Special Programs
The Adirondack Museum periodically initiates projects that fall outside the scope of our General Operating budget. These programs are unique, compelling, and chosen because they directly further our mission. We need to raise funds to ensure the success of each. As you read the following descriptions, you may find a project which matches your vision and values, and/or corresponds with a personal interest. All of these programs represent exceptional giving opportunities. Your contribution will make a difference as the museum moves forward.
Please call Sarah Lewin, Director of Institutional Advancement at 518.352.7311 ext. 125, or email slewin@adkmuseum.org, if you are interested in supporting one of these museum initiatives. Special naming opportunities and leadership recognition are available for most of the special projects listed below. Monetary donations can be pledged over multiple years.
Exhibits
Woods and Waters Kid Zone - Opening 2011
Celebrating the outdoors through creative play
The "Woods & Waters Kid Zone" will engage the museum's youngest visitors in creative play, celebrate outdoor fun year-round, and connect children with the history of outdoor recreation in the Adirondacks.
Immersive environments will evoke familiar North Country scenes in all seasons — a campsite, trout stream, wooded trail, snowy path, and a cozy backwoods cabin — all brought to life with the scents, sounds, and textures of the natural world. Installing "Woods & Waters Kid Zone" as a permanent exhibit reflects the museum's dedication to presenting history in new and exciting ways. The exhibit will meet the needs of families, create imaginative play areas for children, and lay the foundation for a lifelong love of the Adirondacks.
How can you help?
A total of $225,000 is needed to secure installation of this new exhibit. Gifts and pledges are being accepted to ensure completion of this kid-friendly, interactive exhibit.
The Adirondack World of Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait - Opening 2011
Introducing the Adirondacks through Art
Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait was the quintessential image-maker for Adirondack sport and wilderness adventure. An ardent sportsman and lover of the outdoors, he lived in the region for extended periods of time. His images of wildlife, hunting, fishing, and outdoor derring-do were among the best known in 19th century America thanks to Currier & Ives whose lithographs of Tait's paintings helped popularize the Adirondacks.
"The Adirondack World of Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait" will explore the life and work of this artist who painted scenes of the Adirondack wilderness rich in historical detail. Reproduced as prints and marketed to a mass audience, Tait's iconic views reflected and helped perpetuate an image of the Adirondack wilderness as a sportsman's paradise, a place to find camaraderie among men, and test one's mettle against the forces of nature.
The exhibit will showcase some of Tait's finest and most beloved paintings, and offer visitors a chance to understand his world by examining the clothing, customs, weapons, and modes of transportation he depicted so well.
How can you help?
"The Adirondack World of Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait" is estimated to cost $50,000. By supporting this exhibit, you will help thousands of museum visitors today experience the "grand journey" taken by the earliest visitors to the Adirondack region.
Mining in the Adirondacks - Opening 2012
The story of mining returns
The story of mining in the Adirondacks is one of fortunes made and lost, of suicide, madness, and ambition, and the opening of one of America's last frontiers. It is a powerful human and environmental story.
Mining shaped the physical and cultural landscape of the Adirondack Park for generations, and although the industry has largely disappeared, place names like Mineville, Old Forge, Ironville, Ferrona, and Black Brook are reminders that it once dominated the landscape.
The goal of the Adirondack Museum's revitalized exhibit, "Mining in the Adirondacks," is to illustrate the history of this significant industry, its relationship to the region, and its impact on the environmental and cultural landscapes.
How can you help?
The mining exhibit is estimated to cost $750,000. With your financial support, this important story will be told once again. Visitors will leave the exhibit understanding the opportunities and risks involved while working deep in the earth and how the industry shaped the region and its people.
Endowments
Richard J. Fay Boatbuilder-in-Residence
Interactive demonstration of an Adirondack skill
The Boatbuilder-in-Residence program, launched in 2002, gives visitors the chance to talk with a boatbuilder in her shop while she constructs an Adirondack guideboat from start to finish. The shop is part of the museum's exhibit "Boats and Boating in the Adirondacks." A trained docent is also on hand to answer questions and explain process, materials, and construction techniques. This interactive program is a highlight for many museum visitors. By combining boat construction and interpretation, the program links the artisan's craft directly to the boat collection.
How can you help?
The museum is almost halfway to its goal of $500,000 to endow this very popular program, and ensure its availability to visitors in the future. Support in the form of gifts or pledges are being accepted to ensure the Richard J. Fay Boatbuilder-in-Residence program will be a permanent interactive museum experience.
Curator of American Art
Protecting a priceless collection
The Adirondack Museum's art collection — paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture — is regarded in museum circles as a national treasure for its breadth and focus.
The collection includes more than 600 paintings (oil, acrylics, watercolors), 800 prints (wood and metal engravings, etchings, lithographs, serigraphs), and 1,200 drawings, sketches, and sketchbooks. Exceeding 2,500 works of art, it is the largest repository of images of the Adirondack region. The growing collection is key to the preservation of a regional identity, and is a framework for understanding larger historic, cultural, and national issues. The Adirondack Museum's art collection must be sustained, preserved, and interpreted for the next fifty years and beyond. Therefore, it is essential for this major collection to have a dedicated curator on staff.
How can you help?
The Curator for American Art must become an endowed position to ensure its existence. The cost for this is $1.5 million. Your financial support will guarantee that the Adirondack Museum's art collection will be available for future generations of visitors and scholars to enjoy and learn from.
