Community: bloggers@brooklynmuseum

It was about 4:30pm on Saturday when Shelley called me. Interestingly enough, I was here at the Museum giving a talk to our Student Guides on Membership and leading a group from my college’s alumni association through our Caillebotte exhibition. Now, if you know Shelley you won’t be surprised to hear that she has no problem calling anyone she works with anytime, including nights and weekends.  This time, she was calling to say that something crazy was happening. “A support revolution is getting started online,” she said. Sure enough, she was right.

Friday was an up and down day here at the Museum and on Saturday afternoon, 1stfan Member Nina Simon seized the moment when delivering her closing plenary at the Museums and the Web conference by encouraging anyone who cared about the Brooklyn Museum to join as a Member. Roughly around the same time, New Curator put out a similar call to action.

Then, 1stfans and colleagues from other institutions lit up twitter with the same message. Within hours, 21 people had signed up for 1stfans Membership, many of them from around the world. In New Zealand, Courtney Johnson joined and wrote a spectacular blog post in which she volunteered to buy 1stfans Memberships for four people who would comment on her post or would pass it along to others.

In tough times, I find that Members often can help the Museum with the important work that needs to be done. Not only do they contribute much-needed financial support, but they bring friends when they visit, they shop at the Museum and share their experiences in a variety of ways.  This weekend was no exception, but the support generated online was so swift and heartfelt, that it took us by total surprise. We continue to be extremely grateful for the support of every one of our members: thank you all.