Annual Report to Friends of the Museum of the Albemarle

By Don Pendergraft, Director of Regional Museums

The museum is making great strides to normalize operations after more than two years of the Pandemic. During the previous year the museums’ operations was in recovery mode. The Friends of the Museum of the Albemarle (FOMOA) formed a publicity committee and worked with museum staff to increase public awareness and mission by increasing publicity in all formats, print, radio, and digital. The staff made inroads by inviting the public back into the museum by contactingcivic, school groups, visitors, social/educational events via advertising and public announcements.

This promotions effort has and continues to be successful. The museum experienced the greatest numbers of summertime visitors in the 55 years of the museum’s existence. We adopted a new slogan in promoting our mission, Experience, Engage, and Explore! It’s exciting to see the numbers of families from across the region, state and nation who visited and gave high praise of their time in the museum. We have a new education chief; Lori Meads, who formed an audience that attends the History for Lunch sessions. These will continue on selected Wednesdays, please join us. We are excited to have a vibrant and engaged group of volunteers, who are presenting positive impacts on visitor experiences. The museum’s educational, and reception staff are ready to serve and help make your visit more enjoyable. The museum’s collection/exhibits departments are assembling new exhibits. We open Rock of the Eye: Boatbuilding Around the Albemarle Sound on Monday, October 10, from 6-8pm with a reception of light refreshments and charcuterie. Please make plans to join us as guest speaker, Joan Maxwell of Regulator Marine gives a brief history of the evolution of modern boats. On November 3rd, an exhibit of decoys carved by regional artisans, Working Birds: Decoys and Their Carvers featuring over 40 recently acquired decoys will open. In January a Smithsonian Museum Traveling ExhibitCrossroads: Change in Rural America will open in the McPherson Gallery. This exhibit poses questions about the future of rural places like the Albemarle region with strong agricultural, tourism, service/ military organizations and environmental issues. We are planning forums of leaders, planners, government officials, environmentalists, to discuss future plans to benefit the and keep the region vital.

The museum has a great collection of traveling exhibits that can be loaned to schools, civic groups and events. Please inquire for more information. We will help you with arrangements.

The museum staff thanks you for being members and supporting our endeavors. We couldn’t do it without a strong group of community-minded supporters.

Please come and visit the museum and see the many new exhibits on display. We have offerings for all ages and continue to be a great place to learn as you enjoy the museum. We are open Monday – Saturday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.