In September 2022, Nathaniel Silver left his job at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston to take over as leader of the historic campus and farm that once housed a utopian Christian sect. He spoke to WAMC last August:
“I think there are a couple of really incredible cornerstones that gives the Village really like a guiding North Star, and those are the Shaker values themselves. The Shakers believed deeply in equity, gender and racial equity, and I think that's something that that the public programs have been really helping to drive home. And they believed very deeply in sustainability, and that affects the whole campus at Hancock Shaker Village. And that's something that I think we can find new and really fascinating ways of communicating to our visitors.”
Just 11 months later, Silver is returning to the Gardner Museum to serve as its chief curator and associate director — once again leaving a leadership vacuum at the Village. To find out more about Silver’s departure and what it means for the organization, WAMC spoke with board chair Bob Plotz.
PLOTZ: Nat joined us last year. He has a PhD in art history with a focus in Renaissance art, and his whole career before coming to us was in the fine arts museums- At the at the Gardner Museum in Boston, the Frick Collection in New York. He came to us and really dove in and did a great job for us over the last year, but he got an offer from the Gardner to become its chief curator and associate director, and for his own career trajectory, decided that that was an offer he just couldn't refuse. So, he very reluctantly stepped down from us, because he really did like it here. But it was for his career. He felt it was the proper thing to do, to go to the Gardner again.
WAMC: So, what does this mean for the Village? What's the next step?
We are in great shape. We're sorry to see him leave, but honestly, we will proceed with all our initiatives, initiatives, and programs without any hiccups. We have an interim director who's our vice chair, Carrie Holland, who is well known in the Berkshire community, and she has worked at Mill Town [Capital] for many years. She's very experienced in business. She's been on the board of the Village since 2020 and knows the Village intimately. She's already rolled up her sleeves and gotten involved, and she starts officially on Monday after Nat leaves. So, I enjoyed working with Nat. But working with Carrie will be a pleasure. It will be easy. We know each other well, and I really don't foresee any hiccups.
Now, long term, when it comes to finding the next permanent head for the Village, what does that timeline look like? And has anything about this experience changed the kind of search you’ll be conducting?
The fact that Carrie is the interim director gives us just a little bit of breathing space. The Village is in good hands with her as interim director. The search committee is meeting, we're going to set the parameters and priorities, but we know that we have the time to get the director we want. And I'm optimistic that that will happen in not too long. But we don't have to rush because we have Carrie on board.
Is there anything from the brief Silver era that you think might carry on forward into the future of the organization?
Nat was a fine director, and he did a lot of very nice things. The major thing that he really focused on was with our building project, which we announced last year, which is on schedule. We're in the design development phase. And he was very helpful with his museum background in terms of assisting the building committee in making its decision. So that project is continuing and I think his impact will be felt there. We've had a very successful season this year, and I think that we are on a positive trajectory which we've been in for a while, and I foresee that continuing.
