Sky Blue Boys
In plain sight
Old ballads, heart songs and sacred numbers
Spittlebugs blow bubbles to keep themselves safe
Page 8
Page 11
Volume 52 Number 29
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shelburnenews.com
July 20, 2023
Champlain solitude
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
A kayaker enjoys the stillness of Lake Champlain after days of rain deluged Vermont, causing widespread flooding and destruction. Many areas in the Champlain Valley were spared.
Native Arts project
Shelburne Museum severs ties with architect LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
After reports of sexual assault by architect Sir David Adjaye surfaced this month the Shelburne Museum has cut ties with him to design the museum’s new $12.6 million Perry Art Center for Native American Art. In an original report by The Financial Times, three women accused Adjaye of various forms of exploitation from sexual assault and harassment to a toxic work environment that left them mentally distressed, financially insecure and fearful for the future of their careers. In May, the Shelburne Museum
announced it would be partnering with Adjaye and his firm Adjaye Designs to design the new art center that is set to house an expansive collection of Indigenous art donated to the museum by Vermont resident Anthony Perry and his wife, Teri Perry. “The recent allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against David Adjaye, and his admission of inappropriate behavior, are incompatible with our mission and values, which left the museum with no alternative but to immediately sever ties with the architect and his firm,” Tom Denenberg, director and CEO of the museum, said this week. The firm is most prominently
known for its work on the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016 in the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The allegations have caused projects and partners nationwide to separate with the architect and his firm. Denenberg said that the project should remain on track to be completed by spring 2026 and break ground in the fall of 2024, but the project is at a standstill as the team strategizes the new design of the project. “We actually should be OK on the timeline,” Denenberg said. “We’re into the process of figuring out the next way of organizing
the design of the project and there are a number of good options. The way that the timeline had been constructed before it was actually there was a little bit of wiggle room in the spring of 2026 before it opened. So I think we’re going to be pretty close to where we were. We’re not terribly worried about the timeline.” He said the project hadn’t yet moved to the schematic design phase but was still being conceptualized. The project has had three architecture firms involved in the process, including Adjaye Designs as the design architect, and the project’s indigenous partner consultant, Two Row Architects, is in Canada.
But where exactly the design services will fall now is “unclear,” said Denenberg. “Obviously we’ve been in very close communication with (the other architects) and we’ve kept an open mind as to who can design the building. There are obviously strong feelings about that one way or another, but I’ve said since the beginning, what we want to do is make sure that we have a firm or an architect who all the different constituents are comfortable with.” The entire project has been years in the making to ensure cultural competency during a time See ADJAYE on page 13