Ken Yellis, a colleague and dear friend, has died after a long illness. For many years, Ken held leadership positions at the National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian), Plimoth Plantation, the Yale Peabody Museum, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame. As the principal of First Light Consulting and Project Development Services, he shared his energy and ideas with many other museums. Ken was an early editor of
Roundtable Reports, predecessor to the
Journal of Museum Education, and the author of numerous conference papers, reports, and blogs. With Avi Decter and Marsha Semmel, Ken was the co-editor of
Change Is Required: Preparing for the Post-Pandemic Museum (2022).
I want to share two of Ken's unpublished thoughts on museums and their meaning, which will provide a taste of his insight and eloquence.
Museums offer, for some of us at least, a kind of grace--liberation from drudgery, anxiety, and the tyranny of the mundane. I would argue that at some level, historically and still, many museum people believe the core of our enterprise is this liberation,this offering of grace. . . . Our growing knowledge base helps us to know what visitors bring with them--their wonder at the light, the openness, the serenity, the power, the space, the warmth, the artfulness, the drama, the innerness, the intimacy, the privacy. They bring with them the need to be alone, to be together, and to be alone together.
Whether they know it or not, every museum visitor everywhere is on a journey; whether they know it or not, every museum person everywhere is on a journey; whether they know it or not, every museum everywhere is on a journey. These journeys are the destination.
Ken was kind and thoughtful--one of those rare colleagues who combined brilliance, wit, and wisdom. While his journey has ended, his presence persists and inspires.
Avi Decter