Jennifer Trainer Thompson is leaving the world of museum administration after 34 years. She hopes to make another documentary in the near future.
Jennifer Trainer Thompson is leaving the world of museum administration after 34 years. She hopes to make another documentary in the near future.
PITTSFIELD — Jennifer Trainer Thompson had only just settled in at Hancock Shaker Village, arriving as its new president and CEO about six weeks prior, when a big storm rattled through the Berkshires. When it was over, it was discovered that part of one of two wooden silos had been blown onto the dairy ell.
"Billy [Mangiardi, farm and facilities director] came to me and said, 'They're not going to make it through another storm.' And I said, 'How much is it going to cost?' He said it was going to cost about $100,000 to $120,000," Thompson recalled during a recent interview at her home in Pittsfield. "I said, 'I don't know anyone. I just got here.' But we sent out a call [to donors] and we raised all the money. It was then I realized how much people love Hancock Shaker Village."
Trainer Thompson, who began her tenure at the helm of the living history museum in 2016, announced her departure, after six years, in March. Her last day is Sept. 16. Nathaniel Silver, who was recently named as her successor, is slated to officially take over on Sept. 19.
Prior to joining Hancock Shaker Village, Trainer Thompson had spent 28 years as the founding director of development and public relations at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams.
"No one asks me anymore what caused me to switch from a contemporary art museum to a 19th-century historic village dedicated to a radical utopian sect," she joked, while speaking at HSV's gala on Aug. 6. "I think those of you who know me, and I think I know most of you, know I have always followed my heart. While some say that I helped save the Village, I would say that, it also helped save me. I love this place. And I've had the time of my life leading this historic gem."
Among those celebrating Trainer Thompson at the gala was former Gov. Deval Patrick, a gala co-chair, who thanked her for her years of service.
"We are, all of us, fortunate to live in a place like the Berkshires with so many jewels around us. And this place is one of those jewels, but every jewel needs polishing and we have had an extraordinary polishing here at Hancock Shaker Village," Patrick said. "A lot of times it seems, we don't say the things that are most meaningful. I don't know if you notice this, when you have guests over it happens when folks are on the threshold on the way out the door. If we haven't said it before, shame on us for waiting until we you, Jennifer, are on the threshold on the way out the door to say we love you and how much we appreciate you polishing this jewel."
So, what would make her decide to leave?
"Well, it's a couple of reasons. One is, I made this documentary a couple years ago, 'Museum Town' and I really fell in love with the process of making films. And [second], the Village is in such great shape," she said. "I learned from my 28 years at Mass MoCA that when a place is in bad shape — we had a few really rough years at Mass MoCA — that you can never morally leave it. Mass MoCA, of course, is in really great shape now.
"The Village is in great shape, as well. It's so strong financially and we've sort of set this course, with this dynamic programming and the staff is really great, that it felt like now would be a good time. I really want to return to to my own projects. I want to write more books and I want to make another film, so that's really on my immediate horizon. And I thought, if not now, when?"
"Museum Town," which followed artist Nick Cave as he created "Until" for Mass MoCA's Building 5 gallery, was given its world premiere at the South By Southwest Film Festival in 2019. It is now available on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play Movies and YouTube.
"I would really, really love to work on another film. I have an idea, but I'm not ready to talk about it yet. I want to have the time to develop and work on it," she said. There's also another book or two she wants to write, to add to the 20 that she's already authored.
The decision, although the right one, she says, wasn't easy.
"I have always loved Hancock Shaker Village. I'm drawn to living history museums in general. I grew up near Plimoth Plantation. I have always loved history, especially New England history," Trainer Thompson said. "I recognized that [HSV] was a sleepy but beloved place. My goal was to help preserve it, obviously, but also to activate it, to make it lively and vibrant."
During her tenure, not only were funds raised to restore the dairy ell and two wooden silos, but also for the replacement of the roof on the Laundry and Machine Shop building, the oldest in the Village, as well as for restoration work to the Brick Dwelling, the 1910 Barn and the 1826 Round Stone Barn. Also improved was the Trustees Office, where housing was created for visiting artists and eight paid interns (an internship program was established in 2018).
But Trainer Thompson is most proud of the arts-related programming created over the last six years.
"Unlike any other museum that may be dedicated to a certain person or period of time, here, you can go in so many directions here — dance, art, fashion, textiles, crafts, blacksmithing, woodworking, values, pacifism, gender equality, racial equality, gardening, farming. It's extraordinary. It was really fun. It was hard, but it was fun," she said.
The first thing she did, she said, was launch the Shaker Barn Music series in the 1910 Barn.
"It was filled with hay and Billy was not too thrilled with me for turning it into a music venue, but it's just so perfect. There's this beautiful post and beam construction and the acoustics are outstanding. I want people to see it, to experience it in this active, visceral way, not just walking through them during the day. But there was such a big learning curve, that first concert, at the end of the night when we all went to leave it was dark. There was very little lighting in the village at night. We improved it."
In 2017, HSV launched its Food For Thought series with Deval Patrick and held its first major summer art exhibition with artists Maya Lin, Don Gummer, Jenny Holzer, Stephen Hannock, Gregory Crewdson and David Teeple. In the following years, summer arts exhibitions featuring regional, national and international artists became the norm, as did more music and dance collaborations.
"While the Mighty Thunder Rolls," an exhibition featuring popular artists including Natalie Merchant, Yo-Yo Ma and Laurie Anderson, made its debut in 2019, as did the winter festival, The Big Chill, and a collaboration with Jacob's Pillow, "Power," a dance based on Black Shaker worship.
And then, 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic took hold of the nation, just as HSV was welcoming its newborn farm animals and preparing to open for the season.
"It was such a black hole. We didn't know what was going to happen," she said.
The Village pivoted, opening later and welcomed visitors to its rolling acres and hosted "Songs of Comfort," a concert for essential workers with Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax, and Billy Keane, Anjimile and Chantell McFarland.
The following year, it opened the South Family archeological site with a new hiking trail, several new art exhibits and introduced Hancock Holiday Nights.
Her favorite? She has a hard time picking just one.
"I think 'Climbing the Holy Hill,' combining hiking with a sacred Shaker site and their music with an avant garde group — Brad Wells and Roomful of Teeth, Our Native Daughters and Allison Smith — that was one of my favorites. And the 'Gift Drawings' with Yusuke Asai, the fact that he collected soil and made 18 different pigments and embellished the gift drawings with his own spiritual revelations he felt he had received. That was really special," she said. "Natalie Merchant, singing in a barn with 130 people, with the intimacy and quality. The Maya Lin exhibit [part of 'Making: Then and Now'] was one of my favorites, as well."
But most important to Trainer Thompson is that Hancock Shaker Village continues to thrive.
"I'm really proud that it is part of our community. As I said, I grew up near Plimoth Plantation, which I love, but it's a historical re-creation. Sturbridge Village is a historical re-creation. There are many historical re-creations. But when you walk through the Village and you touch the walls or the [door] handles, you just know this is something the Shakers touched before you. It's really extraordinary and it truly is beloved," she said.
Jennifer Huberdeau can be reached at jhuberdeau@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6229. On Twitter: @BE_DigitalJen
Jennifer Huberdeau is The Eagle's features editor. Prior to The Eagle, she worked at The North Adams Transcript. She is a 2021 Rabkin Award Winner, 2020 New England First Amendment Institute Fellow and a 2010 BCBS Health Care Fellow.
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