Expanding on our cultural triangle: Three share their visions
The women who lead the boards of the Albright-Knox, Historical Society and Burchfield Penney share their visions
Published: January 31, 2010, 5:58 am
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There's a new energy bubbling up on Buffalo's art scene.
The Burchfield Penney Art Center has been open more than a year and "Beyond/In Western New York" — coming in eight months — is shaping up to be the biggest collaborative exhibition of regional art ever in Western New York. The cultural climate of the Queen City is experiencing a renewed sense of ambition, freighted with potential.
Up on Elmwood Avenue, in an area increasingly recognized as the city's artistic nerve center, new leaders have stepped in to head the boards of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. The Burchfield Penney Art Center's board chairwoman, Carol Heckman, will close out her two-year term in June.
With all that's happening, now seems like a good time for a status update on the behind-the-scenes cultural advocates at the head of the Museum District boards, the organizations they lead and the trifecta of cultural tourism they're working to build.
— Colin Dabkowski
Leslie Zemsky, president of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy
(Albright-Knox Art Gallery)
Appointed: October 2009
Term: Indefinite
Where she sees the Museum District in five years: "I get so excited, especially when I think of five years from now. We have the Burchfield Penney, we have the Historical Society. The Darwin Martin House is just over the other side of the park, and with what's going to happen with the Richardson Complex — there may end up being a visitors center there that could be our anchor point for the Museum District. The stars seem to all be aligning."
As the 37th president of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy (the official name of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery's board), Leslie Zemsky joins a long line of stewards for Buffalo's oldest and most revered cultural institution. She is also the first woman to head the board in the gallery's 148-year history.
Last October, Zemsky succeeded Charles Banta, a financial wiz who helped plot the gallery's choppy but ultimately successful course through its 2007 decision to sell 200 works of art. The sales distanced some community members from the gallery, but also served to shore up its already fierce commitment to art of the moment.
Zemsky acknowledged the ever-present challenge of making the contemporary art in the Albright-Knox accessible to wider audiences. She pointed to the use of cell phone tours, which allow gallery visitors to dial a number on their phones for more information about certain artworks instead of signing out a bulky audio wand. She also cited popular events such as the annual "Rockin' at the Knox" fund raiser, weekly "Gusto at the Gallery" events and two annual jazz series as important ways to draw visitors and memberships from new audiences.
As it is, gallery attendance has hovered around 120,000 per year over the past five years.
"We're not booming, but we're hanging in there. And I'd love to be booming," Zemsky said.
What does it mean that Western New York's most prominent art museum waited a century and a half to appoint a female president?
To Zemsky, not much.
"Is it a coincidence? Yes, I think it is," she said. "I don't think that there's been any discrimination against women whatsoever to this point."
Zemsky assumes control of the Albright-Knox board at a time of unprecedented economic challenge. Partly because of the economic meltdown, plans announced in January 2008 to explore an expansion of the gallery's limited space have been scuttled. Instead, Zemsky said, the gallery is concentrating on raising money for its operating endowment and making repairs and improvements to its aging structure.
She stressed the importance of increased membership numbers as a fund-raising method and hinted at a coming drive to usher more members into the gallery's fold.
Still, Zemsky did not rule out the possibility of the Albright-Knox using another existing venue that wouldn't require a huge investment.
"What I think we'd like to explore over the coming years is the possibility of art space that could be used seasonally and might be able to be used by a lot of arts organizations," she said. "We always want to have our mind open to new possibilities."
The gallery, Zemsky said, also will be saving money and exploring new curatorial possibilities by increasing the number of exhibitions drawn from its own collection.
The gallery is in the midst of putting together a strategic plan, slated for release by summer, setting down its goals for the next five years. At the same time, it is gearing up for a stringent reaccreditation process from the American Association of Museums.
If all goes to plan, where does Zemsky see the Albright-Knox a decade from today?
"We'd have our marble floors fixed, we have a very user-friendly first floor that's welcoming to people in the community and to Elmwood Avenue. We're continuing to collect art and we're running a balanced budget every year. We have stanchions outside the museum because people are lining up to come in," Zemsky said, with a grin. "You never know."
— Colin Dabkowski
Joan Bukowski, president of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society Board of Managers
Appointed: December 2009
Term: Indefinite
Where she sees the Museum District in five years: "I imagine it will look the same, although I'm hoping the [H.H. Richardson Complex] at that point will have joined us. It would be great if there could be one night a week when everybody is open.‚.‚. so everyone could feed off each other."
Staying busy on the city's bustling cultural scene is a way of life for Joan M. Bukowski, the first female president of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society Board of Managers in its 147-year history.
When she was growing up in Parkside, the youngest of seven children in a culture-loving family, visiting the nearby Buffalo Zoo and attending Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra concerts were "as common as going to the grocery store," she said.
And after finishing her education at Nichols School, Georgetown University and the University at Buffalo, Bukowski sought out leadership roles in the field.
She became president of the Buffalo Arts Studio board, founding chairwoman of Albright-Knox Art Gallery's New Group and chairman of its Junior Group, and she currently serves on the boards of the Albright and Burchfield Penney Art Center, where she has volunteered for years.
Now Bukowski, 46, an assistant professor of business management at Erie Community College, is taking on the biggest challenge yet: Pumping pizazz into a history museum founded by Millard Fillmore that sometimes seems buried in the past alongside the 13th president.
Dismissing the first-woman-prez business as "a glaring nonissue," she pointed out that four other high-profile cultural boards are also led by women — the Albright-Knox's Leslie Zemsky, Burchfield Penney Art Center's Carol Heckman, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra's Cheryl Howe and Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens' Mary Ann Kresse.
The Buffalo Zoo, WNED and Buffalo Museum of Science boards previously were headed by Donna M. Gioia, Mary Ann Lauricella and Kresse, respectively.
Bukowski succeeds Kenneth P. Friedman, who nudged the history museum toward the here and now by increasing admission revenues, establishing the popular Party on the Portico happy hour series and fostering collaborations with cultural and academic partners. Under his leadership, she said, the institution has erased most of the debt — totaling "hundreds of thousands" — incurred during the 2001 centennial celebration of Buffalo's Pan-American Exposition. Friedman, a Buffalo lawyer, "saved the Historical Society," Bukowski said.
The Pan-American celebration "was good for the community, but it put a financial strain on the museum," she said.
She also lauded Cynthia A. Conides, the Buffalo State College associate history professor who as society executive director since 2006 has brought an infusion of youthful energy to the Nottingham Court museum, just across Scajaquada Creek from the campus. In what Bukowski calls a "happy partnership" bridging the creek, Conides uses the museum as a teaching lab, and Buffalo State students earn course credits by volunteering there.
Bukowski inherits a full plate, starting with keeping up the museum's landmark Pan-American building, the only structure from the 1901 exposition still in place. Deeded to the society after its brief role as the trade fair's New York State pavilion, the white-columned Greek Revival structure overlooking Mirror Lake in Delaware Park was never designed to be a museum.
And as collection care standards have risen, the place Bukowski calls "our biggest artifact out of more than 100,000," has become its biggest dilemma. A few years ago, a Toronto consulting firm studied the feasibility of relocating the museum, and there was talk of converting the 1901 structure to a tourist information center.
None of it came to pass. And now, in a lingering recession and with no capital campaign on the horizon, the board must decide how to preserve the aging icon and the relics therein. Air conditioning and humidity control alone would cost more than $2 million. "If someone wants to write a check, give me a call," Bukowski said only half-jokingly.
Meanwhile, the focus on building attendance, membership and the donor base will continue, she said. Visitation grew 37 percent and gift shop sales 10 percent in 2009 as the board set out to draw nontraditional museumgoers with the "Buffalo Bills 50th Season," a nostalgia-packed exhibition that opened in August.
The search for new audiences will continue on her watch, Bukowski said. It will target people "not necessarily interested in history" whose curiosity may be piqued once they step inside the Pan-Am building or the museum's artifact-packed Resource Center on Forest Avenue. "We just have to get past that [psychological] barrier," Bukowski said.
The museum library is being digitized, and features including touch-screen kiosks and interactive displays designed to bring the museum experience in line with what is happening elsewhere are soon to come as the board seeks out "new ways tell our stories," she added.
As with other large cultural organizations, educational programming has assumed an ever-expanding role. The museum is attracting young fans with its American History Girls Club series based on the popular American Girl dolls, the Rail Barons model trains shows and History Inside Out, in which artifacts travel to schools and other off-site locations.
Bukowski believes the board of managers, once populated by old-line Buffalonians who rarely gave up their seats, is benefiting from the energy and ideas of newcomers like herself who have rotated on and off in recent years.
Bukowski thinks it's a sign of robust health that a mere handful of the 21 present members were serving when she joined as the youngest member five years ago. Working with her will be two new vice presidents, City Court Judge Henry J. Nowak and M&T Bank Vice President David N. Richardson, and a new board secretary, Baird Foundation Executive Director Catherine F. Schweitzer.
Though the Historical Society may be perceived as among the least dynamic of the city's cultural groups, "we're starting to change that," Bukowski asserted. "We're stepping out, and the future of Buffalo's history looks bright."
— Tom Buckham
Carol Heckman, chairwoman of the Burchfield Penney Art Center board
Appointed: June 2008
Term: Ends June 2010
Where she sees the Museum District in five years: "I think perhaps you would see some new culturals popping up in the district. I think you would see a lot of synergy and collaboration between the different entities. I think you would see increased youth, you would see people coming from out of town. ... I think you would see the Burchfield Penney, in particular, continuing to offer extremely high quality exhibits and to get national attention, and that will bring in more people from all over the world to see not just the Burchfield, but also the Albright-Knox. I think there could be a real dynamic there that's very exciting."
In the past year and a half, the Burchfield Penney Art Center has undergone the biggest growth spurt of any local cultural institution.
Thanks to the opening of its bold new building on Elmwood Avenue, a small museum tucked into the second floor of an academic building blossomed into a full-fledged cultural institution in practically the blink of an eye. In the past year, it has welcomed more than 85,000 visitors, more than five times the annual average in its previous location.
Carol Heckman, the Burchfield's board chairwoman since June 2008, worked behind the scenes to lead the museum through the biggest transition in its history.
"Overnight, the organization had to grow into new space. Staff positions have been created, and the budget pretty much tripled overnight. The financial demands, of course, have also increased dramatically, and so it has been a growing experience," said Heckman, a practicing lawyer and former federal judge.
Heckman said the Burchfield was lucky to be built when it was — just before the 2008 economic crisis hit. Financial stability, a major concern for an institution dependent on grants and donations, is the overriding concern. An expansion of the thinly stretched staff is also something to be concerned about. But at the moment, Heckman said, the organization is on solid ground.
"We slipped right under the wire, because the money was raised and the building was completed before the financial meltdown," she said. "If it had been a year later, it would have been a different situation. We still have to be concerned about growing endowments. Everyone has to be concerned about donor relationships and continuing funding sources and hopefully finding new sources. So far, we've been able to maintain our independence and also our sustainability."
The Burchfield thrives on its relationship with Buffalo State College, which provides significant financial and staff support to the museum. Heckman praised that relationship. She also noted the increased frequency and scope of the gallery's exhibitions as a point of pride.
Since the Burchfield opened in November 2008, its east gallery has hosted a sprawling inaugural show featuring the work of local artists, a retrospective of work by sculptor Duayne Hatchett, its biennial "Art in Craft Media" exhibition and the current 23-day John Cage tribute festival. The biggest exhibition is yet to come, however.
"'Heat Waves in a Swamp,' a Charles Burchfield retrospective that started at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, got great reviews and is opening here [in March]. It's huge for Buffalo to be getting an exhibition of this caliber," Heckman said.
With its new building, major attendance increases, firm financial footing and a dedicated staff, the Burchfield seems to be sitting pretty.
"The board is very active, very engaged, and we've got a staff that manages to accomplish a huge amount even though they are stretched pretty thin," Heckman said. "That's another huge strength of the organization. Add all those up, and you have a lot of energy and excitement."
— Colin Dabkowski
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