MoNA staff grateful to all

Dear Community:

These are challenging times for our beloved Museum and the MoNA Community. As outlined in recent media, there has been good, bad and ugly. We want to assure our Community that we, the Staff, are here for you, and for your museum. We believe in the Museum’s mission and vision. We look forward to coming to work every day, working together for a common purpose: to connect people with art; to allow every visitor young and old to experience the incomparable power of art; and to value our artists, donors, members and volunteers.

We want to express our gratitude for the tremendous outpouring of support over these challenging weeks from so many of you: home-baked goodies, notes of appreciation, emails, phone calls, visits. Thank you, you make a difference. We’re grateful to the board for their long hours and dedication in steering our institution through these choppy waters. All these generous efforts make our work that much more gratifying. We feel fortunate to have not only one another but also to have all of you who continue to support, volunteer, donate and believe. It takes a village.

We want you the Community to know that there is a wonderful institution beyond some of the messaging you might be reading and hearing. We invite you to visit and take in the compelling art, witness school children reveling in their museum experience, chat with a helpful docent about the current exhibit, and have some fun shopping in our unique store.

Finally, we want to express our appreciation to outgoing Executive Director Christopher Shainin for his five years of dedicated service and leadership to MoNA. He has worked tirelessly to move MoNA forward as a regional leader in NW art, and he leaves a legacy of growth and excellence. We will miss his wonderful humor, organization, brilliance, relentless energy and can-do spirit.

Looking forward to seeing you at our/your museum,

The MoNA Staff: Kyra Arnett, Mary Bohmke, Clara Duff,

Chloe Dye Sherpe, Keshema May, TessaRose Petersen,

Stefanie Terasaki,

Jasmine Valandani,

Marlene Viloria