This year, the Rose Art Museum is moving forward with major changes to its administration, preservation standards and overall image on campus. With these changes, the Rose is well on its way to recovering its image and status from its near-closure just four years ago.

In addition to hiring Chris Bedford as director in the summer of 2012, the Rose recently promoted Kristin Parker to deputy director, nearly doubled its staff and assembled a Board of Advisors who had their first meeting in September.

The restructuring of the Rose's administration started in 2010 when there was an informal meeting of the Board of Overseers in which they discussed their hopes for the future of the museum, according to Kristin Parker in an interview with the Justice. Parker said, "getting a director was one of those big hopes."

This year is the first time that the Rose has had a Board of Advisors since the scandal in 2009 during the financial crisis, in which the University attempted to sell the Rose's collection. The Board of Advisers has replaced the Board of Overseers to provide both "financial" and "intellectual" support for the Rose, Parker said. The Board has fiscal responsibilities and members who are also knowledgeable about art, especially modern art, so that they can assist in decisions regarding the exhibits.

According to Parker, the Board is also looking to rewrite the mission statement for the museum. Parker noted that this revitalization of the Board of Advisors came with Bedford's directorship. "We needed a visionary [to] come up with the next steps," Parker said. "Bedford provided them with that direction. Bedford said in an email to the Justice that the rewrite of the mission statement will be a "collaboration between various stakeholders including the Rose Board, Rose staff, university administration and students."

This year, the Rose has also doubled its staff. Parker said that despite the fact that the museum is still not up to capacity, it is not looking for any new staffers at present while most of the key operational areas including security, conservation and directorship are being covered.

One important new hire is Jennifer Yee, who was hired as patron services coordinator, a position that had not existed at the Rose until this year. Her job includes assisting with security, helping coordinate events such as the annual SCRAM Jam and training student gallery guards. In an interview with the Justice for the Nov. 19 JustArts weekly interview column, Yee mentioned that she had had guards come up to her and say that they have "never had this kind of direction before."

Parker herself has also made some key changes to the Rose since she was hired last year. With a background in conservation and preservation, she has been working to improve on the Rose's preservation standards. Parker said that when she came, the Rose was in need of what she called a "TLC" treatment. Parker's "TLC" treatment includes preventative maintenance, which she herself does, and bringing in conservators that she knows from her days at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as well as some conservators from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Parker mentioned that through some preservation work, the Rose realized that an Al Loving collage in storage was actually hanging upside down on an acidic baking board. Not only are the preservation projects helping to maintain the pieces, but they also made sure that a piece of artwork wouldn't be displayed upside down.

The Rose itself also seems to be undergoing a "TLC" treatment. According to Parker, the museum is being "rebranded," along with the rebranding of Brandeis. Bedford commented that changes will be well underway by fall 2014. This rebranding includes a redesign of the website, a task with which Library and Technology Services is assisting.

Parker said that the Rose is looking to publish lectures given at the museum as well as a collection database online. She noted that although they have been working on the collection database for two years, it is still in the works due to the enormous size of the project and the fact that the museum has only dedicated one person to the task.

Bedford described his vision for the Rose; he said, "I'd like the faculty and students to feel that the Rose, it exhibitions, programs and superb collection all belong to them, that the museum is central to their lives as members of the campus community, and that it's as much a classroom as a place to meet each other, have fun, and be social. I think art should be integral to daily life and [the Rose is] a site on campus where that's possible." 
*