N E W S & N OT E S F R O M E X E C U T I V E D I R E C TO R A L L I S O N P E R K I N S
ENSURING EQUITY
and I N C L U S I O N at R E Y N O L DA
Our consultant, Dina Bailey, is finalizing her report for Reynolda House stakeholders: staff, docent-volunteers and board members. Her summative report, compiled from the data that she collected from small-group interviews with stakeholders, will highlight areas of focus for sustained institutional commitment to equity and inclusion. The stakeholders of Reynolda are united in delivering on the mission of the institutions we serve, however we are all at different points in our respective diversity journeys. All of us will benefit from greater clarity and definition of our DEAI commitments and action steps. We will define the path forward as we ensure that Reynolda is an anti-racist institution. Short-term and long-range actions that reflect the values and mission of Reynolda will ensure that this work remains evergreen in our commitment to the audiences we serve. Dina Bailey is in high demand as a consultant and we feel fortunate to have her working with Reynolda House and Reynolda Gardens.
U P DAT E O N C O L L E C T I O N S , BUILDINGS
and G R O U N D S
An Inclusive Collection Board Collections Committee Chair Cyndi Skaar has been on a listening tour with committee members, gathering comments and suggestions in support of a collecting plan. The plan, scheduled for completion next year, will guide staff in strategic growth for the collection, through cultivation of prospective donors of works of art as well as acquisition funds. The initial goal of collection growth is to focus on acquiring more works of art by women and artists of color. The plan will be shared at future board meetings for discussion and refinement. 1.
2. Homing in on Family Memorabilia The Board approved the acceptance of two sets of gifts from Reynolds and Babcock family members. Offered to the Archives are a set of documents including a photo album from the 1921 Hiawatha pageant, a film reel from the 1941 family reunion, and a scrapbook from the prize-winning yacht Blitzen, owned by R.J. Reynolds, Jr. These objects are offered by Linda Lee Reynolds, former wife of Zach Reynolds.
The Board accepted two gifts from Reynolds Lassiter: (1) a complete set of sterling silver flatware owned by his greatgrandmother Katharine Smith Reynolds; and (2) a family tree designed and worked in needlepoint by his grandmother Mary Reynolds Babcock. Both are currently on loan to the Museum providing insights into entertaining at the bungalow in Katherine’s era and the varied artistic pursuits of Mary Reynolds Babcock.
3. Grant Wood: The Complete Prints The Board approved the acceptance of a major promised gift. Cyndi Skaar gave a complete set of nineteen prints by the 20th century Regionalist Grant Wood. Collected with great care by Cyndi and her late husband Ernest Fackelman, each print is a superb impression, and in its totality the collection richly complements the painting Spring Turning, donated by Barbara Millhouse in celebration of the Museum’s 25th anniversary. The prints’ subjects range from agrarian landscapes to rural genre scenes to still lifes of farm produce.
How Does Our Garden Grow? Tea houses re-roofed, walls stuccoed a brilliant white, dozens of weeping cherries that bloomed in April, and trails made more safe and level—these are just a few of the improvements to the Formal Gardens and Greater Gardens as part of the Grow with Reynolda Gardens Campaign. Campaign To date we’ve raised approximately half of our $600,000 for this campaign. To fund one of our remaining projects detailed in the above link, contact Stephan Dragisic at stephan@reynolda. org. Of note, a major project we hope to fund soon is a comprehensive master plan that will guide future vehicular and pedestrian circulation, way-finding and interpretive signage, parking, and other visitor amenities throughout the historic district. The plan will propel all of historic Reynolda into the next phase of historically-informed integration and reunification.
4.
Clockwise from top left: Romare Bearden, Alto Composite , 1974, Promised Gift of Barbara B. Millhouse, © 2021 Romare Bearden Foundation / Licensedby VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Grant Wood, Spring Turning, 1936. Gift of Barbara B. Millhouse. Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Detail of needlepoint designed by Mary Reynolds Babcock.
Then Barbara Babcock Lassiter (left) and Elizabeth Holmes Benton, wife of Mayor M.C. Benton, cut the ribbon to formally open Reynolda House to the public. September 1965.
BARBARA MILLHOUSE’S 1967 SPEECH
at the opening of
R E Y N O L DA H O U S E M U S E U M O F A M E R I C A N A R T
Recently, we shared with the Board of Directors the remarks that Barbara Millhouse presented on the occasion of the opening of Reynolda House as a museum of American art in 1967. We shared printed copies of the speech with guests to the 50th anniversary celebrations of Reynolda in September 2017, and many of you, as former members of the Board of Directors, may not have had the pleasure of reading the text of Barbara’s speech, which you can find here.
R E Y N O L DA
and C OV I D -1 9
As you know, Reynolda House reopened to the public in October 2020. Fall attendance numbers met our expectations, store sales are strong, and we continue to meet or exceed our monthly annual fund and membership goals. With increasing vaccinations and relaxing of occupancy restrictions, we are hopeful that attendance will continue to improve over the next several months.
C E L E B R AT E R E Y N O L DA !
For the past 10 years, Reynolda House has hosted an annual gala fundraiser to support the educational mission of the Museum. Due to Covid-19, the annual fundraiser has been reimagined as a virtual experience. Co-chaired by board members Iris Cole, Susan Conger, and Lynn Eisenberg, Celebrate Reynolda: Passionate Treasures, Virtual Pleasures is designed to be a visual and musical postcard from Reynolda to the world to share joy, appreciation, excitement, and beauty. With the support of Greg Walter, voice professor with the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and videographer Gregg Jamback, Reynolda will create a short video (approximately 45 minutes) that correlates selected art from the collection to pieces of music from musical theater. Consisting of six vignettes, including music from Man of La Mancha, Bad Girls: The Musical, Sweeney Todd, The Secret Garden, Ragtime and The Sound of Music, the event will premiere to sponsors and ticket holders on Saturday, April 24, 2021. The video will be hosted on ARTARIE, a new platform for streaming virtual arts performances, allowing all attendees to watch the event on their home television screen. After the premiere, it is hoped that vignettes from the video will be shared via social media. This decision will be based on music rights for each piece. New this year, the Museum will offer $50 tickets to the general public, a price that enables the widest possible audience to participate.
R E S E R V E YO U R S P OT N OW
R E Y N O L DA I N T H E N E W S :
Earned Media Highlights
In the year 2020, even though the museum was closed for seven months, Reynolda still secured more than 40 stories in the media, in print, online, and on television, including national media coverage in Martha Stewart, The National Review, Art Daily, ArtFix Daily, and Fine Art Connoisseur. Locally in 2020, Reynolda was featured multiple times in the Winston-Salem Journal, Triad City Beat, Yes! Weekly, as well as on Fox8 and WXII. Reynolda’s approx. reach cumulatively with earned media in the year 2020 was close to 10 million people!
1. Latest national coverage Reynolda was recently featured on ArtFixDaily with the museum’s promised gifts announcement and on ArtDaily News with the announcement of Cross Pollination’s opening. Be sure to learn more about aloe with the latest article featuring Reynolda Gardens on Martha Stewart online. Reynolda was also featured on Yahoo! Lifestyle with Places in the South You Didn’t Know You Needed to Visit and coverage in TOWN and Atlanta Magazine on Reynolda is forthcoming.
Social media influence By the numbers: in the year 2020, Reynolda House reached almost 200,000 people organically on social media and Reynolda Gardens reached approx. 30,000 people! 2.
And the survey says... We received almost 600 responses to our annual communications survey in December 2020. View the results here. We also surveyed visitors to the Tiffany Glass exhibition and received close to 350 responses. View the results here. 3.
#ReynoldaHummingbird Have you taken a photograph with the Heade hummingbird? Rest your wings in the Babcock Wing Gallery on the new Reynolda bench at our new #selfie station and share your connections between art and nature on social media.
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