Soane Foundation

January 2020 | Job Opportunity: Executive Director

[Click here to download job description]

Dear Soane Foundation Members and Friends,

Our Board of Directors together with you have successfully led our Foundation through various chapters that have improved our response to our mission. Exceptionally committed, the Board has always worked to plan ahead but also to respond quickly and creatively to unforeseen challenges.

Recently we learned that our Foundation would be moving forward to a new chapter more quickly that we had anticipated. Our Executive Director, Liz McEnaney, will step down from her position at the end of this January, 2020. Liz had always planned on staying with us for the long term, but she couldn’t have predicted that her longtime partner would accept a position in Dubai. She will be moving there with him, and we wish her the best in her future endeavors.

Our trustees have been very pleased with Liz, who has assisted us in innumerable ways. Most broadly though, her intelligence, energy and optimism helped us make a transition to a more committee-centered Board, she worked closely with those committees to ensure their success, and she helped us create financial and governance systems that will streamline our efforts moving forward regardless of our specific Executive Director. We developed a close and enjoyable relationship with Liz and we will miss her, though she will always be a friend and a part of the Soane family. More specifically, Liz will be happy to work with us as required to ensure a smooth transition to a new Director.

Our Board of Directors has gathered a Search Committee chaired by Trustee Barbara Sallick, and that Committee has developed a job description that we will post this Wednesday January 8th. I attach a copy of that description for your information.

It is important to note that we have always found our best leads directly from the Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation Board and from Foundation members and friends, and so I urge you to send us thoughts on candidates who may be interested in the distinguished role of Executive Director for our operations out of New York City. Please send your recommendations directly to Barbara Sallick (bsallick@waterworks.com) so as to keep the lines of communication clear.

This news is a sad personal loss for us, but also as a great opportunity to move forward stronger than ever based on what we’ve built together to date.

I wish all of you, and our Foundation, a rewarding and joyful 2020. Onward!

Sincerely,

Paul Whalen
Chairman
Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation

January 2020 | Announcing New Board Member

Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation is thrilled to announce the addition of Rosemarie Howe to the Board of Directors. Based in Washington DC, Rosemarie will help us expand our programming beyond New York City and will help us increase support to Sir John Soane's Museum in London.

Rosemarie Russi Howe, Interior Design
Rosemarie Russi Howe is an interior designer based in Washington DC. She opened her business, Rosemarie R. Howe Interiors, over thrity years ago and has worked with a range of clients throughout the Washington DC area and beyond. Rosemarie seved on the board of the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia -- a dynamic and innovative urban art space housed in an actual torpedo factory.

Rosemarie on Soane
"I first saw the Soane as a teenager and even then recognized an aesthetic that found coherence in seemingly disparate elements. When I returned years later and saw the collection again, I felt like I understood this unusual man with his vast and particular interests. I realized that one could get to know someone by their objects, collections, and surroundings. Also I learned how such a unique and even quirky design can satisfy aesthetically."

Images courtesy of Rosemarie R. Howe Interiors

December 2019 | 2020 Fellowship & Grant Applications Now Available

Please help us spread the word about the 2020 Soane Foundation Graduate Fellowship and Undergraduate Traveling Grant opportunities.

Application deadline: March 1, 2020

Graduate Fellowship
Two Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation Graduate Fellowships each provide a $6,000 award for students in graduate degree programs in art history, architecture, interior design, and the decorative arts. The Fellowship funds a research residency at the Soane Museum oriented towards academic research related to any aspect of the work of Sir John Soane or Sir John Soane’s Museum. Fellows work in concert with Museum staff and curators to utilize the collections, with the opportunity to draw from the collective knowledge of Museum personnel regarding their research. Two awards are presented annually – one to a student of architecture and the second open to all candidates.

Undergraduate Traveling Grant
The Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation Traveling Grant is a $6,000 prize to enable undergraduate students in architecture to travel abroad for a focused period of study of an historic place, period, building or architect. Inspired by the young Soane’s own Traveling Scholarship – an award that provided him the means to draw and measure historic architecture abroad – the Grant enables critical personal interaction with built works. As with Soane’s studies, students will draw on history for insights into current design issues, creating a powerful and lasting foundation for their future professional work.

2019 Soane Fellow John Cooper (Princeton, Architecture) measuring in the Picture Gallery.

September 2019 | Announcing New Board Members

Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation is pleased two announce the addition of Thomas Phifer and Douglas Wright to the Board of Directors. “We are thrilled that Tom and Doug have joined the Board,” said Paul Whalen, Soane Foundation Chairman Paul Whalen. “They will help us continue to advance the Soanean tradition across the classical-modernist spectrum and will help us increase our support for Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.”

Thomas Phifer, Architect
Thomas Phifer founded his New York studio in 1997. Since then, the firm has completed projects such as the Glenstone Museum expansion in Potomac, Maryland, the Corning Museum of Glass expansion in Corning, New York, and the Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Current projects include the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw and TR Warszawa Theatre complex in Warsaw, Poland, the Waterloo Park Performance Pavilion in Austin, Texas, and the CineColombia Headquarters in Bogotá, Colombia. Tom is currently the William Henry Bishop Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at the Yale School of Architecture. He has received numerous national and international citations, including the 2016 Soane Foundation Honors.

Tom on Soane
"As a student of architecture at Clemson University I traveled from Genoa, the home of our overseas program, to London. My British professor encouraged me to hop on the train and visit the Dulwich Picture Gallery. On a day filled with sunshine, I walked into the gallery and was greeted with a remarkable light—the pictures came alive. As a cloud passed overhead the atmosphere of the room profoundly changed; that was a palpable moment for me. From that day forward, as I begin each new work of architecture, the poetry of light is ever-present in my life."

From top left: Glenstone Museum, Water Court (photo by Iwan Baan); Glenstone Museum, Brice Marden Pavilion (photo by Iwan Baan); Corning Museum of Glass (photo by James Ewing); Rice University, Brochstein Pavilion (photo by Scott Frances)

Douglas C. Wright, Architect
Doug is the founding partner of Douglas C. Wright Architects. He has overseen the architectural work and design for a broad range of projects including residential estates and their master plans, vacation homes, apartments, and boutique hotels and resorts. Doug began his career as an architect/designer with the renowned decorating firm Parish-Hadley Associates. He then developed his expertise as an associate with Robert A.M. Stern Architects and later worked with Ferguson & Shamamian Architects. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. He has taught at the New School University and the University of Texas at Austin, and he serves as a mentor in the American Corporate Partners training program for veterans.

Doug on Soane
"Soane’s radical experimentations in a seemingly conservative vocabulary expands my understanding of what’s possible in classical design. No venture into his work goes unrewarded."

From top left: Central Park West apartment; Pool House in Short Hills; House on Buzzards Bay

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January 2020 | Job Opportunity: Executive Director

January 2020 | Announcing New Board Member

December 2019 | 2020 Fellowship & Grant Applications Now Available

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