H. Alexander Rich, Ph.D. President & CEO, The Gibbes Museum of Art

H. Alexander Rich, Ph.D. President & CEO, The Gibbes Museum of Art

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Iartmedia presents CEOs You Should Know. CEOs You Should Know
Charleston is brought to you by SC two fifty Charleston
Www dot SC two fifty Charleston dot org.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Michael Blaze. Welcome to CEOs you Should Know with
me today as h Alexander Rich, CEO of the Gibbs
Museum of Art. Welcome alex Thanks so much for having me.
Absolutely so please explain to our listeners who don't know
what the Gibbs Museum of Art offers and what its
mission is.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Well, the Gibbs Museum of Art is the only art
museum of Charleston, South Carolina, so we have a great
bona fide leading people to us and hopefully getting more
and more people to enjoy us. So we are an
art museum that was established in eighteen fifty eight as
the Carolina Art Association. Our present building was constructed in
nineteen oh five and we were expanding the museum at present.

(00:48):
But we present art of the Globe in addition to
the stories of the American South and the story of
Charleston through art. So we really strive to create a
great holistic visitor experience with robust and exhibitions and events
all year long. So we are Charleston's art museum and
very proudly so what a rich history. And I mean,

(01:08):
I guess you can say that about any museum, that's
the whole idea, right, right, but especially the.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Gibbs because it's been here so long and your body
of art encompasses, like you said, I mean all across
the world, right.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yeah, I mean what's exciting is the you know, every
museum serves a purpose for whatever town or city it's in,
and Charleston is one of the four original cities of
the United States. So we're really proud to be the
art museum of such a quintessential American city. And we
feel a great responsibility or own us upon us to
be able to tell those broad stories and tell truthful
stories through art and art history. And we really hope

(01:43):
that you know, locals and our immediate community, as well
as all the tourists coming to visit or see Charleston
for the first time returning to Charleston, know that the
Gibbs is, you know, a premier stop along their way,
and we take that very very seriously. You know, of
all times in the world, running an art museum, or
being a member of an art museum, or being a
staff member of an art museum holds really great weight

(02:05):
because we take what we do really seriously.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Now, what about exhibits, you know, what do you have
going on right now that you think people should know about?

Speaker 3 (02:12):
So when anybody comes to the Gives, we'll always have
something new on view. We have a ten thousand object
permanent collection, so that's a really vast repository of global
history and with a great emphasis on again art of
Charleston and the American South. So you'll always get to
see works on our permanent collection. They'll always be on view,
and we will rotate those out more and more in
the coming months. Again that's one of my missions coming

(02:34):
into the museum as the new CEO. But also we
always have changing, rotating exhibitions really excitingly actually opening in October.
So this month we are opening up a Rembrandt exhibition.
And so that's one of those quote unquote blockbuster shows.
That's where you take an iconic name from art history
and you present something really special, and in this case

(02:54):
it's Rembrand's etchings. And this is the first time Rembrand's
etchings from the Rembrandt House in Amsterdam have come to
the US, so we are the first stop on their
US tour, which is really great for us. It is
a moment for us to really shine and to offer
an experience that I think most people will not have
had unless they've literally been to Amsterdam and gone to
the Rembrant House, and they'll gain a whole new set

(03:16):
of insights into the world of Rembrandt, who again is
one of those most recognizable names of all of art history.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
And not to get too far in the weeds here,
but it always interested me what a huge responsibility it
is to not only have to take care of the
artwork that you have on hand, but when you curate
these these subjects, these artworks, these pieces of history from
somewhere else. You're responsible for them and to keep them,
you know, in good shape and not destroy them. You know,

(03:45):
what does that look like locally in the museum taking
care of your art How much of a task is that?

Speaker 3 (03:51):
It's a terrific question, you know, you know, I was
in my former position, I was both a museum director,
curator and the chair of Department of our History museum
Studies in Florida, and so one of the quintessential questions
I was always thinking about, no matter which had I
was wearing, was what is the role of a museum professional?
And I always think since I was four years old,
I thought, you know, the museum world was the most

(04:12):
fascinating world and fascinating profession possible. And so many people
have they gained insight as you're asking into what we do.
You know, the care for the objects, the handling of
the objects, the shipping of the objects, the creating of
the objects, the temperature control needed for the objects. There's
a lot of work that goes into even getting works
up on display that nobody or most people do not

(04:32):
get to know. And so one of the things I
hope we do more and more in the museum world,
but also more specifically at the Gibbs, is revealed a
little bit more about the process that goes into putting
up exhibitions or designing programs, because it's fascinating what happens
behind the scenes, and it's not like you to snap
a finger and suddenly a whole big exhibition is on
the walls. There are months, if not years and years
of work and preparation that go into putting up a

(04:55):
show and I think it's personally fascinating. I wouldn't be
in this career otherwise. And we have such a dedicated,
wonderful team at the Gibbs, real experts in all of
their fields who make sure that everything looks perfect by
the time the public sees it, but nobody really gets
to fully see what goes on in terms of how
it all comes together over the months and years leading
up to it. So it's a it's an amazing world
and I'm you know, I'm really proud to be, you know,

(05:16):
the CEO over an expert team at the Gibbs.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Now, if you ever had an instance where in artwork
got damaged to either by the public or you know,
by the handlers or anything like that.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Oh yeah, you know, there's lots of stories from the
crypt of the museum world. I think anybody who has
been in any part of a museum has had to
grapple with this.

Speaker 4 (05:34):
You know.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
And there are instances that range from yet pure accidents
where suddenly somebody got too close to a work of
art or somebody touched a work of art. There's been
things where, you know, humidity control has shifted, say a
hurricane is ripping through Florida or ripping through Charleston and
we have to take works of art off the wall,
or something just happens, you know, the HVAC system goes
on the fritz, and we have to take works of
our off the wall. We have to be very responsible

(05:56):
and very caring for the objects, whether they are our own,
which then we have our own set of rules for
what we do in terms of the conservation or care
or protection of the works. But especially if we are
borrowing works from some other lender around the world or
across the country, we have to make sure that we
inform them immediately and we work with them to make
sure that.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
Is what's the next step here.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
And conservation of art works is a fascinating field, and
you know, we're always trying to think about the balance
between remaining true to what the artist's original intentions were
with the work, but also making sure the work can
be enjoyed for the years to come. And so we hope,
against hope that that will never happen, and it happens
very rarely because we usually have great security teams and
great eyes on all the artworks at all times. But

(06:37):
things like that do happen. And while it's unfortunate. We
hope that none of it's intentional, and I think if
there's intentional damage to our work, that's a completely different story.
That's a crime, certainly. But when we have incidents that
happen with school kids or just members of the public,
things can happen innocently, and again we deal with it
as it comes, but we really hope it's a rare,
rare occasion.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Sure, And I know one of the big challenges that
any museum faces, I know is patronage and donations, and
I'm sure the Gibbs is no different. If somebody is
interested in donating or becoming a member of your society,
like where should they reach out? Where should they start?

Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, there's so many different ways, and we are a
nonprofit and so we really do, you know, live and
you know, subsist off of donations and the generosity of
those members of the public. And there's so many ways
to support the museum itself and museums anywhere, but specifically
the Gibbs. Just becoming a member of the Gibbs is
a great way to begin. And you know, if anybody
goes to Gibbs Museum dot org, that's Gibbes Museum dot org.

(07:35):
They can find out ways that they can get become
involved in the museum. You know, memberships start at a
low rate, and then you can have family memberships, but
also getting involved in our committees or volunteering for the
museum or if you again want to support us in
big ways. We have a major expansion coming up and
we're always looking for no supporters for growing the museum
and growing the opportunities for the museum to really shine

(07:56):
as a cultural staple of the community. So there's no
dearth of ways to get involved, and we welcome everybody.
We want to be a very welcoming organization and that's
one of my missions again as the new CEO, is
to make sure that we are accessible to everybody, that
we're meeting everyone where they are, and we make the
museum a go to place for culture and art experiences

(08:16):
for everyone who's coming to Charleston or who is in Charleston.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Already Alice Snell that you're the new CEO, it's kind
of a culmination of a lot of different things coming
together from our conversation before we went on the air. Here,
you've worn many different hats. Give us a little bit
of your background in the different positions that you've held.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
Yeah, I mean there are a lot of ways that
I think about what's formed me for me to be
where I am today. I'm a native New Yorker, so
I literally grew up like in the Crucible of Art.
I grew up on eighty second Street on the Upper
eas side of Manhattan, so you know, it's a straight
shot to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. So I always
love museums more than anything else in the world. Where
some kids wanted to be astronauts, I always wanted to

(08:57):
be my mom. Would they always want to be a
museumed or probably from the time I was twelve or thirteen,
and so I knew that was kind of the path
I'd be taking. But along the way, you know, I've
worked at museums and interned at museums. I was a
tenured professor until just a few months ago in Florida
at Florida Southern College, and I was also the executive
director and chief curator of the city's museum. And it

(09:19):
was very exciting to be able to do all the
things I love at once. I am at my core.
I'm a professor. I love to teach about art. I
was a professor for eighteen years, so this is actually
the first time since I was in my twenties that
I've not been physically in the classroom teaching the next
generation of art historians. But I loved balancing out being
a professor with also running a museum and being a

(09:40):
se curator. So my newest role, I'm no longer officially
a professor. I gave up tenure to take this job
as president CEO of the Gibbs, But I always am
a professor. I think anybody who meets me knows that
I itched to teach, I itch to instruct, and I
like to think that I'm the type of CEO that
is a professor who leads a museum because I put
a lot of value on the intellectual experience and the

(10:02):
learning experience, and the fact that we are at heart
an educational organization and everything we really do is about
the vital and more holistic visitor and learning experience. So
you know, there are many ways to be a CEO,
there are many ways to be a museum president or
museum director. Really, I do very much look through the
lens of being a professor as a really valuable way

(10:22):
to be able to lead an organization and in this case,
to lead it into its future, being aware of what's
been happening in the classroom, what the conversations are. You know,
we're not an academic museum. I've run an academic museum
and I've expanded an academic museum. But again, the differences
between a general museum, you know, a privately owned city
museum versus an academic city museum.

Speaker 4 (10:43):
Are not that huge.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
And I think all of our intentions for the vital
experience and everyone walks in learns something says, Wow, this
is really cool, and I can't believe I didn't know
that before. I can't believe I never knew about that artist,
or I learned something new about Rembrandt today that I
never would have expected. And that's really kind of the
most rewarding part about this job, and being in this
profession and seeing all the work of you know, the

(11:05):
teams that I've worked with in the past and the
teams that I get to work with in the present,
getting to see the value of everything they do be
evaluated and seen and enjoyed by members of the public.
And it's a really rewarding field. And again that speaks
to me as a professor. I really want to see
my entire team shine and I want to see each
visitor really grow from their experience at the museum.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Well, you've talked about your professional background. It always fascinates
me to learn how people have grown into their roles
not only through their professional lives, but also their personal
lives and their upbringing. So tell us about your family.
Was your family did you go to museums on weekends
and you know, were you introduced to art and history

(11:47):
and museums by your family or is that something that
you grew an interest on your own.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
Now I think that you know, museums, I think were
again at the core of my identity. Both my parents
are lawyers, and I have an older sister who is
not admittedly say that she is not artistic.

Speaker 4 (12:02):
I used to draw the covers for her book reports.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
Even though she's four older, four years older than I
am when I was already when I was still in
like elementary school. But I was the artistic kid in
the family, and because I was a cartoonist from around
age two, museums are always the go to location for
my family to bring me. As you know, allowing me
to see the world through, you know, the eyes of
other artists and to see the way the other art
was created. My dad's father, specifically my grandpa John, who

(12:27):
was a physician in New York City. He was an
art connoisseur, at least an amateur connoisseur. So every time
he and I got together, as opposed to say, like
going to movies or going to the playground, he and
I would go to all of the city's museums. So
I really I owe credit, of course to my parents,
but especially also to my grandfather for instilling in me
what I didn't know was art history at the time,
or enjoyment of art history. So that was really, you

(12:50):
forming the core of who I was. I was a cartoonist,
was how I identified, probably through the time when I
was eighteen. But along the way, I was also in
a museum enthusiast, such that again, you know, when I
was a tween or early teen, my mom said, Alex's
dream would be one day to be you know, the
director of the met She threw out there, and so
you know, I started to work at museums or internet museums,
you know, through the course of my late high school

(13:12):
years and my college years, and at sixteen I was
a high school aprentice at the Met, which was basically
my absolute dream come true. It was the most incredible experience,
and I can look back and say it was the
seminal experience of my life. And then in college I
worked at city museums as well, back at the Whitney
Museum in college and back again at the Met, and
then in graduate school I went back to the Whitney
Museum during grad school. And then I got in the classroom,
and the classroom was the most natural thing for me.

(13:34):
And I was inherently a pretty shy kid. I am
socially more introverted than I am extroverted. But getting out
in the classroom and you know, realizing that, you know,
meeting all of my knowledge base as an art historian
allowed me really to grow as a classroom professor, a speaker,
a communicator. And I think all that, per your question,
you know, led up to being what I believe is

(13:54):
a strong museum leader, someone who really loves art from
my earliest memories, but also loves the idea of making
other people love art. I always said, as a professor,
I was teaching to the most skeptical student in the classroom,
the kid who comes in and says, I know nothing
about art, nothing about art history. And my goal at
the end of that term, just like my goal is
with everybody who walks into a museum, either you know,
excitedly or begrudgingly, is to make sure that they love

(14:18):
art or at least appreciate the value of art at
the end of their experience.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Aside from your very experience that we just learned about,
you know, professionally, what makes your leadership unique from others
in your field?

Speaker 4 (14:31):
Do you think it's a great question.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
I mean, it's always hard to step outside yourself and
evaluate what makes you a good or bad or poor leader.
I believe I'm a really good leader just in the
fact that you know, I approach this from a really
genuine manner. You know, nobody's in the museum business for
the remuneration by any means. But also, my love for
museums is as pure as it comes. It's very hard

(14:55):
to disguise my passion for this, and my passion bleeds
into every single action I take, and I think about
museums constantly.

Speaker 4 (15:02):
You know, I am my.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
Father, I have a two year old son, and now,
of course family life occupies a lot of my brain
as well. And you know, and I love my Minister
Schnauzer and I think about him and how he's doing
all the time. But in my professional world, you know,
even when I wake up in the middle of the night,
I'm always thinking about how do we better our museums
or how do we better specifically the Gibbs Museum experience.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
And so it's the constant in my mind.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
And it is not for my own self satisfaction. It's
really to make sure that what my team is doing
seems worthwhile and that what they're working toward is a
collective goal.

Speaker 4 (15:34):
And I just want museums.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
I mean, maybe naively, I really want everyone to really
love every museum they go to and say, Wow, this
is so cool, And that's the museum geek in me
as a kid. But I'm really driven by that idea
that everybody can and should love museums. And I know
that not everybody will or not that everyone does, but
I'm driven by that in a way that I think
I'm sure many others share, but it really goes down

(15:58):
to the core of who I am. I can't express
how much museums mean to me.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
It means the.

Speaker 3 (16:04):
Little kid in me, and then I actually get to
be the President and CEO of the Art Museum of
Charleston is something that I continue to pinch myself about
today because the little kid in me probably never would
have imagined this day would have arrived. And so that's
what really drives me again, you know, the full blown,
pure love of museums, and that is factored into every

(16:26):
single decision I make, or conversation I have, or hope
for the future of the Gibbs goes back to the
core of just who I've been as long as I
can remember.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
I think you've probably touched on this already, But what's
the single philosophy that drives you each day.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
I'm doing the best, doing the best I can, and
making sure that other people get the ability to shine
and thrive. You know, I am someone who places probably
the greatest value on truth. I am someone who stands
by being truthful, tactful, and truthful and candid, but also
knowing what to say and when to say it. But

(17:04):
also I value that in others and so I'm very
open to ideas. I love out of the box thinking.
My staff knows that that I came in saying bring
me your ideas. Rarely well, I reject them. I'm also
someone who has enough obsessiveness that I really think about
things all the way through to the end result. I
really do think about what the end game is. I think, well,

(17:25):
if we do this, and we do this, what is
the end result? What are the different paths that could
happen here? What is the worst case scenario? What's the
best case scenario. So I don't act rashly, but I
give a lot of thought about the rationality and the
realism of the way that we make choices and we
design programs and run exhibitions, and so I really do
think that, you know, going back to the world of

(17:50):
museums that I know, I think that that's what's really
making me a CEO who loves going into do my
job every single day with the team.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
I think mentorship is so important and not everybody is
lucky enough to have a mentor. Do you have a
mentor or somebody that was a huge influence on your leadership.

Speaker 4 (18:10):
That's a great question.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Yeah, I mean, actually, so you know, when I arrived
at my previous institution, I was at Florida Southern College
for eleven years. I moved from New York City there
to Florida to become an assistant professor of art history.
Back then not even with the museum on the horizon,
And about two years into my time at Florida Southern,
the president of Florida Southern, doctor and Kerr, presented an

(18:34):
idea to me about what if we were to affiliate
the city museum, the then Polk Museum of Art, with
Florida Southern College. My jaw drop because it's like my
childhood dreams come true, because I love to take students
to museums and be able to be involved in a
museum and have this all come together magically would be incredible.
And then, you know, over the next eight years, I

(18:54):
became curator of the museum while holding onto all of
my academic duties, and then eventually executive director and chief
curator of the museum. And that was all under the
mentorship of doctor Kerr. She was my director report, so
I report directly to the president of the college, and
I truly do owe her so much about my style
of leadership when I learned from her about you know,
making strong decisions but also listening to others and respecting

(19:15):
the expertise of other people, you know, when it comes
to fundraising and development and relations. I really do look back,
and I thank doctor Kurr so much for that. She
retired from Florida Southern back in August of twenty twenty four,
and so I remained for one more year after she
left the school, and then moved to Charleston in this
past year. But I really do credit professionally, and most recently,

(19:38):
doctor Kurr with a lot of what she has mentored
for me and what she has meant to me to
get me to this point in my career.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
Certainly I owe that to many many people. But doctor
Kurr comes to mind.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Well quickly before we go, I wanted to ask you
about well, I was going to frame it as young people,
but I suppose it could be somebody of any age.
If they don't have any experience with museums and their
interests in museums and they want to pursue that, either
as a hobby or as a career, what do you
suggest they do are the what are some of the

(20:08):
first steps you suggest they take.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
Oh, it's a great question. I love this.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
I mean again, you know, I led so many years
being in art history and museum studies professor. It's one
of the great fields of the world. And you know,
whether it's an art museum or a science museum or
a natural history museum, there are so many museums across
this country and across the globe that would love to
have anybody who's enthusiastic about the field. And you don't
have to be an art historian, you don't have to
be a natural scientist to work in the world of museums.

(20:34):
You know, it's a business, and you know, you know,
I'm a CEO of a nonprofit business that happens to
grapple with the art world. We have people in finance,
and we have people in events, and people in development
and people in education, and so anybody who is in
any field really confine their place in the world of museums.
And I think that what they should do is think about,
kind of where does your passion lie. I mean, if

(20:54):
your passion lives with art and art history, you know,
make that your life. If that's something it's possible to do,
if you have the support of your family or the
means to do so, or the ability to say this
is really how I want to dedicate my life. I
say everybody should go for it. Figure out kind of
what you love about museums, What fields do you like there,
what areas of it excite you? Also, you know, reach
out to others in the field. I can't say this

(21:16):
for sure for everybody, but I know personally, if anybody
reaches out to me for any sort of advice about
you know, what is it like to be a museum
CEO or a museum director? What do curators do? It's
you know, my life was driven by, you know, helping
to grow the next generation of museum professionals. And you know,
while I'm not in the classrooms specifically now, I would
welcome anybody to reach out anytime. You know, parents or

(21:37):
students you are you coming up through the field, or
youngsters who are thinking about it. I welcome that because
it's an exciting world. But also spend time in museums,
take art history classes, take art classes if it's the
art world. Again, if you're like in the college level,
it doesn't hurt to take nonprofit courses or business courses,
but really, you know, spending time in museums and trying
to get an internship. If that's possible. If you are

(22:00):
capable of doing that, it can be a really game
changing moment because gaining insight and longer term exposure to
the museum world can either really secure what that you
are fascinated by this world, or it can secure kind
of what facets of that world you're interested in. You know,
I think again, I go back to my mom knowing
that I was kind of always destined to do this,
which is pretty amazing. You know, thirty years ago she

(22:22):
predicted this, and you may know what you want to do.
I took a a somewhat winding path to return to
what was kind of expected of me by many people.
But we all can reformulate our lives, we can discover
things later on, and museums are always going to be
available to anyone who wants to be able to enter
the field. It is an exciting field. And again, personally,
I welcome anyone to reach out just for any discussion

(22:44):
of it. I think there's nothing I'm more excited about
than talking about the museum profession and the value of
everything that we and you know, the team specifically here
the Gibbs does every day.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Yeah, I think that's great advice and if somebody would
like to become a member of the Gibbs Museum, you
can go to Gibbs GiB Bbesmuseum dot org and find
out more on how you can become a member and
take a part and take a part in history.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
Absolutely and we would welcome that and please just come
visit us. You know, we are a really wonderful aspect
of the cultural life of Charleston, and I promise everybody
a really great time. And we have big, big moves ahead.
We're about to undergo a major eight thousand square foot
expansion and so the time is now to you know,
re meet the Gibbs, or meet the Gibbs for the
first time, and then to come visit us. You know,

(23:29):
we'll really have a really transformed presence in early twenty
twenty seven.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Alex who's been a pleasure. H Alexander Rich, CEO of
the Gibbs Museum of Art, Thank you so much for
your time today.

Speaker 4 (23:40):
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
You've been listening to Iheartradios CEOs you should know, heard
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