"This is an ongoing question for Western art museums," Christina Horton, communications officer for the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana, says.
The question, of course, is: What efforts are you doing to bring in younger fans of Western art, or getting youth to learn about Western art/history? Which is something Western art museums have been trying to figure out across the United States.
"Our average visitor is in their 60s," Horton says, "so it's something we ask every day." "I equate it with not hearing babies crying in church, adds Deana Lowe Craighead, hired in August 2021 as curator of art at Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas. "If you don't have a new generation...the health of your organization is in jeopardy. One of the things that makes museums more relevant is appealing to moms and young families. But that's a hard group to court."
The C.M. Russell Museum attracted younger visitors in 2020 with an exhibit on Andy Warhol. "We're also stepping up our presence on Instagram and interacting with contemporary Western artists, Horton says.
Meanwhile, the museum's main fundraising event, "The Russell," held August 18-21, was reimagined this year with more than 100 artist suites free and open to the public-a first at the museum. "In these suites, Horton said, "people see artwork and engage with the artists who created it. All of the artists have pieces in the auction, as well."
Darrell Beauchamp, executive director of the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, Texas, stresses the importance of outreach programs to area schools to help bring in new fans, patrons and, possibly, new Western artists down the road.
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Denne historien er fra October 2022-utgaven av True West.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Where Did the Loot Go? - This is one of those find the money stories. And it's one that has attracted treasure hunters for more than 150 years.
Whatever happened to the $97,000 from the Reno Gang's last heist? Up to a dozen members of the Reno Gang stopped a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis train at a watering station in southern Indiana. The outlaws had prior intelligence about its main load: express car safes held about $97,000 in government bonds and notes. In the process of the job, one of the crew was killed and two others hurt. The gang made a clean getaway with the loot.
COLLECTING AMERICAN OUTLAWS
Wilbur Zink has preserved the Younger Gang's history in more ways than one.
Firearms With a Storied Past
Rock Island gavels off high profits from historic firearms.
She Means Business!
An energetic and ambitious woman has come to Lincoln, New Mexico, to restore the town's legendary Ellis Store.
Saddle Up with a Western
Old West fiction and nonfiction are the perfect genres to fill your summer reading list.
RENEGADES OF THE RAILS
RAILROADS WERE OPEN SEASON FOR OKLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERRITORY OUTLAW GANGS.
WESTERN ART MUSEUMS OF THE YEAR
Visionary museums from coast to coast showcase the West's best artists and artwork.
DISCOVER THE WEST
Museums from coast to coast celebrate our Western heritage for all generations.
SPUR TALK
The day Bill McDonald rode over the hill leading the Appaloosa, Slim and I were repairing the corrals. Slim was running Pete Coleman's little ranch about three miles south of Cow Springs, New Mexico. I was just a snotty-nosed, freckle-faced kid at the time.
YELLOWSTONE COWBOYS
THE REAL STORY OF TEDDY BLUE AND HOW HE BECAME MONTANA'S GREATEST COWBOY
