Program Highlights
2007
ArtTable Annual Awards Luncheon (June 4,
2007)
Transcript from the 14th Annual
ArtTable Award Luncheon, Monday, June 4, 2007
The Starlight Roof at The Waldorf Astoria, New York City
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the transcript (PDF)
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See
the event
in Panache Magazine
Introductions:
Lowery Stokes Sims: Good Afternoon,
could I have your attention please. See, now you know
why I got the job of M.C., I got all of you quiet.
Good Afternoon, and welcome to ArtTable’s Annual
Luncheon. I am Lowery Sims and I’ll be your M.C.
today. We’re especially pleased to see you here
this year and at this time I need to ask your indulgence
and quiet while we have some remarks from ArtTable’s
current president and our new executive director. I’ll
be back when we have dessert to introduce the main
program, but right now, please join me in welcoming
Linda Sweet, President of ArtTable. (applause)
Linda Sweet: Thank you Lowery. It
is my privilege and pleasure to welcome you to today’s
luncheon. We have an outstanding honoree and a wonderful
program and I want to give you plenty of time to do
what ArtTable members do best . . . talk, network,
forge relationships. I’ll keep my comments
brief, but I do want to thank the truly extraordinary
co-chairs of the luncheon, Nancy Kaufmann and Lowery
Stokes Sims. Could you both stand. (applause) We
would not be here today if it were not for their hard
work and remarkable dedication. They had a terrific
committee - listed in your program - and wonderful
staff support, especially Cybele Maylone. But the luncheon
wouldn’t have happened without Nancy and Lowery,
so thank you.
I also want to thank our key supporters, Altria, Agnes
Gund and Lula Wang, for leadership tables, Doyle New
York, Lowery Stokes Sims, Sotheby’s and Ann Tenenbaum
bought benefactor tables, we are truly grateful.
And I want to thank ArtTable’s excellent board. We
worked diligently this year to build the infrastructure
of the organization, revising the by-laws, clarifying
board and committee roles and responsibilities, and
approving a new strategic plan. There are too many
names to list, but would the board members please stand
wherever you are seated. (applause) They were
a fabulous group to work with. And I’m pleased
to announce that the board will be led by long-time
ArtTable member Peggy Loar. Peggy has been a member
of ArtTable almost since its inception and she was
a founding member of the Washington D.C. chapter and
an active member of the Northern California Chapter.
She’s now in New York, and she’s the perfect
person as we begin to implement the new plan. We will
be adding several new members to the board this year
as some members rotate off. Will they and Peggy Loar
please stand. (applause)
The board’s most important charge this year
was to select a new Executive Director for the organization.
After a thorough search led by Search Committee Chairman
Linda Downs, the board selected one of our own, Dena
Muller, who had recently become a member of ArtTable.
Dena has an undergraduate degree from the University
of Wisconsin - Madison, and a Master’s Degree
from New York University. She comes to us following
six years as director of the A.I.R. Gallery here in
New York City. She was President and remains a member
of the board of the Women’s Caucus for Art, and
she is on the Regional Coordinating Committee and has
been Regional Chair of the Feminist Art Project. She
has the experience and qualifications ArtTable needs
at this moment in its evolution and growth, and she
and Peggy will be a terrific team. It’s with
great pleasure that I introduce you to Dena Muller.
(applause)
Dena Muller: Thank you, Linda,
for that introduction! I will do my best to live
up to it. Members of ArtTable, I want to thank
you all for the opportunity to be here today as your
new executive Director. It is an honor and a
wonderful opportunity. Standing at the podium
this afternoon, I can’t help but reflect back
on last year’s luncheon. As a new member
of ArtTable, I was out there at table 56 enjoying conversation
with my table-mates and taking in the inspiring program. I
was pregnant with my second child and as the director
of A.I.R. Gallery for seven years, I knew that a job
change was in my near future, but was only beginning
to think about what that might be. As the luncheon
concluded and everyone was negotiating for the orchid
centerpieces and making their way to the exit, I was
stunned to hear my name read aloud as the winner of
the benefit raffle. Now, I’m not generally
lucky or a gambler, but the piece being raffled was
the Femfolio, a print portfolio produced and donated
by the Brodsky Center for Innovative Print. It
features new works by some of the most notable feminist
artists of our time such as, Martha Wilson, Miriam
Schapiro, Nancy Spero, Carolee Schneeman, and Nancy
Azara and Faith Ringgold, both of whom are celebrating
with us today. Seeing these amazing works displayed
I had to buy a ticket. When I got over the shock
of winning the raffle, I began to think of it as a
thank you gift from the art world for all the work
I had done on behalf of women through organizations
like A.I.R., the Women’s Caucus for Art and The
Feminist Art Project. Standing here today, I
realize that instead I should have seen it as an auspicious
invitation to become more involved with ArtTable. Again,
I am happy for the chance to be a more instrumental
part of the organization and I look forward to meeting
and working with you all in the future.
Each year the luncheon offers us the opportunity to
acknowledge and thank key people in our community. We
are pleased that several past board presidents are
joining us today: Dr. Lila Harnett, the founding president
of ArtTable -- and we've learned that congratulations
are in order for her recent honorary Doctorate of Fine
Arts from University of Richmond, ArtTable was an important
factor in the University's decision to award the degree
-- and Frederieke Taylor, Kinshasha Holman Conwill,
Sandra Lang, Adele Silver, Mary Sue Sweeney Price,
and Judith Brodsky. Likewise, celebrating with
us today are past distinguished service awardees Joan
Mondale, Stephanie French, Dianne Pilgrim and Elizabeth
Sackler. Also, we are very pleased that New York
City Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate
Levin joins us in honoring Emily Rafferty.
Also, at just six weeks into my new position as Executive
Director, I want to acknowledge and thank Interim Director
Helene Bleiberg for her amazingly efficient and creative
work during this transitional year. Stepping
into my new role has been a pleasure in large part
due to her good work. I also want to acknowledge
the work of the rest of the ArtTable staff in helping
me to acclimate and in preparing for today’s
event, Interim Membership Manager, Rachel Selekman,
and chapter administrators, Alaine Azcona, Karolyn
Hatton, Tracy Posey and Elyse Poppers. And finally
if you’ll bear with me for one more very important
acknowledgement, we must thank the luncheon committee
for all their work in making today a reality, Committee
Members are: Anne Bergeron, Dianne Dec, Carol
Cole Levin, Susan Mason, Margaret Mathews-Berenson,
Miranda McClintic, Denise Mullen, Barbara Pollard,
Ellen Slapeter, Marsha Semmel, and Marcia Yerman. And
special thanks to Carolyn Mandelker for her tireless
work on the program.
Thank you again for the opportunity to serve ArtTable. Please
enjoy your lunch and today’s wonderful program!
Program:
Lowery Stokes Sims: Can you
believe with all of the lists that we made so diligently,
that we forgot the name of very important Past-President Serena
Rattazzi, so I want to redress that situation right
now. This is the moment in the program when we
recognize those among us who have made extraordinary
contributions to the arts and to the cause of women
in the arts – but before we do, I want to ask
you to remember two women who were closely associated
with ArtTable who left us this year. None of us will
ever forget the presence of Kitty Carlisle Hart. For
me she was effervescence and youth incarnate, and I
remember my own incredulity when they marked the 60th
anniversary of “A Night at the Opera”,
thinking she must have made that film as a precocious
sixteen year old. She not only charmed us in the movies,
on the stage and television, but also rocked the halls
of state government when she ably served as the Chair
of the New York State Council on the Arts. Many of
us in this room were able to enjoy her post-council
career where, in venues such as Feinstein’s at
the Regency, she would regale us with songs and memories
of her friends and sing some of their songs . . . Gershwin,
Porter, Berlin, Rogers and Hammerstein, and her beloved
husband, Moss Hart.
We also remember Marcia Tucker, exemplary curator and
innovative museum director. As founder of the
New Museum of Contemporary Art, she organized and oversaw
some of the most challenging exhibitions of the 1980s
and 90s. These examined new image and new figuration
that emerged during the period, the new Feminism, gay
sensibility, and a range of subject areas that pointed
to the diversity and multi-cultural character of the
art world. I thought about the paradox of her career
when viewing the Richard Tuttle exhibition at the Whitney
a few years ago, and thinking about how her organization
of a survey of his work at the same institution in
1975 was so fraught with controversy. Well, that was
Marcia, always leading the way and waiting for us to
catch up with her.
On a personal note, I’d like to remember Arlene
Raven. Arlene was not formally associated with ArtTable,
but as a co-founder of the Woman’s Building in
Los Angeles in the 1970s and as one of the most dedicated
and perceptive women critics, who not only emerged
out of that movement – her life and career was
not only in sync with the goals and mission of ArtTable – but
also formed the vanguard from which ArtTable could
come into existence. She was a classmate of mine, a
colleague and a dear friend, and I’m pleased
that her long-time partner, the sculptor, Nancy Grossman
is with us this afternoon.
So let’s take a minute and applaud the lives
of these three women.
And now I’m pleased to introduce our keynote
speaker. Caroline Kennedy is vice-chair of the New
York City Fund for Public Schools, she is also the
author and editor of six best selling books on Civil
Rights, American History, politics and poetry, her
upcoming book, A Family Christmas, will be published
in November. She received her B.A. in Fine Arts from
Harvard University, and her J. D. from Columbia Law
School. She also worked as a coordinating producer
for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Office of Film
and Television when I had to ask her not to script
Big Bird looking at Jackson Pollock’s “Autumn
Rhythm” upside down between his legs. So
please welcome Caroline Kennedy to the podium.
Caroline Kennedy: Good afternoon
and thank you for inviting me to speak today at this
event honoring my friend, Emily Rafferty. I have always
looked up to Emily – as an older student at the
Convent of the Sacred Heart, Emily and her sisters
set an example of faith and citizenship, qualities
that continue to mark Emily’s life and career.
Later, when I worked at the Metropolitan, Emily was
just a younger version of the dynamic, committed, effective
professional she is today. We worked closely together
then and later when she championed and managed the
exhibition, Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House
Years.
Working at the museum was a tremendous education for
me, and education is what I would like to talk to you
about today. My first job after college was at the
Metropolitan Museum’s Office of Film and Television.
Its mission was to bring the museum’s collections
to the widest possible audience and the museum experience
to those who could not visit in person. Although it
hardly seems controversial to make programs about art,
given what else is on TV, some argued this was
a not an appropriate activity for an institution committed
to the scholarship and excellence the museum is known
for, while others feared that TV would replace
the one-on-one experience with a great work of art.
I didn’t see it that way, believing instead
that programs on the American Wing helped viewers see
art in its historical and geographic context, while
a Christmas special allowed the interdisciplinary combination
of art and music, both of which would increase interest
in experiencing works of art directly.
The program that had the greatest impact on me was Don’t
Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at
the MetropolitanMuseum. In
this musical, children and muppets get locked in
the museum overnight, and discover an ancient Egyptian
boy lost in the Temple of Dendur who must answer
a riddle before midnight. The program was complete
with a scene of Osiris weighing the boy’s heart
against a feather, provided, of course, by Big Bird.
This program brought the museum and its collections,
not just to a wide television audience but to a different
audience. It starred and appealed to children and families
who do not often visit the Met, and it made the museum
seem more accessible to people who often find the museum
intimidating. Though the museum was founded in part
to educate and civilize the newly arrived immigrants
of the late nineteenth century, is generously supported
by the City of New York, and has made tremendous efforts
to reach out to the public in countless ways, many
of the people who live here still don’t feel
like such institutions belong to them, and have never
experienced the joy that art can bring into our lives.
Schools are the places that can change that. For many
children schools are the first, and often the only
place where they are exposed to art. Most people are
aware that urban education in this country is a national
crisis. New York is no exception. And it has
reached the point that none of us – whether or
not we have children in the schools or even grew up
in New York - can afford to think of it as someone
else’s problem.
New York has approximately 1.1 million students in
1400 schools who speak 140 languages at home, and who
are overwhelmingly poor. To give you an idea of how
bad things had gotten, not long after I started working
at the Department of Education, I visited a high school
in the Bronx that had an enrollment of 3500 students.
Yet that year, only 118 diplomas were given.
I am happy to say that things have started to change
since then. Under Mayor Bloomberg, New York has
launched the most ambitious school reform effort in
the nation – starting hundreds of new and innovative
small schools, training and empowering a new generation
of principals, and increasing accountability throughout
the system. Test scores are up for the first
time in years and graduation rates are the highest
in a generation – though still only 60%.
One of the key levers of change has been the effort
to strengthen the connection between the schools and
the broader city community - including the business
sector, the cultural community and average New Yorkers. Of
course, education takes place in the classroom, but
the schools can’t do it alone. In order for a
school to be successful, it takes an entire community,
faculty and staff, parents, alumni, local businesses
and neighbors. That is the kind of spirit we are trying
to build across New York City because the children
in our schools are the future of this city, and it
is up to all of us to make sure they get the education
they need to succeed.
Creating strong public-private partnerships is absolutely
critical to transforming our schools. Some of these
partnerships are financial. For example, the business
community understands and supports the training of
school leaders, the philanthropic community has funded
small school development and HR and infrastructure
reform, and we have reached out to ordinary citizens
through large public events like concerts, and city
wide tag sales. Our annual “Shop 4 Class” retail
promotion raises money for school libraries, literacy
and arts. In addition to the financial support
these efforts bring, we hope people will take the next
step and think about how they can contribute, what
kind of talent or time they might share with students
in our schools through volunteering, mentoring or in-kind
donations.
But to me, the most meaningful part of the effort
to strengthen public-private partnerships and one that
is unique to this city is in arts education. It is
truly an area where the broader city community can,
and does have, a direct impact on the education of
our children. The pieces are in place to build and
strengthen this relationship.
Our schools spend $285 dollars on arts education for
each child. Some schools have the very best, and some
the worst, arts programs you can imagine. Some
principals bring their schools to life with visual
art, music, theater and dance taught in collaborative
and interdisciplinary ways using the city as a resource,
while others struggle to expose the children to the
cultural resources around us. And sadly, some just
write it off as recess.
Arts education has a tortured history in the schools.
Decimated by the budget crisis in the 1970s, it has
struggled to regain its footing ever since. In the
1990s, after years of effort by many of the people
in this room, Project Arts was established. Hailed
as a great victory by arts advocates, Project Arts
set aside a sum of money to be used to hire and train
arts teachers, buy equipment and materials, and create
partnerships with cultural organizations, yet the level
of funding has varied and suspicion remained that many
schools didn’t use the money for arts programs.
Yet within this history lie the seeds for future success.
In recent years, arts education has become engulfed
in the wider educational debate over standards and
testing. Advocates have been asked to justify arts
education in quantifiable ways which often are out
of sync with the creative process. Yet research shows
and anecdotal evidence confirms that a strong arts
program is critical to student achievement.
Arts gives children from different cultural traditions
a way to communicate with each other and share their
heritage. We know that music helps math, and dance
gives children who may not speak English, or who have
trouble sitting still, an outlet for expression. Art
teaches kids how to find their own voice and how to
listen to others, how to analyze the world they live
in, and how to make choices based on fundamental values – skills
that are absolutely critical in today’s world.
And to put it bluntly, in a system where tens of thousands
of kids are still dropping out every year, as one principal
said to me “Art gives kids a reason to come to
school .”
During the current administration, Mayor Bloomberg,
his two art muses -Deputy Mayor Patti Harris and Cultural
Commissioner Kate Levin - and Chancellor Joel Klein
have made a profound commitment to improving arts in
the schools. They have made it clear that arts education
is critical, not just because it might help math scores
but because arts literacy is an integral part of living
in a civilized society.
Over the past five years, a number of significant
steps have been taken to improve arts education in
New York. They have been based on three important principles:
Access, Equity and Excellence - How do
we make sure that all students are receiving a high
quality arts education in a system where the vast majority
of students are poor and geographically
isolated and schools are often their first and only
exposure to the arts?
Most significant is the BLUEPRINT for Teaching
and Learning in the Arts, a rigorous integrated
K-12 arts curriculum. For the first time, the DOE
convened groups of educators and representatives
of leading cultural institutions and arts providers
to create a framework for arts education. It contains
five strands of learning – Arts Making, Arts
Literacy, Making Connections, Community and Cultural
Resources, and Careers and Lifelong Learning which
are aligned with the state standards, and sets benchmarks
for grades 2, 5, 8 and 12. Fully complete in 2004,
it was the first of its kind, and has become a model
for other cities across the country.
In addition, we recognized that the commitment of
the principal is the key to a successful school – based
arts program. We set up city wide and borough
culture fairs to build awareness about the options
and resources that are available to schools – one
is happening next week at the Metropolitan in
fact, and arranged for principals to get free
passes to cultural institutions. Cultural organizations
increased professional development, and the DOE provided
scheduling workshops to help schools find the time
for arts in a crowded and demanding school day. And
the Fifth Annual PS ART Exhibition, showcasing
the best in student artwork from across this city opened
on Friday. I have served as a judge for the past five
years and the improvement in the quality of the work
has been breathtaking. All of these efforts require
the active involvement of the cultural organizations
you represent, and additional private sector financial
support.
But the issue of what constitutes a quality arts education
is one that we still need to work on. And we are at
a critical moment right now. In brief, the schools
are undergoing a radical restructuring – some
are concerned that it is the third such effort in almost
as many years – and authority is shifting to
the schools from the central office. Principals are
being given approximately $200,000 in additional discretionary
spending. In exchange, they will be held accountable
for student assessment and student achievement. School
based report cards will be issued showing how schools
are functioning, and failing schools will be shut down.
So where does this leave the arts? Project Arts
money will no longer be set aside, and arts advocates
fear that principals, increasingly concerned about
student test scores in reading and math will simply
drop the arts.
But, the Chancellor has promised that if it appears
that schools cut the arts, he will take action to reinstate
them. And for the first time there will be an Annual
Arts in Schools Survey and Report Card that will track
access, participation, satisfaction and quality across
the system. In addition, there are encouraging developments
that the arts can stand on their own. Last year, the
trial group of schools that were allowed greater discretion
over their budgets, known as Empowerment Schools, spent
more money on the arts than they had in the past. So
that in the future, we will be able to confirm what
many veteran educators will tell you - that
schools with students that succeed across the board
are the schools with strong art programs.
But that is not enough. For most of us here today,
the arts are a way of life. It isn’t possible
to imagine this city without them. But that isn’t
true in our schools. The system cannot protect and
cultivate the arts without the support and involvement
of all of us. We know that the system is political,
and it responds to political pressure. Now is the time
to get serious about paying attention to what is happening,
taking responsibility, and becoming involved. Cultural
organizations and foundations need to give time and
resources to the effort to monitor, and assess what
is actually happening in the schools, not just what
is reported by those with the most to gain or lose.
We need to have a better definition of what constitutes
a quality arts education, one that can hold its own
against the forces arguing that artistic achievement
isn’t measurable, or success is too subjective.
And when we have this critical information, we need
to work collaboratively through our public – private
partnership to solve problems, innovate and build upon
success.
ArtTable can play a critical role in this effort,
and I urge you to do so. You represent the leading
cultural institutions in the world, and the students
in our schools are the artists and the audiences of
the future.
Not only that, this is an issue of particular concern
to women. It is still true that the vast majority of
people who work in education are women, and that the
arts are most often nurtured by women. If we need anything
in this country today, it is greater tolerance and
understanding of others, and an ability to thrive in
a global society. It is hard to imagine how we can
teach those lessons without the arts. And if any of
you can get involved individually as a volunteer, mentor,
staff developer, or teaching artist, I can promise
you that nothing you do will be more rewarding.
Thank you.
Lowery Stokes Sims: As is the
tradition at these luncheons, the honoree is introduced
by the honoreeof the previous year, so I am therefore
pleased to invite Dr. Elizabeth A. Sackler, ArtTable’s
2006 Honoree to the podium. Dr. Sackler is a public
historian and arts activist as well as a lecturer and
a writer. As President of the Elizabeth A. Sackler
Foundation she is responsible for the 2002 gift to
the Brooklyn Museum of the iconic feminist installation,
which in my opinion is one of the key works in the
history of American and world art, “The Dinner
Party” by Judy Chicago. And for its permanent
installation in the new Elizabeth A. Sackler Center
for Feminist Art which opened at the Brooklyn Museum
this year. She’s a member of the National Advisory
Board of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in
Washington D.C.; the Founder and President of the American
Indian ritual-object repatriation foundation; C.E.O.
of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation; and a member of
the Board of Trustees for the Brooklyn Museum.
Elizabeth Sackler: Thank you very
much. It’s really a pleasure to be here this
year introducing. I woke up this morning and had to
remind myself that I didn’t have to come up here
and make a speech to receive something and it had to
be perfect and wonderful, but I want it to be perfect
and wonderful because I am delighted to be the person
to really have the privilege of introducing Emily Kiernan
Rafferty who is the recipient of this year’s
14th Annual Award for Distinguished Service to the
Visual Arts. It feels like we went on fast-forward
from one year ago when I received this award. In that
time, and thanks to the Brooklyn Museum, and to ArtTable,
and to many of you women who are members of ArtTable,
the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art continues
to enjoy hundreds of visitors daily. I have spoken
with women artists, feminist artists, dealers and galleries,
in New York, across the country and internationally,
since the Center opened and over and over and over
and over and over again, not only am I given thanks
which is very nice, but I am told that the Center has
jumpstarted women’s art and feminist art all
over the world, and I am delighted to announce that.
It was at the beginning of Women’s History Month,
Mayor Bloomberg had it this year in Macy’s amidst
handbags and cosmetics – which was very strange
at 8 in the morning, because the counters weren’t
open – but in any event, Ann Fuchs who is Head
of Women’s Issues for the Mayor’s Department
was there and she spoke. At that time, and it was before
the Center for Feminist Art had opened in Brooklyn,
she declared as she was speaking – because she
was honoring the young women who were there that day
and all women – “Isn’t it great to
be boldly feminist!” And I thought, wow, this
is terrific, this is coming out of Bloomberg’s
office and we haven’t even opened the Center
yet. What I discovered after the Center opened was
not only were there more and more women artists who
had been saying they were not feminist artists because
they were told by their galleries that they wouldn’t
be able to sell their work, but that there were a lot
of women who were feminists who’d been hiding
in the closet because of backlash – both the
women’s backlash and the governmental backlash.
So it’s been very interesting to watch and see
women in positions of power, women who are not fearful
of leading, women who have many of the privileges that
men have enjoyed in our patriarchal society – not
considering or understanding that they are walking
examples of feminism – has always been amazing
to me. And, I don’t know Emily, whether or not
you consider yourself a feminist, I have no idea, I
didn’t ask Emily, the only thing I asked Emily
today was that I’d been dying to know what’s
it like to be President of the Metropolitan Museum? However,
Emily’s accomplishments, her leadership, and
her power are undeniable, feminist acclaimed or not.
In her position of President at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art since 2005, Ms. Rafferty supervises more than
2500 museum employees, serves as an ex officio member
of the Museum’s Board of Trustees and has overall
responsibility for corporate, foundation and individual
fundraising. She is also responsible for technical
and informational services, human resources, merchandising,
communications, government relations, legal affairs,
finances, and financial management, everything that
a President is responsible for. The remodeling of the
Grand Roman Court and Islamic Galleries came also under
her purview and I congratulate you for that. Of course,
I remember as a child, going there and having dinner,
when it was indeed, a restaurant, but I guess that
was many, many, many decades ago. Ms. Rafferty’s
distinguished career at the Met began in 1976 as a
fundraising administrator, in 1981 she became the Manager
of Development, and from 1984 – 1986 she served
as a Vice President for Development and Membership.
Since 1999 she has been the Met’s Senior Vice
President for External Affairs with responsibilities
for the areas of development, visitor services, admissions
and special events. I guess over the years, Emily,
you have come to know every aspect of the Museum. She
has also led the efforts to create and manage the museum’s
website as well as the multi-cultural audience and
membership initiatives. Born and raised in New York
City, Ms. Rafferty earned her B.A. degree cum laude
from Boston University in 1971 and began her professional
career that same year as an arts and philanthropy assistant
to David Rockefeller, Jr in Boston. From 1973 – 1975
she served as the Deputy Director of Education at Boston’s
Institute of Contemporary Art. She is affiliated with
a number of arts and inter-museum organizations including:
ArtTable; The Association of Fundraising Professionals;
Women in Financial Development; the American Association
of Museums; and Independent Sector; she is a lifelong,
honorary trustee of the Convent of the Sacred Heart;
has served on the board of the Independent School Chairman
Association; and the Blue Ribbon Committee of the American
Cancer Society Foundation; and was President of the
Blue Hill Troupe Gilbert and Sullivan Repertory Theatre
of 1998 and 1999. Ms. Rafferty is the recipient of
numerous awards and honors and member of the Board
of Directors of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.
She’s married to John Rafferty, a consulting
audit partner at Ernst & Young, and they live in
Manhattan with their two children. Please join me in
welcoming and congratulating Emily Kernan Rafferty,
winner of ArtTable’s 2007 Award for Distinguished
Service to the Visual Arts.
Emily Rafferty: Thank you all so
very much. I do have to clarify that – thank
you Elizabeth for your wonderful introduction – I
do not do all of that by myself. I have the most extraordinary
staff to work with, a great director, Phillip de Montebello,
and an enormously important and supportive group of
Trustees.
I confess today of a little nostalgia, because I was
one of the founders of this luncheon in the early 90s.
Some of you were still here and doing that, and what
a job you have done! We were in a small room in the
University Club the first year, and now, what a success.
There could be a lot of speculation for why I am at
this podium today, but I could give you a suggestion,
and that is, ArtTable was founded by a group of women
around dining room tables and I am one of five sisters,
all of whom are here today. And I can tell you
we have sat together around endless dining room tables
in laughter and in sadness and everything under the
sun from the arts, to politics, health, literature,
parenting, travel destinations, hair styles, and the
general state of the world. There’s no doubt
our bonds are steadfast. We had two parents who collectively
and together told us without question that they expected
us each to find a profession and to find lifestyles
in which we would be happy. I think it’s fair
to say that we have done that in the fields of the
arts, medicine, publishing, business and real estate.
If I look back to my education and see why I might
speculate on standing here today, I went to a single-sex
school through high school, the goals and criteria
of the first school that I went to were very clear
and stand out for me today: academic excellence,
social justice, community service, and an active faith
in God. They definitely shaped my behavior and my thinking,
and I’m quite certain, led me into the non-profit
sector, first in the field of education and the arts,
and ultimately to the Met.
Along the way in college, through the study
of world religions, I began to find my way into understanding
world cultures. So what better way to continue this
education than working in the most encyclopedic institution,
or art institution, arguably, in the world. I recall
when I came back to New York in 1975 from Boston that
the only place I wanted to work was the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. I thought I was going to do it in arts
education; I landed in the development office. What
you learn in development very quickly is, to be a good
development officer you have to know your institution
intimately. You have to be able to speak about it and
write about it articulately, and you have to have a
passion about it. And, I certainly have found my passion
there. I will always and continue to have the greatest
respect for development professionals. Their responsibility
is enormous, they work hard, and it is hard work. As
all of them who are here today that I work with know,
my mantra when I interview people is leave your ego
at the door and come in and join the team because no
one person ever delivers a gift to an institution.
It just doesn’t work that way, and good development
officers figure that out very quickly.
It was 27 years before I became president through
which time I had the good fortune to marry, raise two
children, with my husband being central to this, and
served on a number of non-profit boards during my children’s
upbringing, and made some of the most superb friends
I could ever ask for in these activities. For my professional
colleagues in other institutions in the city, in the
nation, many of whom are here today, I thank you. My
staff at the Museum, particularly Director Phillip
de Montebello, and an extraordinary group of Trustees,
a whole table of the ladies are here today, I thank
you for all that you do. We get everything in the press
and the most recent story of the rambling and straying
peacocks that you might have read in the paper, defy
the seriousness with which we do run the museum. We
take our responsibilities seriously every day of the
year.
When I think of myself as a woman in this role, I
have to be very honest with you and say, it has never
been at the forefront of my thinking as I have gotten
up in the morning and gone to work. I simply did what
I had a passion about doing. I do, however, recollect
very well, in 1984, the day I was elected the first
woman vice-president of the museum, my first call was
from Doris Devine, in the depths of the building she
is our chief telephone operator. I went down, and we
had a nice cup of coffee together and I realized at
that time, what an important glass ceiling it was to
break within this bastion of male administrators, many
of whom we loved and continue to be very wonderful.
And in fact, Caroline, I’d like to thank you
now so much for your earlier remarks and for your thoughtful
comments on arts education and to remind you, in case
you forget, of one of those male administrators we
shared together in Dick Doherty, one of the greatest
of all time. I remember sitting at my desk outside – I
can’t remember what you did but it was something
terrible – and he was furious, and you walked
by my desk and you said, “How bad is it?” and
I said, “Serious doghouse, I don’t know
what you did but it was so serious.” And you
went in and got royally screamed at but we loved him
and in fact if it weren’t for Dick, who persuaded
then president Bill McCumbert that he really should
take that leap and make a woman vice-president, I’m
not sure it would have happened.
But I can’t take all that myself, it was a time
of change and the climate thanks to many of you in
this room today have made it possible. Lila Harnett,
Caroline Goldsmith, who was always a great friend and
founder of this organization, Linda Nochlin, Lowery
Sims, so many of you here today paved the way. The
clichés are legend but of course they remain
true. It’s all a result of hard work, high standards
of excellence, self-motivation, never complacent, taking
risks all the time, having balance and perspective,
and I think the most important is just being oneself.
As I look ahead and try to identify and articulate
my responsibilities I think of them as follows, to
be focused on the Met and its future, to take time
for myself for reflection and renewal. And everybody
here who knows me, knows that I don’t always
get an “A” at this but I am working on
it. My sisters collectively pick me up all the
time, literally and figuratively, and remind me of
this: to give back and serve the community. And
to do this not only through the Met, but through other
ways in which I am able to, right now working with
the Trade Center Memorial Foundation to try and build
that museum, and also to provide mentorship for colleagues
coming up in the next generation and those in transition. I
feel a real responsibility to this, and of course to
be an advocate for women in these roles in any way
that I can.
The reality is that the challenges before us are extremely
real. Just to remind you of a few that have been our
face in the news in recent history – really recent
weeks – the woman gondolier and her struggle
in Venice; the cooks in Iraq – the ladies who
are having very difficult times in their kitchens;
the women’s beauty salon; the two ladies in Afghanistan
who are the subject of A Thousand Splendid Suns,
the new book just out; the Italian, Muslim, twenty-year
old, originally of Egyptian descent, who has just completed
her book, Perhaps I Won’t Kill Anyone Today.
She remains and says that she will always be a hybrid,
as if anybody trying to find their identity at that
point in their life has an easy time. So I urge all
of us to continue the dialogue. It’s as invigorating
as ever, it needs us to be involved as Caroline said,
in the arts and education and every way that we can
continue to serve civil society. ArtTable has always
held its mission for us to be interpreters and intermediaries.
It is as apt today as it was at ArtTable’s founding
25 years ago.
For myself, I often smile as I think of the words
of Brooke Astor, long-time Trustee at the Met and a
wonderful friend and mentor to me. When she spoke
about her childhood, she would often tell us that her
mother told her, “Brooke, never get ahead of
yourself.” It has become my guiding mantra.
Thank you all so very much. I am very, very touched.
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