. The question that made the difference:
Which battle of the American Revolutionary War is recognized as the only battle that was fought in what is now Vermont?
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$20,000 MATCH CHALLENGE SUCCESS
We made our match and more thanks to your generosity! Despite COVID, and in the face of restricted visitorship to the state, you have helped us the beat the odds and have made it possible for YOUR Museum and our community to not just survive, but also to thrive. Thank you for sticking with us through turbulent 2020 and for enabling us to close this season on a strong note. Your support means the world to us.
We are looking forward to the new year with great hope and anticipation, and are already working hard behind the scenes to bring you great new exhibitions and engaging programming. Read on to see what's in store...
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The image above is part of MacArthur Fellowship-winning artist Carrie Mae Weems' national public awareness campaign called RESIST COVID | TAKE 6! and will take form in the Southshire through initiatives from both the Usdan Gallery at Bennington College and Bennington Museum. In mid-January a large scale banner will go up on the museum facade, a forest installation of yard signs will spring to life under the elm tree, and a large poster will grace the Four Corners kiosk. Myriad other regional campaign activities are taking place over the next six months as part of a collaboration among ArtCountry partners which in addition to the Southshire, includes WCMA, the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance, the Clark Art Institute, MASS MoCA, the Town of Williamstown, and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. All of these installations can be viewed from the comfort of your car- so take a spin around the beautiful snowy countryside, and enjoy this safe cultural winter activity while we wait patiently for the vaccine.
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Vermont Humanities Council Award
The Vermont Humanities Council has just awarded a $5,000 grant to support the formation of a summer Teacher's Institute at Bennington Museum. This program can be used to obtain new professional learning credits through Castleton University and will strengthen the regional school community and empower teachers to access, understand, and use the primary resources of the Museum’s collection in their lesson plans. Stay tuned in the coming months for more information on this exciting opportunity!
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The Bennington Historical Society
The Bennington Historical Society (BHS) is a volunteer-operated program of the Bennington Museum dedicated to sharing information about the history of the Bennington region with the community through projects, publications, videos, and programs. The latest BHS newsletter can be found in the link here and on the Museum website and includes articles about how Mount Anthony got its name and the Pawlett Expedition - a pivotal moment in the Revolutionary War.
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Tuesday, 01/05
noon - 1pm
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A virtual conversation with the artist
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A FREE virtual presentation by the BHS
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Monday, 01/18
2pm - 3:30pm
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A FREE virtual Music at the Museum concert
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Wednesday, 01/27
6:30pm - 8pm
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A recurring workshop for theater lovers
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And finally, Happy New Year to everyone in our Bennington Museum family!
May your holiday be filled with good cheer and warm wishes from loved ones and friends, even if from afar.
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Bennington Museum engages and transforms our visitors and our community by connecting you to the region’s diverse arts, rich history, and culture of innovation.
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