Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Executive Director Michelle Hargrave, who has been at the helm of the KIA since May 2024, is Michigan born, raised and educated. The week we met she had just started her first art class in the KIA’s Kirk Newman Art School, a major part of the 100-year-old art museum.
“I’m taking weaving right now, and my goal is to move through each of the mediums,” she says. “It’s a great way to meet our students and instructors. This week we also met with a donor to present some choices on artwork to purchase, as they had pledged to fund some new acquisitions.”
Hargrave came to the KIA after leading the Figge Museum of Art, in Davenport, Iowa, for nearly five years. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s from Bard Graduate Center, in New York City. She remained on the East Coast for nearly 20 years, working for the American Federation of Arts and the New Britain Museum of American Art, before heading back to the Midwest.
“My work with the AFA involved working with museums and curators around the world on all kinds of exhibitions, which really helped me understand how art can connect us through time, medium and distance.”
How did you get where you are today?
I was drawn to the KIA because of its wonderful mission, incredible collection and phenomenal Kirk Newman Art School. It’s clear this is a community that cares about art and culture. When I was offered the job, it felt like coming full circle in returning to Michigan. I was happy to come to a community that reflects my values.
It was a wonderful time to join the organization — just in time to celebrate the 100 years of connecting people and art. The KIA is a unique institution. There aren’t a lot of places in the country that combine a respected museum with a really vibrant art school. I feel that we are a kind of oasis in downtown Kalamazoo that brings creativity, community and well-being through the arts.
What has been your focus since you got here?
We’re centering inclusion and belonging in our work, and collaboration is also very key to what we’re doing. We have formed new relationships and partnerships with organizations and schools throughout the community, including the Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers, and the Gun Lake Tribe. We’re going farther afield, not to duplicate what others are doing but to enhance their work as they enhance ours.
We’ve also started doing outreach to meet people where they’re at — like the Boys & Girls Club, El Concilio, the Kalamazoo Public Library. We want to bring art to students and after-school programs, to remove that transportation barrier. And to make sure that everyone feels like they belong here, we’ve launched free Thursdays, when we’re open until 8 p.m.
I’m excited about what’s coming next. We are thinking about what the community needs and wants from the KIA, which may be an evolution from what it has been. So, we’re listening, adapting, taking in feedback and taking some bold risks.
What keeps you up at night?
Like so many others, we’re emerging from the disruptions of the pandemic, and (we’re) doing so with a renewed sense of purpose alongside some hard realities, trying to balance our aspirations with financial constraints. Our building has sections that date to 1961 and that require some significant infrastructure improvements.
Fundraising is always a challenge, particularly in a place with so many worthy causes. Our admission covers just a fraction of our costs, so we appreciate donors who contribute to the scholarship fund so everyone has the opportunity to take classes and (we appreciate) our members, who are helping us ensure that we’re here for future generations.
Another thing we face is that more people have gotten comfortable staying at home. I always say our biggest competitor is not another museum. It’s people’s couches. But what we offer is irreplaceable: an in-person experience with a work of art, making and taking something from one of our studios, fostering a connection, a conversation with somebody as you look at a work of art and learn a new perspective.
What’s on view now and coming up for the KIA?
We have three current exhibitions wrapping up this fall and will be opening the Kirk Newman Faculty Review, which highlights our talented instructors. October will bring our gala, when we honor Joy and Timothy Light, who have been so generous in helping introduce audiences in our region to Asian art and culture. Their East Asian Art Fund has underwritten Washi Transformed, which will fill two first-floor galleries.
Do you have a favorite part of your job?
I’d have to say the people. I’m very lucky to be working with such a talented team, and I enjoy meeting with potential board members, talking with donors or strolling the galleries and seeing how people are reacting to our exhibitions. I try to get into the galleries regularly. That fuels me and fills my well.
I love to see the people who experience what we offer — the child who lights up in the gallery, the students who experiment in the studios, the instructor who brings out the creativity in someone for the first time, the visitor who can breathe and find peace in the gallery, who feels like “I’ve found a place that I belong.” That’s the part that makes my challenges recede a little, makes me excited to get up every morning and come to work.
— Interview by Katie Houston, edited for length and clarity
