The name Duke University conjures up images of a national championship basketball team and an internationally renowned medical center. If University administrators get their wish, a world-class art museum could be added to that list within a few years.
With the construction of the new Nasher Museum of Art and the decision to initiate an international search for a new museum director, the University's museum will undergo a dramatic makeover in the next few years. Administrators and museum staffers hope the opening of the $23 million dollar Nasher facility in fall 2004 will usher in a new era of international prominence for the museum.
In the past, a combination of lack of funding and lack of space has hampered the museum's ability to reach its full potential, said Provost Peter Lange. Lange was involved in the decision not to rehire Michael Mezzatesta, current director of the Duke University Museum of Art, when his contract expires in late August.
"Mezzatesta did very well with that level of enterprise," Lange said, referring to the smaller and more sparsely funded DUMA on East Campus. When the decision regarding Mezzatesta was announced, both Lange and President Nan Keohane cited the goal of cultivating a world-class museum in the new, state-of-the-art facility on the corner of Anderson Street and Campus Drive.
"We are very ambitious for the museum, not only to increase the importance of arts here at Duke, but to bring our museum to the level of a top university museum," Lange said.
In order to do so, the new facility will have to achieve the highest level of accreditation, said Mark Antliff, associate professor of art history. While Antliff applauded the University's devotion to the new facility,
Bruce Evans, public relations specialist for DUMA, agreed that the University must look beyond the new structure, which was designed by renowned architect Rafael Vinoly, who designed the Tokyo International Forum and Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and whose name and design alone could attract visitors.
"So far we have done very well with fundraising, but we need further endowment in order to develop an acquisition fund," Evans said.
While the current financial focus is on the formation of the building itself, there is a fund set aside to increase spending in educational areas as well.
The new museum is intended to be a place that can contribute to the University as well as to the Durham community, said Adera Causey, DUMA's educational director. The Nasher facility will include two classrooms, an in-house library and a computer alcove.
"All of these things, merely in terms of structure, will allow us to do more," Causey said. "As more and more programs call attention to the museum, it is anticipated that more gifts will roll in."
Evans said one of the goals in creating a world-class institution will begin with the museum's ability to attract greater regional attention. "We do not have the facilities [with DUMA] to attract people. Fifty percent of students do not even know we exist," he said.
With the Nasher facility's prime location near the Sarah P. Duke Gardens and a Central Campus that will witness a dramatic revitalization over the next decade, Evans said the new museum will lead to increased student interest and attract more potential donors as well.
The attraction of potential donors was also on Lange's agenda with the decision to change over the museum's leadership after August. He explained that administrators hope to create an environment where people with connections to the University will feel encouraged to donate and lend art from their private collections.
"It is essential that the University community, including alumni, feel comfortable with donating and loaning works of art," Lange said. He declined to comment on how new leadership will achieve this goal, focusing instead on the dramatic increase in space and capital that accompanies the construction of the Nasher museum.
"In the past, the museum just did not have the capital to create this sort of environment," he said.
In addition to stressing the need for a serious acquisition budget, Antliff said he envisions an increasing integration between the University and the museum. While DUMA contains a nationally renowned collection of medieval and pre-Columbian art, there is a significant need for expansion in the contemporary fields, including "a teaching collection strong in all fields including 19th- and 20th-century art," Antliff said.
The greater focus on contemporary works could happen sooner than many would think. With the opening of the new museum in 2004, it is anticipated that the Nasher collection of modern sculpture, renowned as one of the most significant collections in the world, will be the opening exhibit.
As Antliff explained, "The important thing is not to dwell in the past. We have to think about the future. What we have unfolding here is very exciting."
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