Q&A with Jennifer Evans, executive director of Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science
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In 2024, Jennifer Evans became executive director of the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science. Her predecessor, Mary McNamee Bower, retired after 45 years at the museum and transitioned to executive director emerita.
Evans spoke with Inside INdiana Business about her goals for the museum and the experience she brings to the executive director role.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tell me about your major gifts/planned giving officer role at WNIN.
I oversaw any type of major donor, individual donor, that supported the WNIN public media station. It was a new role, so I had to create it as I was doing it. A lot of it was communicating with the donors, engaging them in everything that was going on at the station and cultivating and stewarding their desires and how they supported public media.
Tell me about your development director role at Mesker Park Zoo.
At the zoo, I came in at a time when they had new leadership and were gearing up to take on a new capital project. They had just completed the first phase, which was installing a carousel, and it was in the style of the vintage carousels that we’re all familiar with. And also constructing an aviary and a lodge that was attached to that for additional facility space.
I came in right at the beginning of developing the second phase, which was the Penguins of Patagonia. It was to be a new exhibit for Humboldt penguins at the zoo. I took on that role and fundraised with my committee. We raised $7.3 million to construct that habitat.
In addition, I oversaw the membership at the zoo, general fundraising, events and sponsorships. I created the zoo’s magazine, Zoo Lovers, which is still in publication. I created their signature gala event, Vintage Vines, and that’s been going strong for the last probably seven years.
Tell me about your alumni and community engagement director role at Leadership Evansville.
A lot of that was cultivating relationships with our alumni and reaching out to people of interest in joining Leadership Evansville and going through their programming of leadership development. I helped organize their Celebration of Leadership awards program that they do annually in the springtime. I did fundraising in that role as well and got to be a part of leadership retreats, which are a lot of fun.
How did those experiences prepare you for the executive director role at Evansville Museum?
I’ve almost always worked for nonprofits or public service and done a lot of volunteer projects. I know this community well, which allows me to be resourceful whenever you’re looking at fiscal oversight for the museum.
A lot of my background also includes development, which is a hub with marketing events, fundraising and program creation. Being able to fall back on that, to help promote and grow admissions and memberships for the museum and help communicate all the great things that our staff does at the museum, that’s one of my focal points.
A lot of the work that I’ve done as far as neighborhood revitalization with Leadership Evansville and going back even further, it’s strategic planning and diving in deep to help create a broader vision for individuals and organizations and communities and then setting up the steps and objectives that need to happen to reach that vision.
You began working at the museum last July. How’s it going?
It can be overwhelming trying to learn everything as well as help out. But it’s been exciting. It’s been a lot of fun to learn from staff, what their roles are and help them form goals and objectives that they want to achieve for their departments, for themselves.
We held our annual ball at the beginning of November, stepping out there in front of the audience to help support the museum. We did an opening reception for our exhibitions in September. That was a lot of fun as well and getting to see the process the curators work through whenever they install a new exhibit.
What are your short-term and long-term goals?
[Short-term]: looking at our marketing and communications strategies and how we can reach a broader audience. Looking at development and fundraising and some of those opportunities to not only cultivate relationships with our supporters but also grow sponsorship dollars, individual giving for the museum. Our new Picasso exhibit was an a-ha moment for our community to have such a great piece of art for folks to visit. How can we build upon that momentum?
[Long-term]: we’re hitting a point where we’re reviewing and getting ready to update our internal strategic plan. That’s where we’ll start to flesh out some of those long-term visions. There are some exciting things coming up for the museum. We’re going to hit our 100th anniversary within the next few years. That’s something we need to take a moment and celebrate.
What challenges do you expect to face as executive director?
A personal challenge of mine is the desire to want to know it all right now but knowing that’s impossible. I’m a curious person, and there are always going to be opportunities to learn. We’re still overcoming some of the challenges from the pandemic of growing our members. That’s a challenge we’ve been great about. We’ve had a lot of success with the eclipse and Picasso in helping to bring interest in the museum. That’s going to be something we continue to focus on.
How do you feel about stepping into this role after Mary McNamee Bower’s retirement?
It’s been wonderful to get to know Mary. I was lucky enough that we had a very wonderful transition, and I’ve been able to gain a lot of context from her, even on internal processes. I have big shoes to fill because she has been such a tremendous part of the museum.
It’s cool whenever you sit back and you see someone who has invested their lifetime into an organization and a career, and you think about all of the people in our community who have passed through those doors in the last 45 years and how she somehow helped shape those individuals. That’s such a cool honor.
What do you want people to know about the museum that they may not know?
I love to ask, whenever I meet with folks, “When’s the last time you’ve been to the museum?” I get a lot of different answers, and a lot of times, it’s been a long time. If it’s been a long time, come see us. You would be surprised at all the different things to learn and admire at the museum. We’ve got arts, history and science, and all of them are wonderful exhibitions, wonderful programming and wonderful events.