Revolving Museum MISSION STATEMENT: The Revolving Museum is an evolving laboratory of creative expression for people of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities who seek to experience the transformative power of art. Through public art, exhibitions, and educational programs we promote artistic exploration and appreciation, encourage community participation and growth, and provide opportunities for individual empowerment and collective change. The Revolving Museum - Selected Short History and Philosophy In 1984, artist Jerry Beck launched The Revolving Museum with “The Little Train That Could... Show,” an installation in 12 abandoned railroad cars. The public art project marked the beginning of the museum's role as a nomadic institution dedicated to transforming abandoned and or under-utilized public spaces into innovative community arts projects. These projects fostered a civic dialogue about art, the urban and natural environment, site history, and social concerns and created a sense of community between artists and the public. Projects included a boat ride cabaret and walking journey through a legendary civil war fort on an island in Boston’s harbor, an exhibition and performance in a 200 year-old rum factory, a building made entirely of newspaper at a landfill site in Queens, NY, a theater installation in the back of a 24-foot truck that took the public on a midnight ride to see performances in strange locations, and a large-scale public art series responding to neglected spaces surrounding Boston City Hall. From the success of these public artworks, The Revolving Museum received local and national press coverage leading to the museum's recognition as a pioneer in the field of public art. In 1988, The Revolving Museum, in collaboration with Space Gallery, began working directly with Boston youth in Off Season, an interactive project inspired by an abandoned baseball field at the Carter Playground in the Lower Roxbury and South End neighborhoods of Boston. During four months of after-school workshops, local youth became active participants in the development and realization of an educational public art project. The students designed interactive exhibits that included a 200 foot-long batting cage, where targets represented issues such as racism, homelessness, drugs, violence and pollution. In 1992, The Revolving Museum created a series of public art festivals with the overarching title Wonders of the World (WOW). The theme of this series was diversity, and its programs linked artists, youth, community members and social collaborators in the creation of fun-filled and informative festivals. WOW events included: Kid's Carnival, a three-day event involving over 1000 youth and artists working together to create interactive games, sculptural rides, billboard-sized murals and performance art pieces; Pinball ARTcade, a 200-foot high pinball machine environment that stimulated thinking and celebrated community; and the I Scream Art Truck (ISAT), an artistically-transformed ice cream truck that traveled throughout Boston providing several thousand young people with a creative menu of interactive workshops, events and exhibits. Through these educational programs, youth and community members had the opportunity to work directly with professional artists. Because The Revolving Museum worked primarily with young people from under-served communities with little or no access to the arts, this contact exposed them to new ideas about creative problem-solving, and in addition opened the doors to potential careers in the arts and community service. In 1996, The Revolving Museum negotiated with the Boston Wharf Company to donate 30,000 square feet of space to the museum. The museum received its tax-exempt status, compiled the first Board of Directors, and developed over 50 affordable artist studios, two galleries, a performance space, a darkroom, an office and a youth workshop area. This new environment allowed the museum to serve as a "laboratory" that provided creative opportunities for artists, youth, and community members. The Revolving Museum expanded its mission by becoming a stable resource for artists, students, cultural institutions, schools, human service agencies, and community organizations. This facility's impact on programming was seen in the array of exceptional visual art exhibitions, fashion shows, film and video presentations, poetry readings, theatre work, multi-media installations, and collaborative public art festivals. In January 2002, due to Boston Wharf's redevelopment plan in Boston's Fort Point district, The Revolving Museum was evicted from their facility. The many efforts to secure property for local artists within that district were unsuccessful, and many artists and arts organizations were forced out of Boston.
The Revolving Museum in Lowell In March of 2002, at the invitation of the City of Lowell, The Revolving Museum relocated into the historic 1859 Lowell Gas and Light building. In just four months, The Revolving Museum opened “Home-Made: Pioneers & Public Art.” The project included a large-scale exhibition of paintings, drawings, sculpture, and video. Outdoor installations included the Garden of Big Ideas and Earthly Delights, a community art sculpture garden at the front of the museum, and a giant public art telescope stationed at the Mack Building Plaza. Over 100 local and national artists were involved in this inaugural show, which received many enthusiastic reviews form local and regional papers. Soon, The Revolving Museum had recruited an inspiring team of volunteers. Three organizational committees were formed (Development, Operations, and Vision) to help strategize the future needs of the museum and discuss such issues as public relations, marketing, grants, web site development, fundraising, education, and technology. The Rhode Island School of Design's (RISD) Museum's Wheels of Wonder, an interactive art-mobile designed by TRM Artistic Director Jerry Beck and graduate students from RISD was donated to the City of Lowell. The art mobile is now operated by Community Teamwork Incorporated in partnership with the museum. Re-named the “Art Ship Enterprise” based on a generous donation by Enterprise Bank, it is currently being re-designed by artists Nora Valdez and Cesar Persi Narvaez Machicao. “Art Ship Enterprise” will be activated this summer (2007) during the city-wide ARTventures Project. The enthusiastic support of the Lowell community has fostered the rapid growth of the Revolving Museum’s programming. For instance, John DeAngelis of Earth Reality, donated 4000 square feet of space at the original site of the historic Ayer Laboratory to The Revolving Museum to create an Art Annex space around the corner of the main facility. This donation created studio and classroom spaces and a youth clubhouse. Board Member Dr. John Copeland established an endowment for the museum through Greater Lowell Community Foundation. In 2003, The Revolving Museum received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for “LocalMotive,” an innovative series of interactive public artworks, exhibitions, and events responding to and reclaiming the inactive railroad tracks and alleyways in historic downtown Lowell. The project unites a talented team of artists, students, and community leaders in an art-based urban revitalization program. Community-building and urban revitalization are central concerns of The Revolving Museum. Other important recent projects include: “Merrimack Mural Project,” (2003-Current), The Revolving Museum’s Teen Arts Group (TAG) has created a 150-foot long mural on Merrimack Street, in which teens are encouraged to collaborate to create images with positive messages addressing issues of drug abuse, teen pregnancy, domestic violence, racism and the need to stay in school; the photography exhibition, “Boundaries to Bridges,” (2004), looked into the homes and lives of the Northeast’s newest immigrants. This show explored what happens to the biases and stereotypes around culture and family when these communities settle amongst one another in the rapidly developing city of Lowell, which has long been a destination city for immigrants and refugees. In “Building Vision: Industry and Art in Downtown Lowell,” (2004), local artists and teenagers teamed up to develop proposals addressing the cultural and economic revitalization of Lowell. One result of their series of creative workshops was “Creative Canoe Tours, Incorporated,” a youth-run summer-long business featuring artistically transformed canoes that took the paying visitors on a tour of the canals and promoted the cleaning of these historically significant public works systems. “Wonders of the World: SPOOL 500,” (2005-6), The Revolving Museum’s largest public artwork to date, “ SPOOL 500” was a year-long public art project inspired by Lowell’s textile history and old-time “pinewood” derbies. The ambitious project involved thousands of participants and the creation of more than 500 one-of-a-kind art mobiles that integrated wheels made from antique and modern thread spools. “Pulling Strings: Traditional and Contemporary Puppetry,” (2006), celebrated the art of puppetry. Curated by artist Rob Millard Mendez, this project examined the historical roots of puppetry and the role it can play today in raising awareness of important personal, social, cultural, and political issues. “ Visionary Village,” (2006) a collaborative series of public artworks, highlighted both the past, present and future themes of Lowell: industry, creativity, learning, the flowering city, and ethnic pride. Through an illuminated landscape of historic architecture, public artworks, gardens, parks and unique public spaces, visitors are able to experience Lowell as a thriving, safe and attractive center of public art, history and community festivals. One of the keys to The Revolving Museum’s current success is the involvement of inspirational staff, board members, artists, educators, community leaders, youth and family members who believe our vision can make a difference. The Revolving Museum’s collaborative art making and urban design foster increased communication, mutual understanding, and respect, as well as active participation in the life of the city. The Museum’s expertise in urban revitalization has helped to shape Lowell’s community identity and space, address social inequality and create cultural and educational opportunities. In the last few years, The Revolving Museum has been a consultant for the city’s master planning efforts, media campaigns, and artists’ live/workspace, entrepreneurial endeavors, public art, community gardens and event programming. As a catalyst and contributor to many of Lowell’s annual events, The Revolving Museum has helped build exciting destinations and public spaces that celebrate the community as a whole. Our vision creates bridges and strategies that help civic leaders understand how culture can have an impact on urban revitalization. The Revolving Museum upholds the premise that, given the opportunity, everyone can utilize his or her own creative talents to contribute to the well being of the community. In partnership with the City of Lowell, The Revolving Museum is leading the way to a more unified, revitalized, and resourceful city. n 2007, The Revolving Museum received the prestigious Massachusetts Cultural Council Commonwealth Award in the category of “Community.” This recognition furthers our goal of making the city of Lowell an important regional center of a new creative revolution! Finally, The Revolving Museum stands behind the belief that art and art-making can nourish and sustain us intellectually, culturally, socially, politically and economically.
What People Say: It has the gift of transforming ordinary places and things into the extraordinary, thus changing the public’s perception of the mundane to something unique and powerful. - Zeran Earls, President of First Night International The Revolving Museum’s urban art making…conveys the conviction that public art can be transformational and should be made directly from the community and injected back into it. - Ann Wilson Lloyd, Art In America Indoors, you can almost smell the creativity at work… although the museum has now found a home…it hasn’t given up its nomadic soul, and continues to initiate projects in neighborhoods. - Cate McQuaid, Boston GlobeThe Revolving Museum opens doors of confidence for young minds so others can see their passion…it provides a safe and humble home for those who might not have one. It pushes you to strive for more and provides a stepping stone to our dreams. - Kayla Diaz, Revolving Museum TAG (Teen Arts Group) Member No question about it, the transformation of latent energy is its business -- not the energy latent in fossil fuels, but in everyday people. Founded on a democratic faith in the equal distribution of intelligence and imagination, The Revolving Museum engages community involvement in its fanciful, site-specific, usually ephemeral projects. - Scott Ruescher, Arts Editor We get to work with some pretty fabulous art innovators,...but it is Jerry Beck and The Revolving Museum who has succeeded in creating all kinds of different, first rate, public awareness enhancing, awesome, fun, clever and meaning-filled arts experiences for people of all ages and cultural backgrounds… Anything Jerry Beck puts his heart and mind into comes out as a source of inspiration, and makes people better than they would have been without him doing what he does best… Jerry's imaginative spectrum of projects and programs has caused us to believe that he really has no equal in the U.S. - Rebecca Hoffberger, Founder/Director, American Visionary Art Museum
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