Newly-Created Role to Implement Strategic Plan to Strengthen and Grow Unique National Network of Historic Sites
Stockbridge, Mass. (April 3, 2017) - The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced today that Valerie Balint will join the organization as the new program manager of the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios (HAHS) program, based at Chesterwood in Stockbridge, Mass. Balint’s mission is to enhance the relevance and reputation of HAHS member sites in their communities so as to contribute to a national conversation on the arts in American public life.
“With Valerie’s strong curatorial expertise and interest in working in artists’ homes and studios, she will be a great asset to the HAHS program and its membership,” said Donna Hassler, executive director of Chesterwood and administrator of the HAHS program.
The HAHS program manager is a new, full-time position with a three-year tenure, funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. Balint will be responsible for implementing a new strategic plan and overseeing the internal and external communications for the program.
“I am excited to begin my work with the National Trust and Chesterwood and to collaborate with the esteemed scholars who advise us on this program. We hope to bring Historic Artists’ Homes & Studios to new heights and to new audiences,” said Balint. “At these diverse artists’ homes and creative spaces, we can be inspired to learn as much as we would at a traditional museum art exhibition. I welcome the opportunity to find ways to expand and strengthen the program and our membership, while also engaging wider audiences in the uniquely transformative experience that each of these places offers visitors.”
Balint most recently served as the Interim Director of Collections and Research for The Olana Partnership at Olana, NY, the historic home and studio of nineteenth-century landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church, a central figure in the famous Hudson River School. Prior to joining Olana’s curatorial department in 2000, Ms. Balint worked at the Frelinghuysen Morris Foundation and at Chesterwood on special curatorial projects. From 1992 to 1995, she was the New York State Coordinator for Save Outdoor Sculpture, a national project of the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution, to document public sculpture in the United States.
Balint also served on the editorial board of Columbia Heritage Magazine and currently, is the co-Vice President of the Hudson Opera House in Hudson, NY. She is a longtime advocate for the important place that American artists’ homes hold within the greater context of art and cultural history in this country.
About the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios
The Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios network is a peer-to-peer coalition of sites that brings these museums together to conserve the legacy of creativity in the visual arts in America. Since its establishment by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1999, HAHS has developed into a successful community of practice, working with 36 member sites that serve tens of thousands of visitors in nearly every part of the United States. This network of sites leverages the knowledge and experience of individual members to benefit the entire coalition in critical areas, including historic preservation, visitor and community programming, and communications.
More information on the HAHS program can be found at the HAHS website – artistshomes.org.
