The world in a new light

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts looks very different when viewed from the Boulevard today. This picture was taken after the construction of the north (1976) and south (1970) wings but before the major expansion of the building this year.

I never took an art or art-history course in high school or college.

So how did I wind up working for 32 years at an art museum?

Serendipity.

The goals of two people coincided in 1978. VMFA Director Peter Mooz wanted to accomplish two things: to increase the diversity of the museum's audience and to begin using television to tell the museum's story.

I wanted to accomplish one thing: to get a job.

VMFA is a state agency under the Department of Education. Peter was under pressure from a number of directions to add African Americans and other minorities to the museum's professional staff and to increase audience diversity. To his credit, I believe that he himself thought both were sound ideas.

On the other hand, I think his desire to begin using TV as a means to boost the number of museum visitors was a bit less eleemosynary: Peter wanted to get his face on TV talk shows and newscasts. Peter's ego needed constant attention.

My first interview was with Mike Hickey, then the museum's public relations director, who had worked for me on the University of Richmond newspaper when we were undergraduates. Next, I met with George Cruger, then the head of the communications division. My third and final interview was with Peter. If he gave the okay, the job of assistant director of public relations would be mine.

The first question Peter asked me as the four of us met in his office suite overlooking the Boulevard was, "How would you encourage more black people to come to the museum?"

I had a ready -- and obvious -- answer: Advertise with minority publications and broadcast outlets and provide programs and exhibitions that would appeal to minority audiences.

The second question was even easier: "How would you use television to beef up attendance?"

The answer was a no-brainer: Pitch story ideas and interviews to the television stations. I certainly had the contacts that would make such a task almost effortless. "The only time local TV news crews ever come to the museum is at Easter, to do a story on the Fabergé eggs," I told him. "And that's on their own initiative. Nobody from the museum -- and I mean nobody -- ever called me when I was news director at WTVR and pitched a story idea. We could aggressively book you on the local TV talk shows. We could invite reporters in to watch an exhibition being installed. We could promote interviews about programs and events. And it'll be easy, since no other local arts organization is doing anything like this. We'd have a clear playing field."

Peter liked both answers. The next day, Mike Hickey called me to ask me when I could start. I began work at the museum on April 17, 1978.

VMFA was a very laid-back place when I started to work there. You'd never know you were working for a state agency. The museum had powerful allies in the General Assembly, and proving our value and importance was not a constant necessity, as it is today. The legislature and the executive branch of Virginia's government were proud of the museum. They also liked being invited to the lavish parties the museum threw for them each year -- complete with steamship rounds of beef carved to order, silver bowls laden with shrimp, fresh oysters on the half-shell, carved-ice fountains spouting champagne, and open bars. All of this while surrounded by priceless art dating from antiquity up to today. No other state agency could compete at that level.

For the staff, the daily pace of work was hardly frenetic, unlike the world of TV news I had just left behind. There was a half-hour morning coffee break in the cafeteria, complete with Virginia ham biscuits made in VMFA's kitchen. At WTVR, I had eaten countless lunches at my desk. Nobody ever did that in those days at VMFA; we took an hour and either ate in the member's restaurant atop the North Wing, or in the cafeteria with a view of the sculpture garden and its cascading fountain, or in one of the numerous restaurants in the upper Fan District. Often, I had time to go home for lunch and let the dog out into the yard for a few minutes. In late afternoon. We took another -- albeit more informal -- coffee break. And on Friday afternoons, the communications department would depart en masse, telling our secretary we were "going to the bank." That was code for "We'll be at Chiocca's for a beer if you need us."

After a career in journalism, VMFA's slower pace seemed like heaven. We got the work done, to be sure, and collectively the staff worked hard to mount spectacular exhibitions and programs. Moreover, I began to understand that the work was meaningful and, yes, important to the life of my city and to Virginia. But there was little frenzy, and nobody ever yelled.

And I began to learn about art, and, in due course, to see the world in a different light.