MAACM Celebrates Year 2!

Dear MAACM Members and Friends,

As we close out our second year of operation and reflect on the past year, I realize we have a lot to celebrate at MAACM! From building awards and improvements, programs, and reaching new audiences, year two was one of experimentation, growth, and success. 

We are so thankful for such a beautiful and stunning jewel of architecture to call home, but even new buildings need some care and attention. Over the last year we have made many building improvements, some behind the scenes and others more obvious to our visitors such as the multi-month project to install automatic doors, making entering MAACM much easier for all our guests. In May, MAACM accepted, with Gilbane Building Co, the prestigious ABC Eagle Construction award, recognizing MAACM’s building for its excellence in construction.

In July 2023, we opened Dignity and Grace: These Humbler Metals, a new exhibition featuring over 300 works from the collection of the Two Red Roses Foundation. Curating this show was very special to me, as the metalwork collection inspired the first catalogue published by the Two Red Roses Foundation and the works contained in the exhibition are some of the finest examples of Arts and Crafts designs represented in the collection’s holdings. I was also very excited to exhibit a number of new acquisitions that are part of the show, including a stunning Frank Lloyd urn, a monumental lantern by Greene and Greene, as well as a number of new holdings by master ironsmith Samuel Yellin.

In the last year we have expanded our adult programing offerings including the very popular leaded glass classes taught by master craftsman Carlos Velasco. We opened our doors to music with two live jazz performances and learned from many experts in the field during our Fall Speaker Series. Our docent ranks swelled as we welcomed and trained a new docent class to meet the growing demand for guided-tours. For the second year in a row, MAACM participated in GPI in August, a digital conference devoted to the American Arts and Crafts movement, the in-person version is held annually at the Grove Park Inn in Ashville North Carolina, bringing together Arts and Crafts experts, scholars, and enthusiasts.

This year we held two members events, our first annual Tree Lighting featuring the Seminole Highschool orchestra and choral singers and the exhibition opening of These Humbler Metals in July offered members a first look at the new exhibition.

MAACM Family Days continued to engage families in artmaking activities in the Education Studio and family-friendly guided tours in the galleries on Saturdays. As of January 2023, MAACM officially became an approved fieldtrip site for Pinellas County Schools and welcomed hundreds of students and educators to the museum in the last few months of the 2022-2023 school year.

MAACM’s second year has been amazing, and I am excited to carry that growth in to year three. Looking ahead, we are planning a new exhibition featuring many more world-class objects recently acquired by the Two Red Roses Foundation, and more engaging and interesting programs for all ages, and more member events.

Thank you to all our members, it’s a great time to be part of the MAACM family! From all of us at MAACM we are so glad to have shared the past year with all of you!