backstory: Poetics of “the work”

That’s not “the work” we’re supposed to be doing.
You’re not doing “the work.”
But what’s “the work” that needs to be done?

What do I really mean when I say, “the work”? I mean the core of what we do … the tasks that go to the meaning of why we do what we do.

Now a segue.

I just got back yesterday from the Association of Art Museum Directors annual conference in Washington DC. It was great to see my colleagues, especially in person. During one of the sessions, Saralyn Reece Hardy—one of my most brilliant peers who runs the Spencer Art Museum at the University of Kansas—asked this question to a presenter: “What about the poetics of the work? The poetry of what we do?”

Poetry? Of “the work”?

Hmmm.

I forgot about the poetry. Not the reason for the work or the need for the work but the poetry of the work. I think I lost it during the pandemic. Now I’m making the effort to imagine what the poetry is and how to find it again for what we do.

Did you ever lose the poetry of what you do? Let me know how you found it again.

Tracy Fitzpatrick
Director, Neuberger Museum of Art

Find me on Twitter @tracyfitzart