2012 Annual Report - Nasher Museum of Art - Duke University

from the student advisory boardThroughout the 2011-2012 academic year,the Nasher Student Advisory Board (NSAB)pursued a two-dimensional objective: topresent events to Duke students andthe greater Durham population and tostrengthen the internal structure of theboard itself, in hopes of creating a moreefficient and effective organization. Assuch, the academic year was marked byfive major events featuring important socialthemes, collaborations with area collegesand new museum precedents.As is tradition each Orientation Week, theNasher Museum welcomed 1,200 freshmenstudents to their first museum event, “ANight at the Nasher.” This event is designedto expose Duke students to the museum’sfacilities and exhibitions early on and iswidely held to be a freshman favorite.The next two fall-semester events wereArt for All events–a type of programmingdesigned to target Duke students andalso welcome Durhamites while focusingon a single, temporary exhibition. The first,“XX” in October, celebrated feminist arton view in The Deconstructive Impulse.The NSAB celebrated gallery acousticsand fostered a more intimate viewingexperience by hosting the Duke femalestudent a cappella group Out of the Blueand a free, somewhat satirical screeningof the 1974 educational film, “Women inManagement: Threat or Opportunity?” froma vintage 16-mm print. Throughout theevening, photographers from Latent Image(Duke’s photography magazine) tookprofessional-quality portraits of guests,and visitors decorated oven mitts. For theArt for All event in November, the NSABcollaborated with students at the NorthCarolina Central University Art Museumfor “Double Exposure,” cross-promotingthe Nasher Museum’s exhibition Becomingand the NCCU Art Museum’s Let YourMotto Be Resistance: African AmericanPortraits. The black-and-white theme ofthe event, hosted simultaneously at eachmuseum, played off the black and whitephotography featured in each exhibition,and included multiple gallery talks, livejazz music and spoken word poetry. Busestransported about 300 students and localresidents between the campuses.The board’s most exciting event was ared-carpet soiree in late February, “ClassicHollywood,” where nearly 1,600 studentswalked the red carpet in their finest semiformalattire to celebrate the exhibitionAlexander Calder and Contemporary Artand dance the night away with a rocking liveband. Students enjoyed gourmet popcorn, anextremely popular photo booth, movie theatercandy and Oscar-inspired munchies. Theevent focused on undergraduate seniors, asthis is was most likely their last big event atthe Nasher Museum, and beautifully mirroredtheir first-year “Night at the Nasher” party. Tothat end, we partnered with the Senior ClassCouncil and the Annual Fund to create anenclosed senior lounge and giveaways forthe senior class. The NSAB employed anextensive marketing campaign surroundingthis event—emails, online invitations, aFacebook page, tabling on both East andWest campuses and for the first time, aNSAB Twitter page—and we are thrilled toreport that it was the best-attended studentevent ever at the museum.The final Art-for-All event of the year,“Comfy with Calder,” was a casual eveningevent in early March, designed to be amidterm study break.In addition to planning our own events, theNSAB also focused on bolstering studentpresence at Nasher Museum events suchas the Thursday evening film series andthe gallery talk on Outsider Art.We wish to thank Juline Chevalier, curatorof education, and Kathy Wright, specialevents coordinator, for their generoussupport of the NSAB.Reshma Kalimi (T’12)Andrew Huff (T’12)Co-chairs of the Nasher Student Advisory BoardSee full listing of the Student AdvisoryBoard on page 45.Student Advisory Board928031_Text.indd 911/28/12 3:24 AM