Olana Partnership

TO INSPIRE THE PUBLIC BY PRESERVING AND INTERPRETING OLANA, FREDERIC CHURCH'S ARTISTIC MASTERPIECE.

EDUCATION / INTERPRETATION: TOP'S VISITOR SERVICES (VS) TEAM ENJOYED A SUCCESSFUL 2023, WELCOMING OVER 37,000 GUESTS ON PUBLIC TOURS, A 9% INCREASE OVER 2022. REVENUE EXCEEDED PROJECTIONS BY 10%, AND APPROXIMATELY 20% OF PARK VISITORS AT OLANA ENJOYED A TICKETED TOUR. DURING THE SUMMER AND FALL SEASONS, ROUGHLY 20% OF TICKETS SOLD WERE LANDSCAPE TOURS WHICH INCLUDES WALKING, ELECTRIC VEHICLE, AND COMBO TOURS, AND OVERALL LANDSCAPE TOUR ATTENDANCE CONTINUES TO INCREASE YEAR OVER YEAR. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE 3-IN-1 COMBO TOUR, LANDSCAPE-MAIN FLOOR-EXHIBITION, HELPED DRIVE ATTENDANCE ON WALKING LANDSCAPE TOURS AND TOP WELCOMED 1,000 ADDITIONAL GUESTS ON LANDSCAPE TOURS IN 2023, AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 35%. WE CONTINUED TO ENCOURAGE VISITORS TO EXPLORE THE LANDSCAPE ON THEIR OWN AS WELL, UTILIZING A FREE MAP OR AUDIO GUIDE DOWNLOAD. VISITORS ACTIVELY UTILIZED TOUR TICKETING DISCOUNTS, RESULTING IN $43,000 IN ADULT PUBLIC TICKET SAVINGS AND $34,000 IN SAVINGS FOR GUESTS 16 YEARS OLD AND UNDER, WHO RECEIVE FREE ADMISSION. NOTABLY, THE LIBRARY PASS PROGRAM CONTINUED TO GROW, AND USE ON MAIN FLOOR TOURS WAS UP 30% OVER THE PREVIOUS YEAR, REPRESENTING $19,000 IN VISITOR SAVINGS. TOP WAS PLEASED TO WELCOME BACK 15 EXPERIENCED INTERPRETIVE STAFF MEMBERS FOR THE SUMMER AND FALL SEASONS, IN ADDITION TO HIRING 3 NEW PART-TIME INTERPRETIVE STAFF AND 2 NEW PART-TIME VISITOR SERVICES AND ENGAGEMENT COORDINATORS STAFF. THESE SEASONAL STAFF MEMBERS JOINED OTHER TOP AND OPRHP COLLEAGUES FOR OLANA UNIVERSITY, OUR THREE-DAY INTENSIVE TRAINING WORKSHOP HELD IN LATE APRIL OF 2023. IN 2023, WE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED A LIMITED RUN OF SPANISH LANGUAGE TOURS, WORKING TOGETHER WITH TOP'S MARKETING AND EDUCATION TEAMS ON TARGETED PROMOTION AND OUTREACH.

COLLECTIONS / EXHIBITIONS: THIS WAS A YEAR OF GROWTH FOR TOP'S CURATORIAL DEPARTMENT, AS WE WELCOMED A NEW EXHIBITIONS MANAGER, BLAKELY KRALOVEC, AND BROUGHT ON DR. ELIZABETH KORNHAUSER, CURATOR EMERITA OF THE AMERICAN WING AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, AS SENIOR CONSULTING CURATOR. DR. KORNHAUSER WILL BE ACTIVATING MUSEUMS AND SCHOLARS NATIONWIDE TO PARTICIPATE IN CHURCH 200, OUR 2026 INITIATIVE MARKING THE BICENTENNIAL OF FREDERIC CHURCH'S BIRTH. BLAKELY KRALOVEC, WHO BRINGS MORE THAN 15 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN COLLECTIONS AND EXHIBITIONS MANAGEMENT TO HER ROLE, HAS IMPLEMENTED NEW ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESSES AND EXPANDED OUR CAPACITY TO TAKE ON AMBITIOUS EXHIBITIONS. FROM MAY-OCTOBER WE PRESENTED TERRAFORMING: OLANA'S HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION UNEARTHED, AN INDOOR-OUTDOOR EXHIBITION CURATED BY ARTIST DAVID HARTT. FEATURING 50 ORIGINAL 19TH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS COLLECTED BY FREDERIC CHURCH, PLUS SIX LARGE-SCALE REPRODUCTIONS OF CHURCH-OWNED PHOTOGRAPHS PLACED IN THE HISTORIC LANDSCAPE AND TWO NEW SITE-SPECIFIC ARTWORKS BY HARTT, TERRAFORMING EXCAVATED OLANA'S REMARKABLE TREASURE TROVE OF HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHY TO EXPLORE QUESTIONS OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE LAND. THE ACCOMPANYING CATALOGUE FEATURED 136 HISTORIC IMAGES SELECTED BY HARTT, ALONG WITH ESSAYS BY HARTT AND PHOTOGRAPHY HISTORIAN COREY KELLER. IN NOVEMBER WE OPENED OUR SECOND WINTER EXHIBITION, SPECTACLE: FREDERIC CHURCH AND THE BUSINESS OF ART, WHICH RESPONDED TO TWO OF OUR MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: HOW WERE CHURCH'S PAINTINGS EXPERIENCED IN THE 19TH CENTURY, AND HOW DID AN ARTIST MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO CREATE OLANA? SPECTACLE FEATURED A 2.5D DIGITAL EXPLORATION OF CHURCH'S 1859 MASTERPIECE HEART OF THE ANDES, ORIGINALLY PRODUCED BY THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM. ARTIFACTS FROM OLANA'S ARCHIVES THAT ILLUMINATE CHURCH'S BUSINESS PRACTICES WERE ON VIEW IN THE GALLERY. IN RESEARCH AND COLLECTIONS, MARY ROBERTS, A SCHOLAR OF ORIENTALIST ART AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, EXPLORED OLANA'S HISTORIC LIBRARY FOR AN INVESTIGATION OF CHURCH'S ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCES. VICTORIA JOHNSON VISITED THE NYS BUREAU OF HISTORIC SITES COLLECTIONS FACILITY TO INFORM HER WORK ON THE FIRST HOLISTIC BIOGRAPHY OF CHURCH. WE HOSTED SHANNON VITTORIA, THE MET'S ASSISTANT CURATOR OF AMERICAN PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURE, FOR A DEEP DIVE INTO CHURCH'S YEARS IN MEXICO FOR A FUTURE EXHIBITION. THE PAINTING A SOLITARY LAKE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE BY THOMAS COLE LEFT OLANA TO RECEIVE CONSERVATION TREATMENT IN ANTICIPATION OF A LOAN TO A TRAVELING EXHIBITION ORGANIZED BY THE THOMAS COLE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE FOCUSING ON INDIGENEITY AND LANDSCAPE PAINTING. THESE PROJECTS ARE AMONG MANY ONGOING THAT WILL CONTINUE TO RAISE OLANA'S PROFILE AND FOSTER NEW SCHOLARLY PERSPECTIVES ON CHURCH'S LIFE AND WORK, MORE THAN EVER AS WE BUILD TOWARDS 2026.

VISITOR SERVICES: THE ORGANIZATION IS RESPONSIBLE FOR INTERPRETING OLANA STATE HISTORIC SITE AND ITS COLLECTIONS FOR ALL VISITORS AND FOR ENSURING, TO THE BEST OF ITS ABILITY, THE SAFETY AND COMFORT OF VISITORS. TO THIS END, THE ORGANIZATION OFFERS A VARIETY OF REGULARLY SCHEDULED PUBLIC TOURS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR WITH TRAINED INTERPRETIVE STAFF. IT ALSO EMPLOYS AND TRAINS STAFF TO ASSIST VISITORS WITH ORIENTATION, WAYFINDING, TICKETING, AND PARKING. BY THE TERMS OF THE OPERATING AGREEMENT WITH NYS OPRHP, THE ORGANIZATION MUST HAVE A VISITOR SERVICES MANAGER ON SITE DURING ALL PUBLIC TOUR HOURS.