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Community Impact

The Rockwell Museum exists within and for our community. Since the Museum’s founding, the people of Corning, NY and the surrounding region continue to make The Rockwell a creative and innovative cornerstone of arts and culture.

The Museum’s work with children and families is central to our mission. The Rockwell education team provides programming for students and young people in the galleries, through classroom outreach and in the community with public art initiatives and celebrations.

Since the opening of the Museum’s KIDS ROCKWELL Art Lab in 2018, this accessible space on Market Street provides rotating new activities meeting the needs of youth and families to create and learn together. Since 2020, our expanded digital offerings provide even more access for different learning styles and locations. These arts education initiatives promote collaboration across economic, gender, racial and cultural backgrounds. The Museum’s work with students, youth and families is how we directly contribute to building a more just, diverse, and inclusive community for the future.

2024 Alley Art Project participants and educators

To maximize impact beyond the Museum walls, we routinely engage new groups through creative collaborations and shared learning experiences. The exceptional artworks under the Museum’s care invite multiple perspectives and require broad community participation to deeply reflect upon American art and identity. Embracing this broad context, The Rockwell is proud to serve as a venue and co-presenter for music, poetry, drama, gingerbread, and whatever our community dreams up next.

Mission Statement

The Rockwell Museum engages people with American art through diverse perspectives and illuminating experiences that foster curiosity, dialogue, and connection.

 

Vision

We envision a museum where art, ideas, and experiences connect and enlighten, inspire creativity, and strengthen community.

 

Values

Our values guide how we work, what we share, and the impact we seek to make. We serve as a welcoming hub that reflects and strengthens the people and places of Corning and our region. We ensure that our programs, spaces, and collections are open and meaningful to people of all backgrounds, perspectives, and abilities. We foster learning across generations, sparking curiosity and reflection through art and storytelling. We embrace experimentation, new ideas, and diverse voices to keep the Museum dynamic and relevant. We build authentic partnerships and believe that shared effort creates greater impact. We honor our history and collections and manage our resources responsibly to sustain the Museum for future generations.

 

Core Values

  • Community and Collaboration
  • Inclusion and Accessibility
  • Education and Curiosity
  • Innovation and Experimentation
  • Stewardship and Sustainability

 

Organizational Values

As a twenty-first century museum, The Rockwell Museum adheres to the norms of good governance including transparency, ethical stewardship, professionalism, and accountability to our community and stakeholders. The values that express our beliefs and guide our work are…

  • People. The Rockwell centers the individual in its experiences, exhibitions, programming, meetings, and engagements as our visitors, team members, volunteers, board and community are essential to everything we do.
  • Progress. The Rockwell employs its resources, position and programming as a force for good to improve mutual understanding, heighten empathy in our society, encourage a supportive environment and nurture connections between people.
  • Collaboration. The Rockwell embraces intentional and holistic collaborations and partnerships that strengthen the work of the Museum, enhance experiences and expand the possibilities of a museum focused on social impact.
  • Experimentation. The Rockwell believes in the power of experimentation, its successes and failures, to further the vision of the organization and deepen the connection to its programs, exhibitions, events and interpretation.
  • Zest. The Rockwell appreciates playful and unexpected approaches to language, design, interpretation, communications and organization which refresh, revitalize and enrich the museum experience.
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JEDAI Pillars

The Rockwell JEDAI Interdepartmental Team, formed in 2020, aims to guide The Rockwell Museum with courage and transparency to be a welcoming and inclusive place for all people by providing ongoing education, direction, implementation, and evaluation relevant to justice, equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion.

Each JEDAI Pillar outlined here is intended to organize the Museum’s priorities, successes, experiments, and goals. These guiding questions are applied to our day-to-day work and big-picture strategic planning alike, holding ourselves and the organization accountable to JEDAI principles.

Art & Programs

The Rockwell Museum is gradually and consistently acquiring new works to diversify its permanent collection. Traveling exhibitions, loans and programming are selected to immediately impact the diverse stories we tell at the Museum. Partnerships with individual artists and national organizations boost the Museum’s efforts and expand our network to make waves.

Focus Areas
• Collection diversification and decolonization
• Diverse exhibitions
• Events and programs

Guiding Questions
• Are we diversifying our collections and exhibitions to better represent the American Experience and showcase a multitude of identities and perspectives?
• Are the art and programs relevant–relatable, connected to current events and issues that impact people’s lives?
• Are the art and programs broadening the Museum’s reach to new audiences?
• What voices are missing in our programming and community partnerships? Can we add them?

Space & Place

The Museum is committed to continuous improvement of its spaces, accommodations, messages, and hospitality offerings from a JEDAI lens. This extends beyond the walls through digital platforms and communications. We strive for consistent representation of the Museum’s welcoming stance before, during, and after an encounter, from marketing materials to planning and experiencing a visit.

Focus Areas
• Accessibility in physical spaces
• Communications and media planning
• Social Media

Guiding Questions
• Is the Museum a space focused on justice, equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusivity?
• Are we actively creating a welcoming space for everyone?
• Do we make the Museum more accessible, inclusive, and welcoming for our visitors and staff?
• How is our commitment to creating a welcoming place communicated with visitors, community, stakeholders, members and students?

Community Engagement

JEDAI principles sparked new and exciting collaborations, with accessibility and diversity at the forefront. We offer initiatives to make the Museum’s spaces and collection more accessible and inclusive to visitors.

Focus Areas
• Responsive Education Initiatives
• Partnerships with Cultural Organizations
• Living Artists

Guiding Questions
• Are we working with our community partners to reach out and make community connections?
• How is our work connected more broadly with our community and region?
• Are we cultivating partnerships with civic, cultural, and educational institutions to build our audience?
• Have we cultivated partnerships with civic, cultural, and educational institutions to develop programs addressing equity and inclusion in the arts?
• Are we prioritizing community engagement by investing in promoting and providing access?

Organizational Culture

In 2021, The Rockwell Museum added goals focusing on justice, equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion to the 2022-2024 Strategic Plan, approved by the Board of Trustees. JEDAI qualities and priorities are now listed in every job description and performance review document.

Focus Areas
• Hiring Practices
• JEDAI Interdepartmental Team

Guiding Questions
• Are we recruiting, developing and retaining high-performing, talented employees, volunteers and Board of Trustees members with diverse backgrounds and perspectives?
• Are we valuing empathy and awareness — both self and situational — in the workplace?
• Are our justice, equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion (JEDAI) pillars reflected in our workplace policies and institutional culture?
• Does the Museum’s strategic plan include strategies specific to JEDAI?

Resources

With its interdepartmental team structure and bottom-up budget processes, the Museum aims to flatten its hierarchy and promote leadership in decision-making at every level. Team members from all departments and levels weigh in on budget needs, program prioritization and collection interpretation.

Focus Areas
• Annual Budget
• JEDAI Training for Staff & Stakeholders

Guiding Questions
• Who has access to decision-making and influences decisions regarding the deployment of resources?
• Are we allocating resources for ongoing JEDAI training for the entire staff?

Read Full JEDAI Pillars Report >>

Creating Connections

View 2024 Annual Report 

 

View Past Reports

 

Are you a community member or group interested in collaborating with The Rockwell? Contact us!