CELEBRATING MUSEUM MEMBERS - Museum Foundation

2012: The Year
of the Member
If early access to museum events is what makes membership
valuable for you, 2012 is your year. Join us for:
Saturday, March 24
Member Preview: They Wove for Horses: Navajo Saddle
Blankets, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
Monday, April 9
Member Monday: Mapping New Mexico, Governor’s
Gallery, New Mexico State Capitol
Thursday, May 10
Member Preview: It’s About Time: 14,000 Years of Art in
New Mexico, New Mexico Museum of Art
Monday, June 4
Member Monday: New Mexico Museum of Art
Saturday and Sunday, September 22 and 23
Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Museum of
New Mexico Foundation with multiple events in
downtown Santa Fe and on Museum Hill
Monday, October 1
Member Monday: Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
Thursday, November 8
Member Preview: Tour the new Center for
New Mexico Archaeology
Friday, December 7
Member Preview: New World Cuisine,
Museum of International Folk Art
Get Your Event
Invitations Via E-Mail
Invitations to member events are sent
via e-mail. Provide or update your
e-mail address by sending a message to
membership@museumfoundation.org.
Check the event calendar at
museumfoundation.org often for
up-to-date information.
A FAMily AFFAir
Like many museum members, Anabella and John St. Peter of
Santa Fe believe their family membership is a good financial value.
But even more valuable are the lifelong educational opportunities
that membership offers them and their six-year-old twin daughters.
“I knew we had to be members if we wanted to have free
admission, go to exhibitions and attend events,” says Anabella
St. Peter, a museum and dance educator. The family’s real
estate broker gave them a museum membership when they
moved to Santa Fe in 2005. “When the girls were born,” St.
Peter says, “there was no question we would renew.”
At three months old, daughters Emma and Hannah were
attending exhibition openings with their parents. Today, the family
visits the museums after school and on weekends. Favorite destinations
include the Museum of International Folk Art’s Girard Wing
and the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture’s Discovery Center.
“The exhibitions and activities are safe and interesting for
children,” says St. Peter. “It’s so gratifying to see my children
develop their aesthetics and comment about the artworks they
observe at the museums. When people tell me their kids think
museums are boring, I suggest they let their children lead them
through a museum. They’ll never be bored again.”
A sTATEWiDE ExpEriEnCE
Anne Van Arsdall and Jay Kratochvil of Albuquerque are among
the vast majority of members who join out of a desire to support
local cultural institutions. The fact that none of those institutions
is located in the couple’s city of residence has not deterred them
from reaping the benefits of membership since 1991.
“We go to the state monuments about once a month, or we go
to Santa Fe for the day,” Van Arsdall says. “The museums are like
old friends. We see exhibitions, enjoy the historic buildings, or just
sit in the lovely courtyard at the Museum of Art. Albuquerque is
certainly within reach, and even more so with the Rail Runner.”
Van Arsdall, a retired medieval historian, and Kratochvil, an
engineer and printmaker, believe the Museum of New Mexico is
an unparalleled cultural resource. “I have never been in another
state with a museum system this rich,” Van Arsdall says, adding
that the state monuments are particularly unique attractions.
“You can see parts of the state you’ve never known and make
places like the Camino Real or the Jemez ruins the center of a
historic day,” she says. “Museum membership is a great way to
get out of the city and experience art and history in a different
kind of way. And as a member, you can go back every day.”
6 museumfoundation.org