Transcript: Resident Director David Macy Remembers former board chair Robin McNeil.
Thank you so much, Chi! Beautifully said, seven generations true.
To the staff thanks that Chi began with, I need to start today with a callout to the kitchen team, Jeannine, Wendy, Steve, Babette, and Bev, and especially their leader, Chef Scott Tyle because last night beneath this tent Scott served his 19th feast for 250 people. It was his swan song, he’ll be leaving us by the end of this year. For twenty years, without a single missed beat, Scott and his team have put three delicious meals on the table, 365 days per year. Now, if you’re doing the math in your head, that’s 22,000 servings of artistic inspiration.
(laughter)
Scott, I know that you’re still at work, but I hope that you can hear the crowd when they acknowledge you for being an utterly brilliant chef, a dear friend, and a manager of unmatched integrity.
(applause and cheers)
When I was first assigned a speaking part in the Medal Ceremony, there was no tougher act to follow walking up to the lectern than Board Chairman Robin MacNeil. Robin was best-known as a broadcast journalist and co-anchor of the PBS MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour. He was also a trained Shakespearean actor with an immaculate baritone that could make a recitation of the periodic table seem brilliant (laughter). Here on the Medal Day stage, he revealed a less serious side of himself. He delivered his lines with … immaculate comic timing.
(laughter)
While I was deeply saddened by his passing in April, so many good memories have floated to the surface in the months since, and many of those memories were made right here with many of you. And speaking of Cheryl Young, you were here for a few of those, and Tom Putnam… Bravo, that’s the Dream Team right there. Great to have you back.
If you think back to those 18 years, during that time MacDowell awarded more than 4,000 Fellowships to 3,000 artists from 49 states and 48 countries; 57% of women; 44% of them writers, like Robin.
I will simply say that I miss Robin and end with a quote from him:
“I am comfortable being associated with things that are modest, that are not shouting advertisements for themselves, not flaunting celebrity, and that defines MacDowell… it is comforting to be a part of something that is so good, and yet can be quite shy about it.”
To you, Robin.
(applause)
It has become commonplace to hear, and every year it is printed in the press that Medal Day is the (makes air quotes) the ONLY day of the year when MacDowell is open to the public. In reality, MacDowell is not hermetically sealed. If you live in striking distance of the Monadnock region, you are hereby invited to MacDowell Downtown. It’s a series I’ve curated and introduced to downtown Peterborough since 2002, held on the first Friday of the month, March through November. One of those voluntary artist presentations is exported into Bass Hall at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture. The next installment will be Friday, August 2, when LA-based writer and musician Claire L. Evans will share her work. She blends art, biology, and technology, and I can’t wait to find out what she’s got to say.
With that it is time to pivot toward the ceremonial and to carry us into Yoko’s world, I’m happy to introduce Nora Halpern, the celebrated curator, art historian, arts policy specialist, and lifelong advocate for art, artists, democracy, and justice. Her bio is printed in today’s program, including major projects with Yoko in 2005 and 2009, the latter a retrospective at the Venice Biennale, 50 years of Yoko’s work installed in a 15th century palazzo.
For more than two decades, Halpern served as a vice president at the arts-advocacy juggernaut, Americans for the Arts. She is currently in the second year of her appointment to The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and with so many balls in the air, with so many airplanes grounded, we are deeply grateful that she has prioritized this occasion to be with us and help us celebrate the work of Yoko Ono.
Please give a warm Medal Day welcome to Nora Halpern!
(applause)
Visit our Medal Day page for video and photographs of the day.
Read Nell Painter’s welcome to the crowd, describing MacDowell as a creative sanctuary
Read curator Nora Halpern’s introduction to Yoko Ono as a loving and enduring force
Read David Newgarden’s acceptance of the 64th Edward MacDowell Medal on behalf of Yoko Ono
