Staff Highlights

Barry Burlingham

Gifts and Stewardship

“There were many highlights for me this year. In February we were honored to welcome the family and friends of Danforth founder, Paul Marks, whose daughters Tracey and Robbin hosted a memorial celebration in his honor, and In April we dedicated the Danforth lobby, a tribute to Joan Bayon Pinsky through a generous donation of her children. In addition, together with Collections Manager, Rachel Passannante, we produced several Behind the Scenes videos explaining various museum functions. ”

Mary Erickson Visitor Services

“As I look back on this past year two things stand out. First, I was honored to have my painting hanging in our Museum as part of the Danforth Annual Juried Exhibition. I feel privileged to be a part of a wonderful community here, with staff, members, donors, as well artists. To actually exhibit here was the icing on the cake! The second thrill I had this year was to be hired full time in order to work on community engagement for a place that I feel so strongly about! That it is my job to engage with people in the community to see how we can support them and get them involved in the museum seems so natural given how I feel about the Danforth. More about the progress with that in next year’s annual report.”

Laura Gayton

Membership

“My interview with Danforth’s most enthusiastic member, Richard Freeman, was my high point. Freeman visits the Museum almost weekly and told me he likes to look at the same artwork over and over again, sometimes closely analyzing it and other times simply allowing it to wash over him. When Richard told me “I look at artwork, and I see found objects reorganized. And it (the artwork) choreographs me,” I realized just how much I can learn from our amazing members!”

“One of the many highlights from this past year was seeig the enthusiasm and excitement at our first in-person Drinks at the Danforth event. The art school knows the importance of incorporating the incredible resources the museum provides us to draw inspiration for our classes and workshops, therefore it was even more special to collaborate with them and hold an event that brought both loyal and new patrons to our institution - all gathering together to appreciate and create art!”

Rachel Passannante Collections Manager

“The return of the Annual Juried Exhibition was exciting and a bit daunting for me as this was my first Juried Exhibition with the Danforth and there are a lot of moving parts: submission platform set up, juried voting and selection of the finalists, communicating with artists selected, and the delivery of the works. All of this was well worth it as meeting and experiencing art from such talented regional artists and seeing the exhibition come together into this amazing show was definitely the highlight of my year!”