Zaps are notes of awareness and pleas for action that appear in the corresponding print edition of Bird Observer. Here they are from the current issue.
August 1, 2024
2 MIN READ
Zaps
Dr. Jennifer Tafe named new Director at Mass Audubon Museum of American Bird Art
LINCOLN—Mass Audubon has named Dr. Jennifer Tafe the new Director of its Museum of American Bird Art (MABA).
In her new role, Tafe will focus on diversifying and enlivening the MABA collection, expanding partnerships designed to promote connections more widely between art and nature, and encourage conversations through thought-provoking exhibitions and programs that advance Mass Audubon’s 21st-century conservation goals.
“Art museums have the power to change the world, and the Museum of American Bird Art serves to inspire empathy, connection, and awareness, and to illustrate the interconnected beauty of life on this planet,” Tafe noted. “MABA is more than an art museum; it is a catalyst for a collective commitment to value and protect the delicate balance of our natural world.”
She succeeds former director Amy Montague, who served in that position for more than 30 years and during her tenure conceived and developed the Visual Arts Center at the former estate of artist Mildred Morse Allen in Canton, which became the Museum of American Bird Art.
Tafe, who earned a Doctorate in Art History from Boston University and most recently served as a Visiting Scholar at Brandeis University in Waltham, brings deep museum experience to the position, including several years at The Phillips Collection and a multi-year relationship with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. There, as a member of that museum’s Art and Science Committee, she developed exhibits and programs that brought art and nature together, often to raise awareness of environmental and climate concerns.
The new director is also committed to the roles that museums can play as agents of change. Under her leadership, MABA will inspire engaged, diverse, and inclusive audiences while serving to leverage art to connect people with the crucial conservation issues of our time: climate change, biodiversity, and equitable and inclusive access to nature. Renata Pomponi, Mass Audubon’s Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, shared her enthusiasm for Tafe’s arrival, saying, “Under Jennifer’s leadership, we are excited to see MABA play a unique role in presenting conservation issues in ways that are relevant, innovative, and inspiring. “Mass Audubon is looking forward to the next phase of MABA’s development as both a world-class collection of American bird art and a vehicle for moving people to action,” Pomponi added.
Tafe has already begun in her new role. Please visit www.massaudubon.org/maba to learn more about the museum.