Morris Museum Exhibitions Update From Tom Loughman, Executive Director

These first six months as executive director have been filled with opportunities for me to hear you and learn from you about how you connect with us. Those welcoming conversations led also discussions about what you hope we can do together to make this incredible institution even more of service to the community.
You’ve also been a generous sounding board for my ideas and instincts about the priorities that could make an immediate difference. I came into this job knowing that we would be well-served to address three areas straight away: 1. elevate our programming in all three areas-Education, Exhibitions, and Performances-in ways that match the cultural ambitions of this community; shepherd the long-identified infrastructural needs of the Museum’s large facility on its 8 ½-acre campus; and devote creativity and practical sweat to telling the story of the difference we make as one of the state’s most accomplished and popular cultural resources. As 2023 comes to a close, I want to share with you a glimpse of our progress against these audacious goals we set out to achieve.
In this video, I am standing in the Main Gallery, which was originally built and came online over 30 years ago as our largest spaces for special exhibitions. With its grand scale and modern volume, the space lends itself quite handsomely to sculpture. We organized this beautiful, career-spanning retrospective of two leading New York artists-Neil Jenney and Donald Sultan-whose work engages the vanguard of ideas behind contemporary artmaking while also tapping into the familiarity of nature’s forms. The exhibition is open through this holiday season, and we look forward to hosting you and your family on your next visit.
Ambitions like this exhibition take hard work and thoughtful choices, and they also rely on a solid base of financial support. In the coming weeks, we will be in our annual appeal. I hope that you will remember the Morris Museum at year’s end, and help us continue along a path of creating memorable and meaningful experiences with the visual arts. Consider a gift. Supporting this storied organization enables thousands of families in this community to connect and reflect in the presence of great objects and amid compelling storytelling.
Thank you for your support of the Museum, your participation in our programs, and for making this community stronger through your philanthropy.