Chris Timm, who has served as interim government director of Maine Maritime Museum for the previous yr, was just lately named the museum’s everlasting government director.
Timm
Timm had labored because the museum’s chief curator for 5 years and for the museum since 2016.
“One of many issues that actually excites me is discovering methods to carry Maine’s maritime historical past into the current,” stated Timm, citing “Maine’s influential position in world politics and commerce” and the resonance of that historical past in modern-day.
“We would like our guests to have the ability to contextualize the current and take into consideration how issues that occurred 12 months in the past or 120 years in the past actually decide and have an effect on our experiences as we speak and the way we are able to study from them,” he stated.
One instance he gave of maritime historical past’s imprint on the current was documenting and being confronted with Maine’s position within the transatlantic slave commerce as an essential historic remembrance.
“What’s nice is that he’ll proceed the work he’s already began doing, so there’s an essential continuity there,” stated Amanda Pleau, the museum’s advertising and marketing and communications supervisor.
“We’re innovating the reveals we provide – for instance, with the Maine artists and modern artwork reveals we launched this summer season,” Pleau stated. “It’s thrilling to be exploring what is feasible for us.”
Lincoln Paine, chairperson of the Maine Maritime Museum Board of Trustees, stated witnessing Timm in motion as interim director and previous to that as chief curator helped inform the board’s choice to rent him for the management position.
“Throughout that point, he actually shone by way of his capacity to work collaboratively with the board of administrators at a really making an attempt time,” Paine stated. “He’s very considerate and deliberate, and has good institutional information.”
Throughout his time in curation, Paine defined, Timm labored with individuals who had served collectively for round 80 years, which allowed him to construct his understanding of the museum’s historical past.
Timm, whose background is in artwork historical past, famous the uniquely essential position museums should play in schooling and stated he appears ahead to exploring methods to supply extra programming to native colleges.
“We have now so many sources to attract on,” he stated. “Right here we now have 20,000 artifacts in our assortment.”
Timm stated that whereas the final couple years have been difficult, the neighborhood has continued to assist the museum.
“Our supporters, donors and members actually rallied round us via the pandemic,” Timm stated. “Our donors chipped in, and we had been capable of journey it out and provide you with methods of digitizing our assortment.”
“He actually understands that accessibility to the museum is available in quite a lot of varieties,” Paine stated. “He understands that it must not solely be accessible to guests but in addition to students who’re excited by reinterpreting Maine’s maritime historical past.”
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