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Art for the Community: The Norton Museum of Art · Inside West Palm Beach

14:53:56
Welcome to the City Center Podcast. I'm
14:53:58
Gerry Marcelo. It's impossible to live
14:54:01
in West Palm Beach without hearing about
14:54:03
the Norton Museum of Art. This landmark
14:54:06
has a long history as a cultural pillar
14:54:08
to our community and today we're going
14:54:10
to learn how this hub of creativity gives
14:54:13
back to the city in amazing ways.
14:54:16
That's coming up on the City Center
14:54:18
Podcast next. And joining me today is
14:54:23
Ghilan Dumere, Director and CEO of the
14:54:26
Norton Museum of Art. Ghilan, welcome to
14:54:28
the show. Thank you Jerry. How are you?
14:54:30
Excellent. Great to have you here.
14:54:32
Listen, one of the things that is very
14:54:35
clear is everybody who is a resident of
14:54:38
West Palm Beach sooner or later has
14:54:40
someone walk up and say, "Oh, you've got
14:54:42
to go to the Norton." A lot of people
14:54:44
haven't had the opportunity to go there.
14:54:46
So let's sort of rewind here and let's
14:54:48
talk about some basics. How did
14:54:50
the Norton come to be and how did it grow
14:54:53
into the landmark that it's become?
14:54:56
Well, thank you for that question. So
14:54:58
because it's 85 years
14:55:00
ago, I may take a few
14:55:01
minutes to really go back down to history
14:55:02
but bear with me with that one.
14:55:04
Sure. So West Palm Beach, you know, in
14:55:08
the 30s, 40s, was kind of a small city.
14:55:11
It was I think like 30,000 to 30,000
14:55:13
people. And it was mostly the residents
14:55:17
were mostly the help of the people who
14:55:19
were living on the island, you know.
14:55:21
And so there were community, there were
14:55:22
CTO and so on. But so the
14:55:28
story started with Mr. Norton,
14:55:29
who is from Chicago. A wealthy person but
14:55:32
not like over the top,
14:55:33
but spending the winter,
14:55:34
you know, in Palm Beach like many people
14:55:37
on the time and still. And he
14:55:40
was a very interesting person.
14:55:41
He was in a business of steel and
14:55:43
aluminum. He was an
14:55:44
industrial, no real background in art.
14:55:48
So like many people, well, see of the
14:55:49
period, he start
14:55:50
collecting all master painting,
14:55:51
which are painting from the 14th to the
14:55:53
18th century, traditional.
14:55:56
But then one day, he kind of got
14:56:00
interested in contemporary art because he
14:56:01
bought a piece of art
14:56:02
to put above his sofa and there were
14:56:04
tree, he was an impressionist painting.
14:56:06
The tree was pink, he got annoyed, say,
14:56:08
why do you do pink tree? That's not
14:56:10
normal, it should be green.
14:56:11
He wrote to the artist, the artist
14:56:12
replied, and suddenly Mr. Norton was
14:56:15
really interested in
14:56:16
the concept of creativity.
14:56:17
And it's important what I'm telling you
14:56:18
because we're talking 85 years ago.
14:56:20
And you're going to see the word
14:56:21
creativity is coming on and
14:56:23
on and what I'm going to say.
14:56:24
Anyway, start, he bought a second piece,
14:56:26
was doing the writing with the artist,
14:56:29
and bought many pieces of
14:56:31
contemporary art of his time.
14:56:33
This collection is what we call the
14:56:35
modern collection at the Norton.
14:56:36
It's like from 1910 to 1960 and is really
14:56:40
one of the best in the country,
14:56:41
including Picasso and Monet
14:56:43
and the Renoir and Gauguin.
14:56:45
I mean, name it, we have them all, except
14:56:47
Van Gogh, but we have a lot.
14:56:49
So fast forward, toward the 1940s, he
14:56:53
say, okay, what am I going
14:56:54
to do with my collection?
14:56:55
So the Chicago Art Institute, which is a
14:56:57
fabulous museum, asked for the collection
14:56:59
and he said, no, you have enough.
14:57:01
And in fact, there were talk about the
14:57:02
for art on the island saying, well, we
14:57:04
should do something.
14:57:05
And he said, well, no, you have enough or
14:57:07
so, you don't need it.
14:57:08
And he said, why
14:57:08
could I make a difference?
14:57:09
And he came and he went to talk to the
14:57:12
mayor of the time in West Palm Beach.
14:57:13
I say, what about doing something here?
14:57:16
The city of West Palm Beach gave him the
14:57:17
land where we are currently.
14:57:20
And Mr. Norton, with his own money, paid
14:57:22
to build the original building,
14:57:23
which is still existing, the 1941
14:57:25
building, beautiful Adeco building,
14:57:27
put four, gave 450 piece of art and
14:57:30
created for free a school of art
14:57:32
where people could come
14:57:33
to draw, paint and sculpt.
14:57:36
Looking at the art of his collection and
14:57:37
sculpting created a non-for-profit,
14:57:40
an endowment and a
14:57:41
board and opened in 1941.
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That's been 85 years ago.
14:57:45
And since we've been technically first
14:57:48
one of the oldest museum of Florida,
14:57:50
but de facto now one of the most
14:57:52
established museum because of the
14:57:54
collection of all master
14:57:55
painting and modern art.
14:57:57
We continue collecting photography, Asian
14:58:00
art and contemporary art.
14:58:03
And that was the story up
14:58:05
to the 19, the 2000, 2010.
14:58:08
So the museum has been growing, doing
14:58:10
some nice exhibition,
14:58:11
getting gifts and so on.
14:58:12
But then the big change, the big next
14:58:14
step was 2010 when a
14:58:18
trustee of the Norton,
14:58:20
who sadly passed away a
14:58:21
few months ago, Gil Mora.
14:58:23
Gil was a visionary from New York.
14:58:26
He was the president
14:58:27
of the Earth Foundation.
14:58:29
And he really felt that Florida was
14:58:32
really booming and things
14:58:33
need to be done for the Norton.
14:58:35
The Norton needed to be
14:58:35
prepared for the next step.
14:58:38
And he got the trustee together,
14:58:39
including another donor
14:58:40
called Leonard Louder,
14:58:42
who just passed away.
14:58:42
So was in New York and a group of
14:58:44
trustees and they say
14:58:46
we need to do something.
14:58:47
We need to really bring the museum to the
14:58:48
next step because the
14:58:49
community in Florida,
14:58:51
West Palm Beach, the county and then the
14:58:53
whole state of
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Florida in the next 10 years
14:58:55
are going to need something better,
14:58:57
bigger, the best of the best.
14:58:59
And they agree on that.
14:59:01
And he said, I know the
14:59:03
architect is Norman Foster.
14:59:05
So you have to put Jerry
14:59:05
the context is Norman Foster.
14:59:07
I've always been, I mean, one of the most
14:59:09
famous architect, but
14:59:10
in the last 20 years
14:59:11
is really the best one in the world.
14:59:13
The most established one is 92 years old,
14:59:15
is an amazing
14:59:16
visionary, an amazing architect.
14:59:20
And they managed to get him to agree.
14:59:23
And in 2013, they did a site plan, a
14:59:26
master plan for the whole
14:59:28
progression of the museum.
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And they raised the money and they opened
14:59:32
in 2019, that beautiful building you see
14:59:35
currently on Dixie.
14:59:37
It was very interesting because Norman
14:59:38
Foster kept the
14:59:40
original building of Mr. Norton
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without changing anything of the style of
14:59:44
art deco to have the
14:59:45
intimate experience with the art.
14:59:47
Sure.
14:59:48
But they restored everything.
14:59:49
And then they turn and do the public face
14:59:51
of the building on Dixie,
14:59:52
the way you see with the beautiful Tlee
14:59:54
Sordenbroke sculpture.
14:59:56
And that's when the people and the public
14:59:57
could come to that part
14:59:58
of the museum for free.
15:00:00
You have the restaurant, the store, you
15:00:01
have the grand toll and the auditorium.
15:00:03
And they, in fact, apply
15:00:05
that to the original building.
15:00:06
But what is very important is Norman
15:00:08
Foster really moved the entrance.
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We used to be on the east, toward the
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island, then to the south,
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that kind of ugly parking
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we used to exist, which by the way, that
15:00:17
ugly parking now is the
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beautiful park we have,
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garden with all the sculpture.
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But he moved the entrance to the west.
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Why?
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Because the mission of the Norton started
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with Mr. Norton in 1941,
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east for the community,
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specifically the underprivileged
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community, but the community at large.
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And Norman Foster turned the entrance to
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the west and make us
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looking to where the community
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need us.
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And so we are around that connection
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between the island and the
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west side of the country.
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So it's a long answer to your question,
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but that gentleman had the
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possibility to do anything
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with the collection.
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He could have sell it
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in auction and so on.
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He decided to make a difference.
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There were no museums in Florida of any
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consequences on the time.
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And now you have a really worldwide
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collection, a worldwide
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building with Norman Foster and
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some exciting exhibition
15:01:09
we're going to talk about.
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That's gave you the
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background of the whole story.
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Very long and detailed, but inspiring.
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I think the one line, one part of the
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story that really resonates for me is Mr.
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Norton says, what can I do with this
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collection that would make a difference?
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What could be a difference?
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What could be transformative?
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It's a word I love, the word
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transformative, because you
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could be transformative on a
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small scale and a big scale.
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In this case, it was a major scale.
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I don't even know if you realize how
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transformative it will be,
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but I could tell you 85 years
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after it's unbelievable.
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This city will never have that
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unbelievable asset, which
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is now known nationally and
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sometime even more internationally.
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If that gentleman in the 1940s would have
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not thought, why
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could I make a difference?
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How can you make a difference?
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And he clearly had a desire to give back
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to the community here in West Palm Beach.
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And it was not from here.
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That's right.
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Instead of it being simply an extension
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of the culture that was
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developing on Palm Beach,
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he nodded to Palm Beach, but of course
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recognized that he had an entire
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community here in West
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Palm Beach that could benefit from the
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inspiration, the beauty
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of the art that was there.
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And it's wonderful to see how it
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continued to grow through
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the decades and people beyond
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Mr. Norton continue
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to contribute to that.
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He's giving back to society, you know,
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what you could hear.
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I'm from Europe with my accent.
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And in Europe, most of the culture is
15:02:40
paid by government, by the state.
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In the US, there's never been a ministry
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of culture in a way,
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philanthropy starting 200
15:02:46
years ago, where people were successful,
15:02:48
they want to give back.
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So usually they give back to their alma
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mater, university, or to their own town.
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In the case of Mr. Norton, he loved his
15:02:56
place here, even he was from Chicago.
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And he saw the need in Florida in
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general, and therefore West
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Palm Beach, to do something.
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And the transformation
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and that gift was amazing.
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You touched on this during the history,
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that part of the goal was
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to create a hub of creativity
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for West Palm Beach.
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Let's talk about that.
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What is the goal of creating hub?
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What is it supposed to do?
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Okay, well, here I'm going to
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be a little bit on my field.
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As a museum director, I've been more than
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20 years, five different
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museum around the country.
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The word museum is a very 19th century,
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it's a Latin name, by the way.
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I wish it could be a better definition.
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We have not found a different word, but
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so what I define a
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museum is a hub of creativity,
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a safe place for difficult conversation,
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a place where you could
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have a dialogue between
15:03:49
generations about art
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from the underworld.
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And bear with me again,
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I'm an historian, by the way.
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If you go around the country, and I live
15:03:55
in Kentucky,
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Oklahoma, Virginia, Texas, and
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California, Chicago, by the way, and New
15:04:00
York, everywhere
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around the country, the Fly
15:04:02
Over State is the same story.
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One local family decide to do something
15:04:06
for the locals town,
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build a boza building, make
15:04:09
it open to the community, and really
15:04:11
become a place where it's
15:04:13
a safe place for dialogue
15:04:14
between generations.
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We are not a university, we are not a
15:04:18
church, we don't have
15:04:19
necessarily an agenda, but we're
15:04:20
here to make sure that that dialogue
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between generations about
15:04:23
culture from around the world
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could happen.
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And it's really vital.
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And you could see that around most of the
15:04:29
city around the
15:04:30
country, mid-sized to bigger
15:04:33
size, but not the huge city, but the
15:04:35
museum become really the
15:04:36
center and the hub of creativity.
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Number two, hub of creativity
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is not only about visual art.
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I really believe the museum could be an
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umbrella organization for
15:04:44
performing art, which are music,
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dance, ballet, creative writing,
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improvisation,
15:04:49
whatever, and also virtual art.
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So the museum is a structure
15:04:53
where all of these could come.
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We are not a community center, but we
15:04:57
definitely a center for the community
15:04:58
based on creativity.
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So I speak about art, but I speak much
15:05:02
more about education and creativity,
15:05:04
because remember also,
15:05:06
we are teaching, we are really sharing
15:05:08
with working a lot with a
15:05:11
non-for-profit organization
15:05:12
around town, with working with 75 title
15:05:14
one school and so on.
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My team in education in the Department of
15:05:18
Learning and Community
15:05:19
Engagement, 50% of the time,
15:05:20
they're inside 50% of the time, they're
15:05:22
outside because our
15:05:24
mission is to reach out to the
15:05:25
community to share that power of
15:05:28
creativity through the
15:05:29
arts, through the talks, through
15:05:30
expression of dance and music and getting
15:05:33
them back to the museum.
15:05:35
So it's really a
15:05:36
vital part of a community.
15:05:38
Fantastic.
15:05:38
Now you mentioned that
15:05:40
there's an outreach program.
15:05:42
Many. That you mentioned.
15:05:43
And how do members of the community get
15:05:46
in contact with that?
15:05:47
So, well, first of all, we have a
15:05:50
website, of course, so
15:05:51
what you could find a lot of
15:05:52
information about the
15:05:53
programming and so on.
15:05:54
So to answer your question, if you go on
15:05:56
the website, you see
15:05:57
what's happening inside the
15:05:58
museum, so which are exhibition program,
15:06:00
art after dark, jazz branch and so on.
15:06:03
But also we have many, many classroom,
15:06:06
program in classroom, art
15:06:08
making program for people on
15:06:12
the spectrum and so on and
15:06:13
so forth, all of that there.
15:06:14
And also outside, we have a department at
15:06:17
the Norton called CAP,
15:06:19
Community Access Program,
15:06:20
a wonderful young lady
15:06:22
called Shannon and her team.
15:06:24
And their job is to network with many of
15:06:26
the non-for-profit
15:06:26
organizations dealing specifically
15:06:28
with underprivileged community, going
15:06:30
from kids to senior citizens.
15:06:32
We have now 28 partnerships.
15:06:34
We're getting there more and we're going,
15:06:36
working with them,
15:06:38
doing program with them,
15:06:39
giving them access to the
15:06:41
museum back and forward.
15:06:42
We also have a program called Art After
15:06:44
Hours for School, where we
15:06:47
have on staff pay artists
15:06:49
who are teachers and we send them to the
15:06:52
centers, community
15:06:52
centers and so on to teach art.
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Why?
15:06:56
Because until that school Mr. Norton
15:06:58
created 85 years ago
15:07:00
was closed in the 80s.
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My dream is to reopen it one day, but
15:07:03
we're not there yet.
15:07:05
So as we close that, it was again, 20, 40
15:07:08
years ago, we created
15:07:09
a program internally
15:07:10
to continue at least to outreach.
15:07:12
So these artists, a teacher pay by us and
15:07:15
they go into
15:07:16
organization school and so on.
15:07:17
That's wonderful.
15:07:18
The idea that-
15:07:19
For free, by the way.
15:07:20
That is amazing that instead of it, it
15:07:23
would make sense with the
15:07:24
facilities and the resources you
15:07:26
have there on site, that you would be
15:07:28
open and welcoming to
15:07:29
having people join you there
15:07:31
at the museum.
15:07:32
The idea and notion that you're reaching
15:07:34
back out to the community, going to where
15:07:37
those people are.
15:07:39
That's fantastic.
15:07:40
There's two things I want to add to that.
15:07:41
Number one, because there's also some
15:07:43
part of the committee
15:07:43
who don't even have the
15:07:44
means to take a bus or cannot even
15:07:46
physically have a bus
15:07:47
to come to the Norton.
15:07:48
So we have to go to them.
15:07:50
Number two, there's one good thing, if I
15:07:52
dare to say from COVID.
15:07:54
During COVID, we created a nice computer
15:07:58
with screen and so on
15:07:59
and we were able to teach
15:08:00
on Zoom through hundreds
15:08:02
and hundreds of people.
15:08:04
After COVID, we kept that program and for
15:08:06
many organizations, specifically senior
15:08:08
citizens who cannot have the mobility to
15:08:11
come, we are
15:08:12
teaching, we are doing program
15:08:13
with them where we have a curator in
15:08:15
front of a fabulous
15:08:16
Picasso painting with the camera.
15:08:19
That curator talked to three or 400
15:08:21
people at the same time
15:08:23
and they could ask question.
15:08:24
So we are also doing virtual
15:08:26
communication, sharing for
15:08:28
people who will not have the
15:08:30
physical capacity or
15:08:31
sometimes financial to come.
15:08:33
And we do also that with many schools
15:08:35
outside of the county or the district,
15:08:37
where it's sometimes too far away from
15:08:39
them, but we could share with them
15:08:40
because we have the art
15:08:42
where there's no other museum in a county
15:08:45
or even the state of
15:08:46
Florida who has the collection we
15:08:48
have.
15:08:48
So I'm proud of it, but we have a duty
15:08:50
and the duty is to really share about it.
15:08:52
And the technology is fantastic.
15:08:54
I mean, I love technology because it's at
15:08:57
least one way to restart a conversation.
15:08:59
The idea that the notion that you're able
15:09:01
to use the unfortunate
15:09:03
stopgap that we had to
15:09:05
use during the pandemic to continue
15:09:07
beyond the pandemic to
15:09:09
share and to educate and to
15:09:12
reach out to people otherwise would not
15:09:14
be exposed to what you have to offer.
15:09:17
That's fantastic.
15:09:18
Well, that's kind of traveling a robot,
15:09:20
not robot, but camera we
15:09:21
think now we have three
15:09:22
of them because it's really becoming and
15:09:24
we could do more and more
15:09:25
school and people outreach.
15:09:27
I mean, there are the, it's in thousands
15:09:28
of people now we're
15:09:29
reaching through that technology.
15:09:32
Maybe only a third of
15:09:33
them will want to come.
15:09:34
That's not the point.
15:09:35
The point is to really show them how to
15:09:37
look at work about how to
15:09:38
learn about it and themselves
15:09:40
could also start doing things in their
15:09:42
nursing home and housing authority.
15:09:44
They could start doing program because
15:09:45
they have seen that curator
15:09:47
that doesn't talk about it.
15:09:49
Yes, fantastic.
15:09:49
And of course, again, we will find a way
15:09:52
to share the information
15:09:53
as far as people getting
15:09:54
in contact with you to take advantage of
15:09:57
that, to learn more about what's
15:09:58
available and how they
15:09:59
can participate in
15:10:00
these outreach programs.
15:10:02
Absolutely.
15:10:02
All right.
15:10:02
So you have someone who
15:10:03
has come to visit the Norton.
15:10:05
They walk through the doors.
15:10:07
They're beginning their first
15:10:08
exposure to all that's there.
15:10:11
What is the goal?
15:10:12
What do you want those people to say when
15:10:14
they walk back out the door?
15:10:17
Oh, first thing is I will be back.
15:10:19
I'm not Tristan Edgar
15:10:20
here, but so I'll be back.
15:10:22
But seriously, yes, because I want,
15:10:27
especially for people who are
15:10:28
first comer ever, they always
15:10:30
feel sometimes that
15:10:30
museum, they don't belong.
15:10:32
Making them to belong is
15:10:34
making them taking ownership.
15:10:36
Taking ownership is
15:10:37
we need to be relevant.
15:10:38
It's not them to adapt.
15:10:40
It's us to adapt to the relevance.
15:10:42
Relevance means a lot.
15:10:43
It means everything and nothing.
15:10:44
So it's up to us with the proven and
15:10:46
correction to make it
15:10:47
accessible and to the exhibition,
15:10:49
which are temporary exhibition, to really
15:10:51
make sure that when we
15:10:52
do an exhibition and the
15:10:53
program around it, we make it relevant
15:10:55
because we may have
15:10:56
people, right now, as you know,
15:10:58
we have the Rembrandt Vermeer exhibition,
15:11:00
which is unbelievable.
15:11:01
The number of people in the last three
15:11:03
weeks who are first time
15:11:04
comer never have, I mean,
15:11:05
it's really very exciting.
15:11:07
So as they come, I want them to say,
15:11:08
okay, it was a great experience.
15:11:09
I need to come back.
15:11:11
I need to retake
15:11:11
ownership to that institution.
15:11:13
The permanent correction is help also
15:11:15
that fact because we
15:11:16
have a beautiful correction
15:11:17
and more people are giving out to us,
15:11:20
which are really beautiful.
15:11:22
And that's also for the community in West
15:11:25
Palm Beach and the county
15:11:26
is to be proud about having
15:11:28
that place where you could go with your
15:11:29
family, when you could go
15:11:31
back with tourism and so on.
15:11:33
But we want to make sure the experience
15:11:35
is, this is also we
15:11:37
work a lot with our visitor
15:11:39
experience staff,
15:11:40
which are the front desk.
15:11:41
The first people, visitors see our
15:11:43
security guard and our
15:11:45
front desk, and they really
15:11:47
get great training on so on to be as
15:11:49
welcoming, as really nice as possible.
15:11:53
And we're making sure that whoever the
15:11:54
person visiting, whatever the social,
15:11:56
economical background and so on, they
15:11:58
will feel that they're
15:11:59
respected and also welcome like
15:12:01
anyone will be.
15:12:03
And then having a good experience with
15:12:04
temporary exhibition or permanent
15:12:06
correction or music or the
15:12:08
garden or so on and so forth.
15:12:11
Because it's not for one time saying
15:12:12
we're here for the community.
15:12:13
So the community need to take ownership,
15:12:15
but if we don't make it
15:12:17
easy for them to do it,
15:12:18
we're missing the point.
15:12:19
So we're working on that.
15:12:20
Yeah, exactly.
15:12:21
So the idea again is for folks to come
15:12:25
there, see a welcoming
15:12:27
environment, not to be intimidated,
15:12:29
but to feel like they're stepping into a
15:12:32
place where they have
15:12:33
the comfort of learning and
15:12:34
asking questions and experiencing art in
15:12:38
a way that they might
15:12:39
have not have been able
15:12:39
to in the first place.
15:12:41
It's very a place where you could have a
15:12:43
dialogue again between generations.
15:12:44
Think about it.
15:12:45
If you are here with your kids or your
15:12:47
grandkids or so on, where do you go?
15:12:49
You could have really talked.
15:12:50
If you go to a baseball game, a movie
15:12:52
theater, a concert, you cannot talk.
15:12:55
The only two places you could
15:12:56
do that is a stroll in a park.
15:12:58
You go walking and you
15:12:59
could chat or a museum.
15:13:01
You could have a dialogue with your
15:13:02
friend, your
15:13:02
girlfriend, your kid and so on.
15:13:05
You are suddenly in a surrounding where
15:13:06
there's a dialogue
15:13:07
possible, a contact, a learning,
15:13:09
an exchange.
15:13:10
So there's not too many things in the
15:13:14
structure of a community
15:13:15
where dialogue is possible.
15:13:18
Otherwise, most of the other
15:13:19
entertainment, you are there and you
15:13:21
enjoy the entertainment,
15:13:22
but you cannot talk
15:13:23
during concert or movie.
15:13:24
Right.
15:13:24
The museum is that place for that
15:13:26
dialogue and that's very important.
15:13:28
And it's a safe place for conversation,
15:13:30
which is also important.
15:13:32
Extremely important, especially nowadays.
15:13:33
One of the things that I wanted to touch
15:13:35
on is there is a trend
15:13:37
towards perhaps people
15:13:39
looking at art as more of a luxury rather
15:13:42
than something essential
15:13:43
to life and to culture.
15:13:45
How do you deal with that with folks who
15:13:50
maybe think that it's
15:13:51
something that's sort of
15:13:53
an extra that isn't that important?
15:13:55
What would you say to folks about that?
15:13:56
Well, you know, I've got that question
15:13:57
very often when I do, you
15:13:58
know, I have to do fundraising
15:13:59
and I have to go to because, as you know,
15:14:01
we are completely
15:14:02
privately funded and things
15:14:04
like that.
15:14:04
We have a little bit of
15:14:05
support of public money.
15:14:06
But what it is is, yes, if someone tells
15:14:10
me, well, it's more
15:14:10
important to have food and
15:14:12
water in your plate
15:14:13
than art, I would agree.
15:14:14
I mean, I would agree.
15:14:17
After that, you say, well, it's more
15:14:19
important potentially to
15:14:20
have that than education.
15:14:21
I will start to say, I don't disagree,
15:14:23
but we are very important there because
15:14:25
when you look at the work of art, when
15:14:27
you do an art class and
15:14:29
so on, you really stimulate
15:14:30
your creativity, which becomes part of
15:14:32
your education, part of yourself.
15:14:34
So I want to say after technically food,
15:14:37
drink, and potentially
15:14:38
medical and health, we're next.
15:14:42
We are next.
15:14:43
So, but yes, I will not argue that we're
15:14:45
more important, that really
15:14:45
being alive and breathing,
15:14:47
but in a concept of education as
15:14:50
important as mathematic and
15:14:51
English, art, which is more,
15:14:53
again, creativity, stimulation of your
15:14:55
brain, we are absolutely at that level.
15:14:59
So you have, you know, when people think
15:15:03
about the mathematic
15:15:04
and English and so on,
15:15:05
and they put the art on the side, it's
15:15:08
been proven now, I don't
15:15:09
have to pitch for that.
15:15:11
Kids who are really involved with the
15:15:12
art, creativity and so
15:15:13
on are better at school
15:15:14
than the one who don't do it.
15:15:17
It's important. It
15:15:18
isn't something that just...
15:15:19
So it's not a luxury.
15:15:21
It's not a luxury. It's essential.
15:15:23
It's essential. It's a necessity.
15:15:24
And it's a minimum society which is
15:15:26
developed should be doing.
15:15:28
Exactly. So we talked a little bit about
15:15:30
how we're, you've been
15:15:33
working very hard to make sure
15:15:34
that people are aware of all the good
15:15:36
things that you have at the Norton.
15:15:37
And we're talking about the residents
15:15:39
here of West Palm Beach.
15:15:40
There are some certain opportunities that
15:15:42
folks specifically to
15:15:43
West Palm Beach have
15:15:44
as far as visiting the Norton. Let's talk
15:15:46
a little bit about that.
15:15:47
Yeah. Well, I mean, first of all, I mean,
15:15:48
the West Palm Beach
15:15:50
residents are free on the Saturday,
15:15:52
for sure. In a summer, in fact, it goes
15:15:55
to the county. And there's
15:15:59
four days a year which are
15:16:00
community days where we got close to now
15:16:03
1500 people and so on.
15:16:05
So the Chinese Lunar Year,
15:16:23
you have the Nue and parked activities and so on. So we
15:16:27
are really out into the community.
15:16:30
Yeah. And so it's to the advantage of
15:16:32
everyone here in West Palm
15:16:33
Beach and the surrounding
15:16:35
communities to take advantage of the open
15:16:37
door that you have at Norton
15:16:39
and really expose themselves
15:16:41
to what you have there and
15:16:42
experience the resources.
15:16:44
And when you talk about that, I mean,
15:16:46
currently right now I
15:16:47
was mentioned to you,
15:16:48
we have that unbelievable Rembrandt
15:16:49
Vermeer exhibition,
15:16:50
first time in Florida ever.
15:16:53
Wow.
15:16:54
The last Vermeer and private hand on so
15:16:56
on. So that collection is
15:16:58
really unique, never been
15:16:59
exhibited in any museum in the US, only
15:17:01
in Europe. So it was at the
15:17:02
Louvre in China, in Russia,
15:17:05
in Africa, in Emirates and so on. But in
15:17:08
the meantime, we're
15:17:09
going to open next week
15:17:10
two contemporary exhibition, Nastasia
15:17:12
Samolova, great
15:17:13
photographer, Sharayu. And then we have a
15:17:16
Chinese curator who had a great
15:17:17
exhibition on Chinese art
15:17:20
also, but soon opening a Japanese
15:17:22
print exhibition. We had a curator of
15:17:24
modern art doing a great exhibition
15:17:25
currently of print and
15:17:29
from the 19th century about virtue on
15:17:31
vice, five exhibition at the same time.
15:17:34
So you could come and
15:17:35
you could really find different kind of
15:17:36
aspect plus the permanent
15:17:38
collection. And we tried to
15:17:39
really keep that program pretty in a
15:17:41
fall, in a spring we're going to have a
15:17:44
living artist called
15:17:45
Daniel McKeeney who's going to be there.
15:17:48
In the summer, we're
15:17:49
going to celebrate the 250th
15:17:50
anniversary of the US. So we always on
15:17:53
the beat and we program
15:17:54
exhibition two or three years in
15:17:56
advance. So we already work on all of
15:17:58
that. How was it going to
15:17:59
bring up what you had in store?
15:18:01
And you've done a great job of already
15:18:02
just touching on all the
15:18:04
cool stuff that's going on
15:18:05
during the winter, during the high
15:18:07
season, and then pushing into
15:18:08
next year. I'm excited to see
15:18:10
what you all are going to do with the
15:18:12
250th anniversary for the
15:18:14
United States. So it's maybe
15:18:15
not necessarily going to be a huge
15:18:16
exhibition because we have so much to do,
15:18:18
but every department
15:18:19
will celebrate in one way their
15:18:22
connection with the independence of the
15:18:24
country and the creation
15:18:25
of the country. There will be a lot of
15:18:27
program around. But funny,
15:18:29
you just say a word here,
15:18:31
will always not bug me, but since I
15:18:33
arrived here five years ago,
15:18:34
yes, people speak about season,
15:18:36
but I disagree with the concept of
15:18:37
season. The season is for
15:18:38
Palm Beach. West Palm Beach,
15:18:40
people are full time here. And that
15:18:42
reason in the summer, four years ago, we
15:18:43
started summer at the
15:18:44
Norton and now it's been five years and
15:18:47
we have a huge amount of
15:18:48
people who are taking ownership
15:18:49
of the Norton during the summer. You have
15:18:51
a lot of living family.
15:18:52
Many people even move during
15:18:54
COVID, but live here, you have kids and
15:18:56
senior citizens and so on.
15:18:57
So the season is maybe for
15:18:58
category in Palm Beach, but most of the
15:19:02
communities, you have full
15:19:03
season. We are full season.
15:19:04
I love that perspective. That's fantastic
15:19:07
that you share that.
15:19:08
Well, you said the word
15:19:09
season and said, "Oh."
15:19:10
I've heard season, I did. I did. Well,
15:19:12
it's a part of the
15:19:14
DNA of this, the areas.
15:19:15
It's changing. In the last five years,
15:19:17
since COVID, it's
15:19:18
changing. A lot of people move here
15:19:20
to have a full time life
15:19:21
here, which is very exciting.
15:19:23
You have a very exciting present and
15:19:26
you've done a fantastic job
15:19:27
of telling us about the past.
15:19:28
Let's talk a little bit about the future.
15:19:31
Where in your vision do
15:19:33
you see the Norton going?
15:19:35
Well, there's a lot of things going on.
15:19:38
It's not so much about
15:19:39
us. It's us really paying
15:19:40
attention to what's going on around us.
15:19:43
And you guys at the
15:19:44
city all know that better.
15:19:46
Look around, how many buildings have been
15:19:48
built in the last five years?
15:19:49
How many people are moving in town for
15:19:51
business reasons, for
15:19:52
family reasons, and so on? So we
15:19:55
need to be ready for that. So the Norton
15:19:56
is in good shape. It's a
15:19:58
great, we have sound institution.
15:20:00
We do a lot of program, but we need to
15:20:01
think about the future.
15:20:03
Norman Foster, the architect,
15:20:04
has kind of a long vision and so on, the
15:20:06
master plan. So I don't
15:20:08
necessarily know whether, but
15:20:09
on the programming, on the financial
15:20:11
stability of the
15:20:12
institution, on the hiring of talent,
15:20:14
of attracting talent, I'm thinking about
15:20:17
we're going to have
15:20:18
more and more people in the
15:20:19
community. So we need to be ready for
15:20:21
that. So I'm really
15:20:22
wanting to make sure that the
15:20:23
institution was stable, financially
15:20:25
sound, good staff, great team, and
15:20:28
attracting great team,
15:20:30
and gift, and so on, attracting great
15:20:32
exhibition, which really
15:20:33
make us ready for the future.
15:20:35
But look around, I mean, it's
15:20:37
unbelievable the number. I mean, around
15:20:38
the Norton, there's three
15:20:39
buildings that have been building,
15:20:41
growing, you know, like in
15:20:42
the last three years. So,
15:20:44
which is great for us because these new
15:20:45
members, new people,
15:20:47
is good for the city,
15:20:48
economic. I mean, I'm seeing it's no
15:20:51
secret. I said that we
15:20:52
heard about Vanderbilt,
15:20:54
University, Cleveland Clinic, all of
15:20:56
these things, music to my
15:20:57
ear, because there's more
15:20:58
people coming and taking advantage of
15:21:00
what we do. As the city
15:21:01
continues to grow and mature,
15:21:03
the Norton is wonderfully positioned to
15:21:06
be an integral part of
15:21:08
that growth and to be a,
15:21:10
the landmark that it is today, it will be
15:21:13
even more important as you
15:21:14
guys move into the future.
15:21:15
Absolutely. And what I like with the
15:21:18
building we have is flexible to be
15:21:20
welcoming, accomodable, and so on. And
15:21:23
it's a beautiful building.
15:21:25
And we have now more people,
15:21:27
really interested to support, which is
15:21:29
really wonderful for us.
15:21:31
And it's a fun place to be.
15:21:33
I could tell you on a Friday night, out
15:21:34
of the dark, now we have
15:21:35
more or less 800 to 1200 people
15:21:37
every Friday night. The first Friday is
15:21:40
always jazz, you know,
15:21:41
for people who love jazz,
15:21:41
which is great. We even now do a jazz
15:21:43
branch because people
15:21:44
are asking for more.
15:21:46
That's really exciting. They really take
15:21:49
ownership of the place,
15:21:50
which is what we want. Otherwise,
15:21:51
what the point to have a
15:21:52
building if it's empty. Right.
15:21:53
Right. There you have it. And what we're
15:21:56
going to be doing, as
15:21:57
we're speaking here on screen,
15:21:59
we're going to show the appropriate web
15:22:01
addresses to get information
15:22:03
about all that's happening at
15:22:05
the Norton and contact information so
15:22:07
that groups who would like
15:22:10
to reach out and get you guys
15:22:11
involved in what they're doing, we'll
15:22:13
have an opportunity to begin a
15:22:14
conversation with you.
15:22:15
And that's fantastic that you make that
15:22:16
available. One of the things I want to
15:22:19
do, Galan, is I always
15:22:21
like to give the folks an opportunity
15:22:23
here at this point to take
15:22:24
hold of the microphone. You
15:22:26
have an audience of people here in West
15:22:28
Palm Beach who are listening
15:22:28
to you. What is the message,
15:22:30
most important, that you'd like to share
15:22:32
with the folks at home
15:22:33
who are listening in today?
15:22:35
Well, thank you. I really appreciate it.
15:22:40
Well, like I was saying, I really hope
15:22:43
the more we could really listen to the
15:22:45
committee is to be relevant for the
15:22:46
committee, to make sure
15:22:47
that the committee will feel comfortable
15:22:50
and feel at home and take
15:22:52
ownership of the Norton. So
15:22:54
that's my, I would say, please come and
15:22:57
enjoy. Bring your friend if
15:22:58
you have a great experience.
15:22:59
By the way, if you don't have a great
15:23:00
experience, give your
15:23:00
feedback because how do you want me
15:23:02
or us to know? Also, I want to say the
15:23:06
support from the elected
15:23:07
community, from the mayor,
15:23:09
the commissioner, and the committee have
15:23:11
been really wonderful
15:23:13
for the Norton. But again,
15:23:16
we need the committee to take ownership.
15:23:18
And that ownership, we, our
15:23:20
team, is trying the best to
15:23:22
remake it the best experience as
15:23:23
possible. And I'm very excited. I have to
15:23:26
say the second thing is
15:23:27
that exhibition on Rembrandt is here
15:23:29
until March. It will never
15:23:30
happen again. I will never happen
15:23:32
again. But it will not necessarily happen
15:23:34
again in Florida. You
15:23:35
really need to come to see that
15:23:37
because it's one of the best painters in
15:23:38
the history of mankind.
15:23:40
And so it's an amazing
15:23:41
opportunity for the community to see the
15:23:44
best of the best.
15:23:46
Absolutely. And the community deserve
15:23:47
the best of the best. Indeed. Indeed. Go
15:23:49
on. Thank you for taking
15:23:50
the time to visit us today.
15:23:52
And thank you to you and your staff at
15:23:54
the Norton for providing
15:23:56
such an amazing resource for the
15:23:58
city of West Palm Beach. And I'm looking
15:24:00
forward to folks coming out
15:24:02
and visiting you guys in droves.
15:24:03
Thank you so much. And have a wonderful
15:24:05
day. Thank you. And
15:24:07
thank you for joining us. The
15:24:09
City Center podcast is into its second
15:24:11
full year of video podcasts.
15:24:13
And we've got a lot in store
15:24:14
for 2026. So feel free to follow or
15:24:17
subscribe to get the latest
15:24:19
from the city of West Palm Beach.
15:24:21
This has been a production of the City of
15:24:22
West Palm Beach
15:24:23
Communications Department.
15:24:25
I'm Jerry Marcello.
15:24:26
We'll see you next time.