With dual leadership team intact, Wadsworth Atheneum focuses on diversifying works, audience, major marketing campaign

As the Wadsworth Atheneum begins a new era with its CEO and director posts split between two executives for the first time ever, the country’s oldest continually-operated public art museum is moving forward with an ambitious growth plan that includes doubling its marketing efforts, increasing its philanthropy outreach and expanding its audience through diversity initiatives. While the Hartford-based museum has always had a national and international reputation with its sizable collection of European Baroque and ancient Egyptian art, as well as French and American impressionist paintings, Wadsworth CEO Jeffrey Brown said the focus is on developing a larger local audience. In most cases, up to 30% of the museum’s visitors come from out of the state. Brown — a former senior executive at Webster Financial Corp., who served as a museum trustee for nine years prior to being named CEO in October 2021 — said the Wadsworth will be doubling its marketing budget and dramatically increasing its social media presence and advertising in local, statewide and New England publications to draw attention to programs and exhibits tailored to Hartford-area residents. The museum has 75,000 square feet of exhibition space. Part of that effort includes boosting diversity and reaching more diverse audiences. In a unique partnership with Hartford HealthCare, the Wadsworth has hired a new curator — Afghanistan native Abdul Hamid Hemat — to help diversify its art collection. Brown said the dual leadership roles will allow him to focus more on the business, marketing, philanthropy and finances of the museum, while recently-hired director Matthew Hargraves will focus on artistic direction and strategy. “Having two people covering all of these bases certainly gives us much greater flexibility,” Brown said. “Matthew joining the team certainly gives me a lot more time to be focused on one side of the house.” The Wadsworth’s two new leaders have distinct backgrounds. The 65-year-old Brown previously served as a senior executive at Newman’s Own, the company founded by the late actor Paul Newman. Brown served as president of three subsidiary companies including No Limit, the licensing arm of the organization, where he oversaw the use of Newman’s intellectual property rights. Brown was also a long-serving senior executive at Webster Financial Corp., the parent of Webster Bank. He also held several positions in marketing and communications at Fleet Bank, Shawmut Bank and Connecticut National Bank. A Glastonbury resident, Brown is an honorary trustee of the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and a fellow of Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU). He also serves as director of the ECSU Foundation and is a chair emeritus of the Communications Council of the American Bankers Association. Hargraves, 44, is an England native who joined the Wadsworth in June 2021, as the interim Robert H. Schutz Jr. chief curator. He was named the museum’s director in July, following a seven-month national search. Prior to joining the Wadsworth, Hargraves served in several positions, including chief curator of art collection at the Yale Center for British Art, where he worked for 16 years. Hargraves, who lives in West Hartford, was also an art history lecturer at the University of Warwick in England. He has won numerous prizes and grants for his work in the arts field and has authored or co-authored four books on the arts landscape. Marketing and philanthropy As the Wadsworth begins to double its marketing efforts with more funds, it is also looking for ways to boost activity at the museum. Brown said he’d like to increase the facility’s use as a rental facility that can host weddings, photo shoots, corporate events and private parties, among other things. Ann Zucker Ann Zucker, a partner in the Stamford office of law firm Carmody, Torrance, Sandak & Hennessey who specializes in the nonprofit sector, said many arts institutions in the Northeast are putting a major emphasis on marketing, including the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury and Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. “It’s a trend you see in larger cities,” Zucker said. “My personal philosophy is that we have some great treasures and we should do our best to share them. The Wadsworth has a reputation for having high-end art and that sort of thing. I know that, over the last decade, they’ve tried to broaden the market to be more appealing to the community at large.” Traditionally, Wadsworth’s audience has been white and an older demographic. Brown and Hargraves are hoping to change that via its massive media outreach with advertisements and through social media. They also want collections and exhibits to better reflect and connect to Hartford’s population. The Wadsworth made news on the diversity front last year, after its then-board of trustees president made public statements criticizing the museum’s alleged lack of diversity. “We know we have to attract new people, a new audience,” Brown said. “From a geographic perspective, we are getting more people from within the boundaries of Hartford and that has to continue.” The museum is on a strong foothold in terms of both attendance and financially, Brown said. With the return of school children and special tours, he said he expects attendance to reach near pre-pandemic levels (about 100,000 visitors annually) in 2022. The Wadsworth – which has about 100 full- and part-time employees – had $163.6 million in net assets at the end of its 2021 fiscal year, which ran through June 30, 2021, according to its latest annual report. In addition, it has a $10.5 million annual budget, of which about one-third is from philanthropic support. The rest comes from earned income, individual donations, foundation grants and government support. In fiscal 2021, the Wadsworth had a $4.3 million operating surplus. Brown said the museum will be undertaking programs to increase “our membership ranks, as well as broadening our donor pool beyond greater Hartford into surrounding areas of Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts.” Diversity efforts One of the keys to its diversity efforts is the hiring of the 34-year-old Hemat, who is serving as the Hartford Healthcare Curatorial Fellow. HHC, the region’s largest health system, is paying $20,000 annually for the next three years, to fund part of his salary. Hemat earned his undergraduate fine arts degree from Kabul University in Afghanistan, where he received training in traditional arts, calligraphy and oil paintings. He also received a master’s degree in visual arts from Kabul University, and attended the University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia. Part of Hemat’s Wadsworth role will be to showcase the diverse art collections within the museum. He will also work with museum staff to address and promote accessibility to diverse audiences. “He will help us increase the diversity of what is shown here,” Brown said of Hemat, who signed the contract for his new post on Aug. 12. “We have much more of our collection (stored within the museum) that is non-European and non-Western. We’ve got incredible collections of Asian art and African art, pre-Columbian art and Native American art and much more. Many of these pieces of art have not been seen for a very long time.” Gerry Lupacchino, HHC’s senior vice president for human experience and the Wadsworth’s board president, said Hartford HealthCare decided to help fund Hemat’s position to promote both the arts and diversity. “Hartford HealthCare has not only always supported the arts, but we have a very strong focus in terms of health equity, diversity, inclusion, engagement and access,” Lupacchino said. “As we look to increase diversity and representation throughout both the board and Wadsworth staff, we thought it would be really great if we could develop and grow talent within our system that comes from the (Black, indigenous and people of color) population.” Hargraves said increasing diversity of the museum’s collections, exhibits and programming is essential moving forward. “We want the museum to be somewhere that everyone can feel welcome and where they can feel that we share their interest and that what we show reflects their experience,” Hargraves said. “That means increasing the diversity of our collections. It also means not abandoning the past, but, at times, reinterpreting it and increasing the number of voices we can show.” Upcoming diverse exhibits and collections include art featuring Anika Noni Rose at The Amistad Center for Art & Culture in the Wadsworth through Sept. 18. The exhibit celebrates the Bloomfield native, who is an actor and singer and was the first Black movie lead for Disney. The exhibit celebrates her achievements and contributions to Black cultural history. In addition, the Wadsworth will celebrate the life of American abolitionist Frederick Douglass with an exhibition to be shown from May 2023 to Labor Day 2023.