By Jared Council
jared.council@insidebiz.com
Erik H. Neil has been named the president and director of Norfolk's Chrysler Museum of Art, and he'll take the reins from Bill Hennessey, the current chief, this October.
Hennessey, 66, is retiring after 17 years, the longest executive tenure in the museum's 81-year history. Neil, 50, has led museums in New Orleans, New York and, most recently, Easton, Md. He's set to become the Chrysler's seventh director on Oct. 6.
Neil has been described by museum officials, particularly those on the search committee, as a congenial leader with a strong art history background and solid management skills. A museum statement announcing his appointment said, "Past and present colleagues laud his intelligence, his transparency, his ability to build community and his visionary pragmatism."
More than 70 candidates applied for the position, and that figure was ultimately narrowed to four who were invited to the museum this past spring to meet with staff leaders and trustees. Lewis Webb, board chairman and head of the Chrysler's executive search committee, said, "As we focused in tighter and tighter, Erik stood out more and more."
Neil spoke recently about his past and his plans for the Chrysler.
How does it feel to be named the Chrysler's next director?
Obviously, I'm extremely excited. It's a great opportunity. It's a sound operation. We're not talking about a turnaround or any type of crisis, so that's wonderful. And that's a testament to the people who have been working there, from the director to the trustees and the staff.
The museum's collection is one of the top collections in the country, and for some areas, like glass, it's definitely one of the top two or three. No question about that. There aren't many communities of 1.7 million people that have a museum of this stature with the breadth of this collection, from ancient Egypt all the way up to the most contemporary. It's really remarkable. It's a tremendous resource. And it's not just the breadth, but also the quality.
You've led museums in New Orleans, New York and Maryland since 1999. What have been some of the career highlights for you so far?
I've been able to do some really fine exhibitions with great contemporary artists but also some shows of a more historical character. In Louisiana, we did an exhibition with Carrie Mae Weems, who won a MacArthur Fellowship last year, and another contemporary artist named Tony Oursler. In New York, we used our collection and borrowed some other works to do a show about the changing view about the American West.
But being the director is not just about being the chief curator; it's about being a leader and being strategic. And I felt in Maryland that I was really about to exercise those skills so that we were pursuing partnerships with nontraditional museum partners. Easton is the home of the Frederick Douglass Honor Society. Easton is his birthplace and it hasn't always been easy to get the proper recognition for him here. But we worked with the honor society and just a couple weeks ago had a Juneteenth celebration. I'm not saying I would try to recreate that at the Chrysler, but I hope to think in that way, think strategically and more broadly about how we fit into the larger community.
Describe your relationship with the business community in the places you've worked.
Each community has its own makeup, so you have to be attentive to the local conditions. But a couple things there. First, on the board of trustees we've always had people who were representative of local business and industry and people who have come out of the corporate world. So there's always a strong engagement that way. And what I've found here and in other places is that businesses have valued our institutions because they add to the quality of life of their employees and executives and give richness to the city or region.
And I've often partnered with nonprofits. Very often some of those have been arts festivals - we have a big waterfowl festival here, a painting festival and a film festival. We have had profitable tie-ins with the tourism industry, banks and wealth management companies. They have sponsored exhibitions, programs and special events.
What does it mean for a museum to truly be involved in the community and why might that be important?
Hopefully, in the art that we present we're not just going to be presenting an esoteric idea, but issues and ideas that, in some ways, have relevance to life in the community. That doesn't mean that it's all contemporary art, but that we approach things in that way. I have been in the academic world, but I've stepped down from the ivory tower and I don't want the museum to be perceived that way.
So there are some things that the museum already does, one being the fact that it's free. But what else can we be doing? We have the real deal in the art that we have. But if people aren't experiencing those great works of art, we might as well have them all in the storeroom.
When I come, one of the things that I'll be trying to do early on is meet with civic, business and community leaders and talk to them about their impressions of the museum, what experiences they've had and thoughts about how the museum can be relevant for what they're trying to do.
How'd you get into management?
I started as an art historian with a Ph.D. in art history. And when you're doing that your advisers expect you to be like them - college professors. Almost immediately I realized that I was an OK teacher, but I wasn't maximizing or utilizing all my capabilities. So early on I looked for an opportunity where I could be director after finishing my research. It was small, but from the start you're trying to have that vision of where to take an institution. And that's different from being a scholar or a curator where you have a different set priorities - very valid, but different.
Some of it was a natural inclination and a realization that there were people who could be much better teachers than I would ever be.
When you led Newcomb Art Gallery of Tulane University, you helped complete a plan to protect the collection from flood damage just a few months before Hurricane Katrina struck. As you may know, the Chrysler is in an area highly susceptible to flooding. What are some of the lessons learned from Katrina that you'll be keeping in mind when you start work here?
Obviously crisis management will be a part of that, but that's not all you need to do. They've already done some things at the Chrysler, which we also did at Tulane, including finding higher ground for storing artwork. That was something I was proud of in New Orleans, that we were able to salvage the collection. If Katrina had happened a year before, it would have all been lost. It took some effort and planning, and that's not going to go away.
I won't get into a discussion about causes, but we're in a period where there's climate change, water levels are rising and we've got some extreme weather to think about. And that's a big part of the director's job.
What prompted the steps you took in New Orleans?
At the time, the collection was maybe a little bit of a poor stepchild. Different people had different responsibilities and there hadn't been a gallery director on campus. I won't go into all those details, but it was in the basement of the law school. The university, for its own needs, had to have basements in New Orleans - which is uncommon because it's so low.
People who were a little informed about the arts knew that you couldn't do that, but institutions can be slow to move. So we had to work to get the attention of the powers that be and get some money invested. We moved to an off-site building that was retrofitted. We had to get extra funding and hire the right people to set up the space. Art has to be stored carefully with the right climate control, and that takes time. There was a former professor in the architecture school who cared about these things and someone in external affairs and in the library, so we had shared interest and knew it was a big risk.
In the end, moving took a couple of months. But it took a couple of years getting the right persons involved and identifying the building. We finished moving in April of 2005. Katrina hit in August 2005.
What are some of your favorite genres of art?
I was trained in the European Renaissance tradition - classical art, great artists of the Renaissance including Raphael and Michelangelo going up to Bernini and the Italian Renaissance Baroque.
But I've always been interested in contemporary art, and I do think any museum needs to be involved and engaged in the art of its time. That's part of what we have to do, and believe me there's a lot to choose from in the contemporary arts field.
Also, I have a personal interest in the history of photography. And the Chrysler has an outstanding photography collection. And in recent years that hasn't gotten the attention that maybe I'll be able to focus on.
What ideas do you plan to bring to the Chrysler that aren't already there?
I think there are areas were we have incredible strengths. I talked about glass. And if you look at the collection, it isn't just the things Mr. Chrysler left. They've been built on steadily, and we have to continue that.
I'm very interested in being relevant to a broad community. Obviously, we have a huge naval presence. What could we do to engage that community? There's a well-established African American community. What are we doing there? What are some of the other communities? Some of that I really need to learn.
So I'll be trying to figure out how we can engage with the community in a more meaningful way. And that doesn't just mean that we have to get 10,000 more visitors. It means we have to have more meaningful experiences.
Describe your approach to fiscal management.
The museum has a long tradition of being managed in a fiscally sound way, and that is essential. And I've used this in talking to other people. I grew up in Arlington around Washington, D.C., and the Corcoran Gallery of Art is going through this really difficult time, and that's because there wasn't that tradition of tight fiscal management. The same is true in Delaware where museums are selling works out of their collections. The Chrysler is not in danger of that at all, but you have to be vigilant about it.
You spoke about making the museum relevant to a broad swath of individuals. For people who are not interested in art, why should they care about it? What can it do?
It's like listening to a piece of music. If you're in the right mood, the frame of mind, a piece of music can do a lot to you emotionally, intellectually or spiritually. A great work of art can do the same thing. It can make you think about the human condition. It can make you think about life and death. It can make you think about critical issues of your day.
The Chrysler is a big museum and it's got a whole lot to see. You don't have to see it all each time you go. And it's not going to cost you. You can be virtually guaranteed that you're going to see something there that could touch you or intrigue you.
You plan to keep admission free?
Oh, no doubt. That's pretty much a done deal. In some places admissions make a big deal. But if we can get the right kind of support from foundations and corporations and business, we shouldn't have to cease. And it really sends the message that we're open. One of my challenges is going to be "What can we do beyond that?" to make sure people recognize the Chrysler as their museum.
If you weren't in the art world, what industry would you be in?
When I was a kid I wanted to be a film director. So that's not that far removed. I grew up in a household where politics was a big part of life. I decided early on that wasn't going to be the way for me.
I probably would be a teacher of some sort.
Bill Hennessey is the longest serving director with 17 years in office. How long do you plan on being around?
As long as they'll have me, I guess.
I have ideas about things I want to work on and I plan to set goals and achieve those. So I'd like to settle in for a nice amount of time. I couldn't put a time on it. To work with a collection like this is my dream.