Telfair Museums' new director and CEO takes the reigns on Sept. 1

On July 8, Telfair Museums announced David Brenneman would step into the role of executive director and CEO. Brenneman will begin his tenure at Georgia’s oldest public art museum on September 1.

Brenneman is a long-time art world veteran. He comes to Savannah after having served previously as director of the Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, and before that, he spent 20 years working in various curatorial positions at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art.

I had the chance to speak with Brenneman recently from his office in Indiana, where he shared with me his thoughts on the past and future of Telfair Museums, his directorial vision, and what he thinks the role that local artists should play in art institutions.

Why Telfair Museums?

“They called, and I am answering their call.

In terms of my career, it’s partly a result of strategy and partly a result of opportunity. When I was working as a junior assistant curator at the Yale Center for British Art just over 30 years ago, I couldn’t have told you that I’d be working in Atlanta, Georgia for 20 years. And you’d have asked me when I was in Atlanta, Georgia if I would be living and working in Indiana, I would have said, ‘Maybe.’

I knew a little bit about the Telfair, having worked in Atlanta, and having visited Savannah a few times, and it just sounded like a great opportunity. I’m really drawn to opportunities where I think there are some really great ingredients, and where I think I can be helpful in terms of combining those ingredients and helping the institution to get to that next level, whatever that is.

I also think Savannah is just a really cool place. I was a reminded of that when I got off the airplane and got into town and just started making my way over to the museum. It’s just a really cool place, and it’s become much more, I’d say, dynamic in the time that I’ve been outside of Georgia."

You have a strong curatorial background. What would you say that you, personally, are bringing to Savannah that people should be excited about?

“I am passionate about art. I am an art nerd. I really do live and breath the stuff. And I like to do stuff.

I think one of my big takeaways from my time in Atlanta is that where there’s a will, there’s a way. And I guess I bring ambition, to the extent that I do believe that…if you think you can do it, you should try to do it.

I think as far as the Telfair, the collections in particular, I think there is a super interesting collection that’s already there. I want to learn a lot more about the [Lebanese artist and writer] Kahlil Gibran Collection. I read [his seminal work] ‘The Prophet’ probably when I was an undergraduate, which was now quite a number of years ago.

I also want to learn more about the Savannah art scene. The most important artist that I was aware of coming from Savannah was an artist named Ulysses Davis. And when I worked at the High [Museum of Art in Atlanta], I didn’t curate the show, but I worked with the curator who did the show, where we did an exhibition and a catalogue of Ulysses Davis’ work. Really a super interesting, super important artist, who still is not very well known.

I get into that stuff. I’m interested in what is the DNA of the place, and how can that be built upon and expanded.”

Looking back at Telfair Museums’ past programming, what are some of the things that really stand out to you in terms of the kind of thing you’d like continue to bring to the museum going forward?

“I think I need to learn a lot more, to be honest with you. I’ve hinted at a few things that sort of pique my interest. I’m sure there will be other things that I discover along the way as I get into the place, as I learn about it.

I get excited about this stuff. I get excited about learning. And I always like to learn new stuff. I’m a lifelong learner, and I feel that art museums have a responsibility to spark lifelong learning about art. And I see that as one of our principle jobs. I’m just excited about the idea of learning about the collection, and seeing where that might take us.”

What are some new ideas that you want to bring to the museum?

“I think one of the interesting opportunities is the fact that there are three major components, three architectural components. I think that the Owens-Thomas House [and Slave Quarters], I’ve known about it for a long time, but I’d never actually visited it until I interviewed. And I think it’s really great, and I love what the Telfair has done in terms of the interpretive program there.

So, how to connect that with the Academy Building, with the Jepson Center, is a really, really interesting opportunity.

And I think too, my sense is that the Telfair has at least a few, interesting, slightly distinct audiences. I was really amazed to learn about the incredible number of tourists who come through Savannah, which is great from the perspective of people visiting and then going to wherever they live and taking their experiences with them I think is really terrific.

But it also then makes me think about the Savannah community, and thinking about, okay, there are these visitors, there are these people coming from out of town who want to learn about Savannah, who want to learn about the arts of Savannah, and then there’s the community, the folks who live there, and work there, who are there all the time. And then there’s the schools, there’s the various K through 12, the colleges, the universities, the students.

How to engage all of these different groups in the work of the museum is really, really interesting. So I think it’s how to knit all of these things together. And I don’t know that such a thing is a seamless experience, but I do think recognizing these things, to the extent that they do present things that don’t always completely align, but also recognizing that they are things that are really interesting about the institution is something I’m turning around [in my head], and thinking about, ‘How would you do that? How would the Telfair really do that?’”

What would you say is the role of local artists in the future of Telfair Museums?

“Particularly when I lived in Atlanta, but also now, here in Bloomington at Indiana University, I think…in any community there’s an ecology of the arts. And all of the different parts of that ecology need to be healthy, need to be interacting. There’s museums, there’s galleries, there’s artists, there’s collectors, there’s dealers. So, all of that is really important. Having a healthy relationship is really important to having that ecology thrive.

I think artists are really a big part of that. I really enjoy learning about the work of artists. So I am someone, perhaps because of my curatorial background, who likes to meet artists. I like to visit studios. I want to know and learn. And I think, again, artists have a great way of helping me and others to think about things, and see things in really interesting ways, and sometimes really profound ways. And I embrace that.”

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Telfair Museums' new director and CEO takes the reigns on Sept. 1