JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 5, 2022) – The Reece Museum at East Tennessee State University was the recipient of two Tennessee Association of Museums (TAM) Awards of Excellence at the recent TAM conference.
The TAM awards were presented to museums across the state for exceptional projects,
programs and events held in 2021. The Awards Ceremony took place in Jonesborough at
the McKinney Center at Booker T. Washington School on March 16. The Reece Museum received
a Temporary Exhibit Award of Excellence for the “Illustrating Dante’s Divine Comedy”
exhibition and a Special Event Award of Excellence for “Hip-Hop History: A Cultural
Celebration event series.”
“Illustrating Dante’s Divine Comedy” celebrated the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s
epic poem “The Divine Comedy.” The exhibition, curated by Reece Museum staff and ETSU’s
Dr. Joshua Reid, invited viewers to travel from Hell to Paradise via the poem’s rich
visual arts tradition, featuring framed Salvador Dali original woodblock illustrations
from the Reece Museum permanent collection. The exhibit also featured works from Reid’s
personal collection by Botticelli, Blake, Dore and others, along with contemporary
visual interpretations made by the campus community. The physical exhibit was supplemented
with a virtual catalogue of all one hundred Dali prints, placed online for the duration
of the exhibition.
“Hip-Hop History: A Cultural Celebration” was an event series produced by the Reece
Museum and the Black American Studies Program that explored hip-hop culture as a connective space that encourages an inclusive
and holistic view of what it means to practice Appalachian culture. Dr. Daryl Carter,
director of the Black American Studies Program at ETSU, wanted to build an event series
that marked the historically significant passage of Senate Resolution 331. Based on
the language in the resolution that recognized the “melting pot quality of hip-hop
art and culture,” museum staff saw an opportunity to explore the art form as it manifested
in East Tennessee and worked with a variety of community partners to create this first
annual event series.
“This year we presented 82 awards, representing 28 museums, including three awards
recognizing Emerging Museum Professionals, one award recognizing outstanding volunteerism
and our overall winner of the Past President’s Award, chosen by the past presidents
of TAM, which this year was presented to two museums,” said Tori Mason, historic site
manager at Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, who serves as the chair of the TAM Awards Committee.
“Once again, Tennessee museums showed their creativity, resourcefulness and ability
to adapt to the times, while providing outstanding programs and opportunities for
their audiences. Our state is fortunate to have so many excellent museums and historic
sites that are committed to providing exceptional exhibitions, events and educational
programming for visitors to enjoy.”
The Reece Museum, housed in the Department of Appalachian Studies at ETSU, is a unit of the Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies and Services.
The Reece Museum is located on the campus of ETSU and is open Monday through Friday,
9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, please visit etsu.edu/reece or call (423) 439-4392.