<<back to an Open Letter To Kathy Halbreich
June 6, 2003
Sometimes leaders have to make difficult decisions. This is one of those times for the Walker and for every museum in the country, due to economic conditions beyond our control. We had to take a number of measures to balance the budget, including staff cuts across the board. Eliminating Steve Dietz's position as curator of new media, however, was one of the hardest decisions of my career. Steve is truly a visionary. But there are times in the life of every organization when it simply cannot afford to implement the dreams of a visionary leader like Steve Dietz.
Our philosophical and artistic commitment to New Media has not wavered, but the resources are not there to carry out that commitment as intensively or as quickly as we had hoped. I would like to assure everyone that we will keep the works in Gallery 9 and the Study Collection accessible. While we won't be continuing the curatorial aspects of the new media department in the near future, we will be focusing on enhancing the Walker Web site's educational components and on realizing some of the interactive projects for our expansion. The Walker will be sustaining a five-person new media department.
This isn't a perfect solution by any stretch of the imagination, but it's one I hope leaves us a foundation to build on. For example, three spaces in our expansion designed for new media commissions and presentations remain in our plans. While not completed and outfitted as we originally intended, they can be in the future. It pains me greatly that our expansion, now under construction, will have a less ambitious New Media program but many of the projects Steve and others envisioned, such as Dialog, an interactive multimedia table, will be completed and installed for our 2005 opening.
Given the present economic uncertainty, we found it next to impossible to raise the $2 million to $5 million required to secure the curatorial program, complete the presentation spaces as designed, and cover the necessary staff and infrastructure costs. Once the economy stabilizes---or a patron is found---I hope to rebuild the vision Steve and I hoped we would be able to realize sooner rather than later. Any ideas are welcome!
I appreciate that you and many others have taken the time to communicate your concerns about Steve's departure. Your disappointment does not begin to match my own.