The Seattle Art Museum is rethinking what a museum can mean to the people and communities it serves. In this conversation, Scott Stulen, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO, and Brandon Vaughan, Board Trustee, discuss the museum’s evolving role, its three distinct locations, and its efforts to create more accessible, engaging experiences. From hands-on artmaking and new public spaces to programs that encourage discovery and conversation, the museum is working to become a more active part of life in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.
Interview by: Mark Oppenheim
Guests:
- Scott Stulen, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO
- Brandon Vaughan, Board Trustee
Key Points
- Museums must continually evolve to remain meaningful and relevant to changing communities and audiences.
- The Seattle Art Museum’s three locations—the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Asian Art Museum, and Olympic Sculpture Park—offer different ways to connect with visitors.
- The museum is expanding and renovating its public spaces, creating more free activities, and making art more visible and accessible to the surrounding neighborhood.
- Hands-on programs, local artist collaborations, performances, and unexpected experiences encourage visitors to participate rather than simply observe.
- The museum aims to foster discovery, creativity, and encounters with different perspectives while building relationships that bring people back.
Other Points on Seattle Art Museum
Scott Stulen describes the museum’s central challenge as understanding what it means to be a museum today. As audiences and communities change, institutions must find ways to remain relevant and meaningful to the people who walk through their doors. He sees the Seattle Art Museum’s responsibility as extending beyond its international presence to building stronger connections with its neighborhood, Seattle, and the greater Pacific Northwest. He also points to public libraries as examples of institutions that have adapted their services to meet the distinct needs of different communities.
The Seattle Art Museum’s three locations provide opportunities to reach people in different ways. The downtown museum, Seattle Asian Art Museum, and Olympic Sculpture Park each have their own histories, collections, and settings. Stulen wants exhibitions and programs to encourage discovery across cultures, time periods, and artistic traditions, rather than keeping collections separated into chronological or geographic categories. Vaughan emphasizes that museums are learning spaces where visitors can have meaningful experiences with art and with one another, whether through a gallery visit, a family activity, or time outdoors in the sculpture park.
A major part of the museum’s plans involves making its spaces more welcoming and accessible. Stulen describes renovations that will expand public areas before the ticketed galleries, add seating and signage, and provide hands-on programming with artists that visitors can enjoy for free. The museum is also developing its connection to the waterfront and Olympic Sculpture Park, including new interpretive approaches and programs such as an artist-designed mini golf course. At the downtown location, initiatives like Studio at SAM invite visitors to work alongside local artists, create their own prints, and contribute to a shared installation. These experiences offer new entry points for people who might not otherwise visit an art museum.
Vaughan describes the museum’s evolution into a community and cultural space, where people can meet, spend time, participate in activities, and encounter experiences beyond traditional gallery visits. Both guests see active participation and unexpected discovery as important parts of the museum experience. Vaughan notes that creating art gives visitors an opportunity to contribute their own ideas, while Stulen compares the discovery of art in a museum to finding unexpected music beyond the recommendations of an algorithm. Seeing artwork in person, in its full scale and context, can create a different experience from viewing it online. The goal is to give visitors reasons to return while making room for new perspectives and creative experiences.