During the GRAM’s Discovery Day events, state representatives presented a legislative tribute to museum leaders, celebrating the newly redesigned Creative Learning Center, a space for hands-on learning and art education.
Director and CEO Cindy Foley says GRAM leaders recognized a growing need to foster creative problem-solving.
“That we have maybe a bigger role to play in our community than just holding these extraordinary objects for the public. That in a lot of ways, what we celebrate is creative thinking. You walk through our galleries, and you can see some of the most amazing thinkers of our time. And yet we realized, wait a minute. We need not only to celebrate those thinkers, we need to cultivate new thinkers.”
Foley says the legislative tribute honors a shift in what museums can do as a more active player in their communities.
“In these conversations with our local government they realize we need spaces in our communities like art museums, like the Creative Learning Center that actually allow for folks to have connection to one another, allow them to slow down and actually to make meaning at a time where I think a lot of us are struggling to understand what's happening in our world.”
The tribute specifically celebrates the museum’s commitment to fostering creativity, identified by the World Economic Forum as the most critical skill needed for the future
