photo by Jenny Wheat
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is home to objects that reflect global traditions and religious beliefs. Over the next five years, with generous support from the Lilly Endowment Inc., we have been given a unique opportunity to showcase and interpret works of art in new ways through our World Religions Initiative. This strategic initiative funds exhibitions of religious artwork, including the current exhibition “Sonam Dolma Brauen: My Father’s Death” (on view through November 2024), new information and fresh wall labels in some of our most popular galleries, and dynamic programming, including our large-scale cultural festivals.
Planning for this exciting new project began in 2022 and has been informed by national religious studies scholars and local faith advisors. Together, these groups helped our internal team create a compelling suite of offerings that aim to engage community members in telling their own stories, recognize the multi-vocal character of religious traditions, and provide fair and accurate portrayals of religions and their role in history and society.
A project such as this is quite new for us. While our museum houses many objects associated with Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism (among many other traditions), we rarely position these objects in the context of religious belief. This may be because religion can be a divisive and intimidating topic. It elicits strong reactions and while it has the power to bring people together, it can also ignite difficult conversations. It is precisely for these reasons, however, that the World Religions Initiative is vital and relevant for our audiences. In this moment in our country where everything feels so divided, where can you go to ask questions and learn about diverse religious traditions? We believe that through programming and new interpretation, we can be a resource for cross-cultural dialogue, learning and understanding.
The World Religions Initiative also lets us reimagine some of our most beloved spaces and objects in the collection, including the Chinese and Hindu Temple Rooms and the arresting “Gates of Paradise” in the Bloch Building. Through new digital experiences, we will be better able to tell the stories of these objects and spaces and help people connect to the works of art on a new level, appreciating the religious traditions that produced them and how those beliefs are embedded in the objects.
This project is grounded in community involvement, and we are indebted to our community advisors who continue to help us think through how best to engage with the topic of religion in our galleries and through programming. Chief among these conversations is how we continue to expand our popular day-long cultural festivals, specifically Lunar New Year, Dia de los Muertos and the Native American Cultural Celebration. These celebrations, which bring thousands of visitors to the museum, help us transform the museum into a space to celebrate culture in all ways including art, music, dance and food. With funding from the Lilly Endowment this year, we were able to expand our engagement with school groups, creating unique opportunities for them to engage with our Dia de los Muertos altar and even create their own offerings in honor of loved ones.
We hope you’ll visit the museum periodically over the next five years as we continue our exploration of complex topics and commit to important and enlightening conversations.
–Rachel Nicholson, Former Director, Visitor Engagement and Research
