b'Taking Art and Community VirtualPhoto by Mike Peters.The Newark Museum of Art not only survived the pandemic, it thrivedBY TIA SWANSONA shasbecomepainfullyap- largest collection of art, and in the city often seen asmuseumsviceMaplewood resident Deborah parentoverthelastseveralthe poor stepchild of New York, might have faredpresidentof months,thepandemicwaseven more badly. It also had to close its doors, re- externalaffairs catastrophicforculturalin- openingonlyrecently,andstillisoperatingwithandaMaple-stitutions; some of those hitstrict limits on the number of daily visitors. woodresident. hardest were the nations artIt is all the more surprising and remarkable, then,Itsgratifying museums. In February of thisthat in many ways the museum, long a cultural andto see the prog-year, for example, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,educational resource for Newark and its surroundingress.the nations largest art museum, announced that itcommunities, has seen its reputation and its missionSome of that was considering selling some of its collection in or- soar. Along the way, it not only has rededicated itselfworkhashadKasindorf is the vice president der to cover an $150 million operating deficit causedto its primary purposeits art collection and its ex- very little to doof external affairs at the Newark by its closure. hibitionsbut to its mission as a cultural and edu- with art. One ofMuseum.It would seem reasonable to assume, then, thatcational center for all. We continue to work to bethe things of which Kasindorf is most proud in the the Newark Museum of Art, with the nations 12thas relevant as possible, says Deborah Kasindorf, thelast 18 months is the museums partnering with the 18/ matters magazine / school 2021'