Charles E. Bethea, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum’s new Chief Curator and Director of Collections. (Courtesy Photo)
Baltimore—Charles E. Bethea, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum’s new Chief Curator and Director of Collections and Exhibitions, knows he is coming to Baltimore at a particularly significant time for the city.
He started the job in October, just months after the death of Freddie Gray and the unrest that followed, as crime is on the rise and as the city decides what to do with its Confederate monuments. He said that be believes that the museum has a place in all of that.
“One of the beautiful things about the museum as a whole — not just the Reginald F. Lewis — but museums as a whole, is that museums are about social change,” Bethea said. “They are vehicles and venues for that discussion and dialogue. There are not too many organizations or industries out there that allow. for such – in theory – an unbiased approach to a particular subject matter.
“We’re a history museum so we want to tell history and we’re going to be unapologetic about the history which we portray. But to maintain our relevancy in current events, we are the vehicle to help that discussion take place.”
As curator, Bethea is tasked with managing the museum’s art and exhibitions. He must determine what pieces the museum needs and acquire them, organize exhibitions, plan for special projects and oversee research.
He said that so far, he has spent a lot of his time in Baltimore doing an assessment of the museum.
“I want to take an in-depth look at the type of collections we currently have, fill in some blanks within those particular collections, and go after more objects and what-have-you just to make us a little more robust in certain areas of history and culture,” he said.
He said he also foresaw more visits like ballerina Misty Copeland’s visit to the museum back in August, which drew lines that snaked out the doors and down the block.
“I think that there’s a nice marriage between curatorial work and education work,” he said. “Misty Copeland was a byproduct of the exhibition ‘Dance Theater of f Harlem’ that was here at that same time. It’s always the exhibitions that are wonderful and great but if they’re not blockbusters it’s the educational program that sustains the life of the exhibitions.”
Before coming to Baltimore, the Bladensburg native has served as the executive director of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, chief operating officer and curator at the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago and the director of educational programming at the Hampton University Museum in Virginia.
He said he was attracted to museum work, particularly work at African American-centered institutions, because he rarely saw himself in the museums he visited growing up.
“My older brother and I used to go to the art museums all the time,” he said. “I never really saw myself in those museums and I was wondering why. I mean, we exist. It just prompted me to learn as much as I can about my history, about my culture not just African American culture, but how we fit within the overall construct of American history.
Bethea takes over the position from Michelle Joan Wilkinson, who left the museum in 2014.
