1. 94 WHAT’S UP? SOURCEBOOK • JULY 2015 www.WhatsUpMag.com
KRISTEN GREENAWAY
AN INTERVIEW WITH CHESAPEAKE BAY MARITIME MUSEUM PRESIDENT
Kristen Greenaway was handed the captain’s wheel of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum from longtime and
esteemed president Langley Shook in July of last year. In doing so, she not only put a feather in her cap of milestones
within the field of museum management, she has, perhaps, found the capstone for her career. As we learned recently,
Greenaway couldn’t be happier in her new role. It’s one she relishes and, judging from the museum’s continued success
(for which she adamantly thanks Shook for providing the foundation), so do her peers and the public.
Photo by Tracey Muson of CBMM
You’ve now been president of CBMM for
one year; how would you sum your first
year on the job and what has been the most
challenging aspect/most rewarding?
The entire experience has been quite wonderful.
I still start my day with a song in my heart. My
family and I are also hugely grateful to the entire
community for making us feel so welcome. In
fact, one night coming home from an event at
the Academy of Art Museum, our then seven-
year-old son remarked from the dark back seat,
“I just love this new life that I’m creating for
myself!”
We have achieved a great deal in this first year.
Soon after I joined CBMM, I gave a great deal
of thought to ways the museum could better
partner with its local and regional communities,
and in turn become a real resource for those
communities. Thus strengthening relationships
with these communities was a key focus when I
started, and I believe the partnerships that have
evolved are testaments to the benefits we can all
create by working supportively and creatively
together.
Planning for our 50th anniversary [CBMM
was founded in 1965] has acted as a catalyst,
and I take a great deal of pride in establishing
a CBMM Friends Board—a group or 25 or so
individuals who also have their local and regional
communities at heart—who can help guide
the museum in its endeavors to strengthen its
partnerships and develop new ones.
Also extremely rewarding has been developing
a strong partnership with the museum’s board
and staff. The board is fully engaged and
hugely supportive of the plans we have for the
MUSEUM SPOTLIGHT | BY JAMES HOUCK

2. JULY 2015 • WHAT’S UP? SOURCEBOOK 95www.WhatsUpMag.com
future. My team is outstanding. A key
responsibility of mine and my development
team, is finding the resources we need to
help staff achieve their goals, whether that
be delivering complete Wi-Fi across campus,
renovating the historic 1879 Hooper Strait
Lighthouse, building a three-log canoe—the
first since 1977—designing and presenting
highly professional exhibitions, and feeding
our resident museum cat, Edna Sprit!
What aspects of directing depts. of
an art museum in previous roles have
translated to your position today how
do the two types of museums differ (or
do they)?
Senior management experience—right
across the board, and through my entire
career—is probably a key factor. I have
worked hard for many years to help my
staff realize their professional career goals,
whether at the institution we are working
at, or in the future. Working at the Nasher
Museum of Art at Duke University helped
me appreciate that museums were truly
where I was most happy. At the Nasher—
and in many previous positions—I was in
charge of development, marketing, events,
and visitor services, thus I bring an overall
eye to the guest experience, how to market
that experience, and most importantly,
how to find the financial resources to keep
it all alive.
Also, hanging around curators for six years
has really honed my concept of what makes
a good looking exhibition, from the objects
on display to navigating the interpretive
experience. The Nasher is the #1 university
museum in the U.S., if not the world, for
the exhibitions it originates and travels.
Working in that environment has been
extremely beneficial to working at CBMM.
North Carolina, New York, San Diego,
Rotterdam, London, New Zealand,
among other locales; how does your
world perspective/education fit within
the context of a hyper-local/cultural
institution such as CBMM?
Wherever I have lived, for me, has always
been about a sense of place—how to
discover the sense of place that a country
or city has created for itself, and then
developing my own sense of place in
relation to that, the longer I have lived in
that place. Perhaps this is a part of being
born and raised in New Zealand—a sense
of place there is very strong: we have a
phrase—“tangata whenua”—the people
of the land, a concept heavily imbued in
each Kiwi, and one I take with me where
ever I live. And perhaps this is why I now
feel so at home on the Eastern Shore
and at CBMM—a very large part of our
mission is working to preserve and explore
the history, environment, and people of
the Chesapeake Bay—which is all about
discovering a sense of place.
What do you envision CBMM’s role
in the community being and what
progress do you foresee in the coming
year(s), be it programs, personnel,
and/or infrastructure?
I mentioned earlier the importance of
CBMM’s role as a community partner,
and this is a key focus for me. We are
in discussions with a wide range of
organizations on the Eastern Shore on how
we can achieve this, with a central program
planned for launch in mid-August. I look
forward to being able to discuss that in
more detail with our partners when the
opportunity arises. But in a nutshell, it’s
building on the resources we have here
at the museum—access to the water,
one of the best boatyards in the country,
the largest collection of Chesapeake Bay
watercraft in the world, and incredible
staff, and volunteers. And to achieve the
programs we’re currently working on, we
will need to grow appropriate staff and
resources.
As a feature of this, I am very excited
that in just a few weeks we’ll be launch
a summer boat rental program. Again,
giving our guests the opportunity to get
out on the water and experience the Bay
for themselves. We’ll be offering rowing
dinghies, sailing boats, and kayaks.
Is there any one object or exhibit in
the museum’s collection that most
fascinates you?
Golly, that’s a really hard question! And
over 60,000 objects to choose from! I have
two, one being the workbench and tools
from Downes Curtis’ sail loft, which never
cease to inspire me. Curtis’ workbench
and tools are one of the 50 objects that
we have included in our new exhibition
and catalogue A Broad Reach: 50 Years
of Collecting. Representing the art of
traditional, hand-crafted sailmaking, Oxford
native Curtis learned sailmaking as a youth
from the town’s old English sailmaker,
David Pritchard. When Pritchard died,
his African-American apprentice, Curtis,
took over the business. After rescuing
most of his tools from a 1943 fire, Curtis
moved his shop to the town’s former black
schoolhouse, where he continued working
until his death in 1996. Curtis built sails for
some of the area’s best racing yachtsmen,
including a number of log canoe sailors.
And Curtis—the man and his tools—also
helps represent the hugely important role
of the African American community in the
maritime heritage of the Chesapeake Bay.
And our log canoes are the other objects
in the museum’s collection that just
fascinate me. As a child I admired the old
photographs of the log canoes working and
racing, and now here I am! We really are the
only maritime museum that is restoring,
preserving, and racing log canoes. The
log canoes represent a hugely important
part of our mission, and the history of the
Chesapeake Bay. And just a few weeks ago
we launched a three-log canoe we had built,
the first log canoe built since 1977. So we’re
keeping not just the concept of the log
canoe alive, but also the traditional skills of
the actual building. And racing these boats
is something out of this world!
THE BOARD IS FULLY ENGAGED AND HUGELY SUPPORTIVE OF THE
PLANS WE HAVE FOR THE FUTURE. MY TEAM IS OUTSTANDING.“