Biden appoints Reynolda director to National Museum board

Reynolda House Executive Director Allison Perkins has been tapped by President Joe Biden to serve on the National Museum and Library Services Board.

Perkins, along with 10 other professionals named to the board, will advise the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on policy issues, select annual National Medals recipients, and more. The appointment comes as Perkins's career approaches its 40th year. She began in art museum education, joined Reynolda in 2006, and was named associate provost for the museum and gardens by Wake Forest University nearly a decade later. Perkins says museums and institutions like IMLS that support them provide a crucial public service allowing people to learn, imagine, and discover.  

"Works of art, books in libraries can begin to define a better sense of your own personal identity," says Perkins. "And that's formed through experience, and it's formed through knowledge. The accumulated knowledge over time enables an individual to build a sense of confidence in who they are and how they look at the world around them."

Perkins says she's thrilled to be working with IMLS, an organization whose strategic goals mirror those at Reynolda: champion lifelong learning, strengthen community engagement, advance collections stewardship, and demonstrate excellence in public service. She adds that IMLS grants have benefitted museums nationwide including each of the six museums she's worked for during her career.

She says two consequential IMLS grants have helped propel Reynolda's work forward. One allowed the public to thoroughly search Reynolda's collections online. Another enabled the museum to present a web-based virtual tour titled Reynolda Revealed.

“To be able to share all the stories of Reynolda in one space on a free downloadable app — to be able to provide that level of detail and that level of storytelling which we can go in and modify at any point in time — those were two game-changers for Reynolda House,” says Perkins.

She adds local and national museumgoers also benefit from the national Museums for All program introduced by IMLS. It removes barriers to participation by providing free admission to individuals and family members who receive food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Perkins says she's looking forward to sharing ideas with her new board member colleagues from across the country and bringing new ideas home to Forsyth County. She'll continue her day job at Reynolda and Wake Forest University. The IMLS board typically meets a couple of times a year in Washington, D.C.