Week One: January 22nd.

        I only spent a few hours at Glen Foerd the first week of my internship. My first day began with a brief tour of the offices by Erica, the part-time Education and Programs Manager at Glen Foerd, followed by a conversation about the events coming up in the next few weeks. The largest of these events is the submission of the final draft of the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage grant proposal, due February 8th. Glen Foerd is currently a finalist for the Heritage Philadelphia Program grant, which is described on the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage website as “working in support of excellence and imagination in public history practice in the Philadelphia region.”(Heritage Philadelphia Program)

Throughout the past year, the Executive Director, Meg Sharp Walton, and the Board of Directors worked with a consultant the Nonprofit Center at Lasalle University and developed a strategic plan for Glen Foerd. The plan aims to address goals in five different categories: programs, funding, marketing and image, physical plant planning, and organization, to achieve over the next three calendar years.
Because Glen Foerd recently became a 501 C3 Nonprofit Organization, the staff and board of Glen Foerd have several lofty goals to complete before truly maintaining their mission statement:
Glen Foerd on the Delaware, a beautifully preserved historic property on the Delaware is the only surviving riverfront estate in Philadelphia open to the public. It is located on 18 magnificent acres along the Delaware in the village of Torresdale. Its mission is to connect visitors to the legacy of Glen Foerd through programs in the arts, nature and history and to preserve and protect the landscape, buildings and collections for the enjoyment and enrichment of the community and future generations.

       Receiving the Pew Grant would prove extremely helpful in taking steps towards reaching many of these goals; however, the Pew Grant is more specifically aimed towards developing a program working with local high schoolers and artists. Together, the students and artists will develop installations for the grounds of Glen Foerd that represent the region of Northeast Philadelphia. From what I gather, the grant money would likely be put more towards programming than preservation.

My first week at Glen Foerd proved extremely informative. Interning in a small museum that is still being developed provides me with the opportunity to experience many aspects of the museum field. Because my first day was spent with Erica, I learned about the struggles of developing appropriate programs at a museum experiencing a transformation. For instance, in order for educational programs to be developed, some of the larger special events—not even including those held by the caterer nearly every week—that do not necessarily reflect the legacy of Glen Foerd or its relationship with the Northeast, must be reduced. Erica believes only three large special events a year should be held at Glen Foerd, and deciding what those events will be is a process within itself. The struggles of transforming Glen Foerd are reflected in this question of programs, a struggle that museum professionals around the world are familiar with as museum audiences and their interests transform over time.