NBWM Bulletin Summer
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the Bullfrom johnny cake hill | etin summer 2015 2014 Annual Report Wattles Jacobs Education Center Grand Opening Highlights from the Cartography Collection From the “This Annual Report describes our program of work. We spend your treasure in pursuit of a Helm worthy cause, we endeavor to make our mission relevant for the many, we devote ourselves to by James Russell President & CEO bettering the communities served, and aspire to make this institution preeminent.” As we collectively anticipate a September ribbon cutting of our new Education Center, allow me to at- continues unabated and has become more formalized. It used to be investment. On the fi rst fl oor, Casa dos Botes discovery center will tempt to put the accomplishment in some, albeit biased, perspective. We just closed out our 2014 annual that the organization would publish a book or two a decade. Now we be designed specifi cally for families and children, so that they can are printing two a year. is higher level of scholarship and produc- enjoy a museum experience while letting their kids explore freely. e audit and received another top 4 Star Charity Navigator award for accountability, transparency and good tion drives our brand as a preeminent research center. expansive 4th fl oor will have the best harbor views in New Bedford. business practice. Our net assets have increased by $10 million over the past fi ve years to $30 million. The Private funding again leads the way, with the vast majority of this e City invited the Museum to take a leadership role with the return endowment has doubled to $9 million in the same time frame. Then, our reliance on the taxpayer account- coming from outside the City. e Museum is proud to be a leader of the Charles W. Morgan Homecoming celebrations, and we were ed for 37% of our income. Trustees implemented a strategic philanthropic switch, and today it is less than in downtown economic development and hopes that the investment happy to assist. Many memories and aspirations hung off her davits in this city by so many of our members will encourage others to 2%, yet the operating budget remains the same. Then, the Museum looked at diff erent 5-year scenarios, and downtown had the hustle and bustle feeling of a cosmopoli- follow suit. one having the Museum close 4 days a week just to remain solvent. We didn’t close – we expanded, we tan center. Our visitation topped 105,000 in 2014, and signifi cantly learned how to do more with less and we became better for it. 2015: The former education classroom is 2010: Four million dollars in interior renovations are completed on transformed into the Dr. Gilbert & Frima the 1916 Bourne Building and the half-scale whaleship Lagoda. Shapiro Gallery. Left: 2014: The Cook Memorial Theater receives a series of major 2010: After years of being closed to the public, the Museum’s technological and aesthetic oldest gallery space undergoes extensive restoration and is improvements, including the reopened as the Wattles Family Gallery. creation of the BayCoast Bank Stage. 2015: Construction of the 20,000 sq. ft. Wattles Jacobs I like to think that we are an entrepreneurial museum and am always By December 2015, however, all will be safely and Education Center progresses steadily towards a September Grand Opening. amused when people assume we are staid and placid. ere were 12 securely consolidated under one roof, in climate galleries then, many needing major renovations, and many needing controlled environments. refreshed exhibits. Members like you stepped forward and today we over 50% of visitors, overwhelmingly local, enjoyed themselves at e Wattles Jacobs Education Center will provide an outstanding have 20 galleries, new and restored. Unlike the dragon that sits on Not too long ago, education programs revolved around K-9 student no charge. With another 140,000 visiting our traveling exhibitions extension to our mission and our campus. Already, programs are top of a pile of gold, the percentage of our collection that is out on visits. is is how education was defi ned on Johnny Cake Hill. Now in San Francisco and San Diego, we worked with our National bursting at the seams ready to occupy spaces. e entire visitor expe- view is remarkably high. Ask yourself if your museum experience is we work on multiple planes. e docent-led programs continue to Park to gain access to other Parks where we showcased our region’s rience will be coordinated, amplifi ed and deepened whether you are better today than it was just a few years ago. From what visitors tell fl ourish and evolve and are complemented by a much broader ar- diverse whaling story from coast to coast. Today Californians are our K or gray! Staff is united in moving forward with this ambitious and us, the answer is a resounding yes. I trust that you fi nd the exhibits of ray of programming tailored for specifi c audiences. Appropriately, 5th largest visitor segment by state. Importantly, our base of support exciting agenda. ey have proven year after year that they are up a high order intellectually and designed with high production values the High School Apprenticeship Program is heralded as a national is expanding and linking cultural tourism with targeted marketing for the challenges that lie ahead. Speaking for them, I fi rmly believe too. Our collection has grown signifi cantly and with many impor- model, and with signifi cant partner help, students can get the very while leveraging our assets to attract visitors. that the Whaling Museum in 2015 is more relevant than ever. As a tant new gifts and major acquisitions, like the 1/3 scale model of best out of the Museum, and get a leg up on life. Often overlooked, Member, I hope you are proud of your association, just as the Board yet undiminished in intensity, is the important function of mentor- We set out to build an education center that would address the of Trustees is sincerely grateful for your involvement, participation the Concordia yawl. But back then, the collection was housed needs of our community, and they will soon reap the rewards of this among fi ve diff erent locations, with some off site and unregulated. ing college interns and those interested in our fi elds of study. is and most welcomed support. cabo verde trip 1 Cultural Ties that Bind Us by GENE MONTEIRO, Trustee 1. Frederick Clark, Jr. President-elect Bridgewater State University; James Russell, President & CEO, New Bedford Whaling Museum; Louis Ricciardi, Trustee, The week of April 17, 2015 was indeed a special time for me. It was then that James Russell and I Bridgewater State University; Dr. Judite do Nascimento, UNICV; Mario Lucio de went to Cabo Verde to present a traveling exhibit that tells the story of how the relationship between Sousa, Minister of Culture; Dana Mohler the U.S. and Cabo Verde began. The exhibit is a section of the Yankee Baleeiros! traveling exhibition Faria, President, Bridgewater State University; Eugene Monteiro, Trustee, that talks about the shared legacies between Yankee and Lusophone whalers. New Bedford Whaling Museum. 2. Gene Monteiro, Trustee, New Bedford Whaling Museum; Humberto Lima, As a second generation Cabo Verdean American, born in New homeland where he died in 1966. I was able to visit his grave during Chairman of the Cabo Verdean Institute Bedford in 1946, the Cabo Verdean story has a very special sig- my fi rst visit to Cabo Verde in 2012. A personal letter that I wrote to of Culture; Josina Fortes, Cabo Verdean Institute of Culture. nifi cance to me. My grandparents emigrated from Sau Nicolau, him is now in a small jewelry box buried next to him. e engraving Cabo Verde to New Bedford during the early 1900s, in search of on the box says “love notes to Pa Pai.” a better life for their families. As a young boy, I recall my grand- What I have told you represents a small portion of my story, and I parents, Ma Mai and Pa Pai, talking in a sad way about the Interested in going think it is quite relevant to my visit to Cabo Verde this April. As a loved ones they left behind in Cabo Verde, that they would nev- trustee since 2008, I have been involved in many worthwhile ini- er see again. I remember them talking about their homeland with to Cabo Verde? tiatives of the organization. As co-chairperson of the Cabo Verdean such love and pride. I often heard the words sodade, amizad, and Advisory Committee, I have been involved in helping to develop Join us Spring 2016 for a very other terms of endearment for their beloved Cabo Verde. I also special week-long visit! 2 remember hearing my grandparents lamenting about Sau Nicolau “ As they settled in the New Bedford area and with such sadness as if their hearts were in pain. e songs mornas Contact Caitlin McCaff ery, at 508-717-6816 that I heard at family gatherings expressed the nostalgia of those left began raising families, they promoted the Cabo or cmccaff [email protected] behind and of saying goodbye to everything they knew and loved Verdean culture out of love and necessity for about the homeland. ose songs, conversations, and family gather- that’s the only culture they knew. It is a strong ings have left a lasting impression on me. culture characterized by music, food, friendship, 3. Cabo Verdean Flag As Cabo Verdeans settled in the New Bedford area and began rais- 4. Waterfront in downtown Mindelo, and love. Cabo Verdeans were known at that ing families, they promoted their culture out of love and necessity, St.