Adele Johnson, interim executive director of the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia (Photo by Jay Paul)
A little more than a year has passed since the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia christened its new home at the Leigh Street Armory in Jackson Ward. A grand celebration marked the completion of an $8 million renovation of the historic structure that was a decade in the making.
The museum’s leadership is now faced with a question that typically follows the culmination of a monumental undertaking: What’s next?
At the top of the list is finding an executive director. The museum’s board hired Tasha Chambers for the role in August 2015. She left the museum after 18 months, citing personal reasons.
Adele Johnson, who previously headed the Richmond Public Schools Education Foundation, is serving as the museum’s interim executive director while the board searches for a permanent replacement. That search had not yet begun in early June, Johnson said. In the wake of Chambers’ departure, chairwoman Marilyn West said the board would like to fill the post within six months. West says the search is on hold until the board solidifies its goals for the organization. “We’re working on a strategic plan, which will help us better define what the future will bring and the type of leadership we’ll need moving forward.”
In the meantime, Johnson aims to grow the museum’s membership, currently about 550 people, and increase the number of patrons who visit. More than 20,000 people passed through the museum in the first 11 months at the armory.
Challenges include a lack of on-site parking and a nonexistent marketing budget, she says. But with the right mix of programming and events to supplement the rotating exhibitions, she believes they can draw in more patrons.
“You want to make sure you have something that isn’t just member-driven, but invites the general public so they want to become members as well,” Johnson says.
She adds, “I think the ultimate goal is to have the museum be a place where the community comes and gathers, shares information, learns, and goes out and tells others.”