Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com November 7, 2016 • Hartford Business Journal 5 Loughman aims to reconnect Wadsworth to community By John Stearns jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com T homas J. Loughman wasted no time making a bold move as the new head of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art when he launched a program in August offering free admission to Hartford residents. "The goal for it was to restate our rela- tionship with the community," Loughman said of the Wadsworth Welcome he initi- ated after six months on the job. He became director and CEO, his first stint leading a museum, on Feb. 1, overseeing about 75 employees and a $9.3 million budget. More than 600 residents from through- out the city have signed up for the Wad- sworth Welcome and more than half have already visited more than once, he said. "The Atheneum had changed fundamen- tally, it had reopened a third of its galleries, it had physically restored itself, and now is the time for us to deliver," Loughman said. "And the com- munity that exists here now is different than the community when we began that construction work … so it really is a time when we need to reconnect and it's a continual process." There's a dynamism about Loughman, 45, who says a museum needs to be a future-minded enterprise. "So many people around a place like an art museum think it's about the past because we celebrate the past in many ways," he said. "But the only way that the past is helpful is in how it serves the future." What will make the museum rel- evant, fresh, more impactful or impact- ful in a different way? Loughman asked. Celebrating only the past is "the road to entombment," he said. "This is not a tomb, this is not an attic, this is a marvelous opportunity space, to get people excited about their own self discovery, about the human experience, about the potential inside of them, about the potential of cultures over five millen- nia," Loughman said, noting the museum's art spans 5,000 years of civilization. Look for future exhibitions to touch areas of world art that maybe didn't get as much attention during museum renova- tions, he said, noting a planned Japanese exhibition and exchanges with the Museo Nacional Del Prado in Madrid, for example. Loughman arrived at the Wadsworth with more than 20 years of museum expe- rience, most recently as associate direc- tor of program and planning at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., where he worked 7 ½ years. "I set off on this career with an ambition to make a difference as a curator and to make a difference as an administrator and I've had a lot of opportunity … to do both," at the Clark and, before that, as curator of European art and assistant to the director for exhibitions at the Phoenix (Ariz.) Art Museum. He set his difference-making goal as a senior at Georgetown University. One of his proudest achievements was establishing a relationship with China in 2008 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Clark's founder, Sterling Clark, who trav- eled through northern China in 1908 to collect small mam- mals and other items on an expedi- tion for the Smith- sonian Institution. Chinese museums along the expedi- tion route showed photos and other works from his trip. In 2012, the Clark hosted an exhibit of significant archaeological treasures from Chinese museums. And in 2013, the Shanghai Museum showed documents and photos from Clark's expedition and exhibited the Williamstown museum's French painting collection, the 10th stop on an 11-city international tour for the Clark's 19th-century French paintings. Planning the global tour, which began in Madrid in 2010, was a "massive under- taking" led by Loughman, recalled Victoria Saltzman, Clark's communications director. She called Loughman "highly intelligent, very driven and relentlessly curious." He's highly qualified to run a museum, she said. Loughman has two daughters, 9 and 11, who he raises with his wife, Sara. Loughman's also a sailor. He enjoys captaining a one-man racing dinghy and reading sea stories, particularly by Nathaniel Philbrick. He also loves biogra- phies and stories of exploration — fitting as he leads the Wadsworth and explores art with a community whose museum he considers his dream job to run. n H B J P H O T O | J O H N S T E A R N S Thomas J. Loughman stands next to a painting in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art by Giovanni Antonio Canal of St. Mark's Square in Venice. It was painted around 1731. Thomas J. Loughman Director and CEO, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford. Highest education: Ph.D. in art history, Rutgers University, 2003 Executive insights: "One of the things I've learned in my still short and developing career is that it's all about the future. … Museums are actually opportunities for exploration for every person and an opportunity to reconnect with what it means to be human." EXECUTIVE PROFILE Check out a video clip of Thomas J. Loughman's interview at hartfordbusiness.com. PDS has been meeting the needs of the construction industry since 1965. Our dedicated team of design and construction professionals welcomes the challenge of serving its past and future customers on their most demanding projects. 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