Episode: 01 Building a Museum Without Walls

Amy Lewis Hofland

Senior Director, Crow Museum of Asian Art at the University of Texas at Dallas

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In our debut episode, we speak with Amy Lewis Hofland, Senior Director Crow Museum of Asian Art at the University of Texas at Dallas. We discuss her career trajectory from an elementary school art teacher to a university museum director. Starting with an internship at the Metropolitan Museum to meeting the Dalai Lama. She has shepherded the collection from a private family collection to a university museum with a global reach.

The collection is the largest collection devoted specifically to the Arts of Asia in the Southwest, and “an expression of how Dallas is designing the Asian art history of its own city.”

Jade Mountain, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), 18th century, Nephrite, 14 x 4.5 x 17 in. Crow Collection of Asian Art 1960.36

She discusses the challenge and benefits of going digital, including Crow Unscripted that’s live-streamed through the Museum's Facebook page. Her development as a leader, mentors, and the need to be a museum without walls.

Our discussion was taped (April 25, 2020) at the outset of the pandemic and during the shelter in place order issued in Dallas. She speaks eloquently about the future and the need to create and contemplate during this time:

I think the world will be different. We’re not going back to normal. I’m almost calling this a pre-set: what do we need to design to be in place for us to know that we’re living this life that’s more closely connected between what we want to be and how we show up to the world. (36:30)

Wish for the Art World: All internships are paid. Museum visitors understand the importance of joining the insertions they support and that because of technology that artists make themselves more accessible to communities.

About Amy:

Senior Director Amy Lewis Hofland leads the Crow Museum of Asian Art in Dallas, Texas, the preeminent museum dedicated to the arts and cultures of Asia in the southern United States. On staff since the museum’s inception in 1998, Hofland’s footprint can be found throughout the museum, including her recruitment and hire of leading Asian art scholars; launching the Crow Museum as the first “wellness museum” in the United States, and molding the museum’s award-winning education programs to emphasize collaboration and collective learning; helping to draw over 100,000 museum visitors a year. In 2018, Hofland led the acquisition of the Crow Museum to The University of Texas at Dallas, helping to ensure the care and preservation of the permanent collection in perpetuity and the planning of a second museum location on campus, making the Crow the only museum in the region with two distinct locations. Hofland holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Arts degree in art education from the University of North Texas, where she was part of the distinguished Marcus Fellow program. In addition to her work at the Crow Museum, Hofland is a noted author, speaker, and community leader serving on various board leadership positions in the Dallas-Fort Worth community. She is also working to create Dallas as a City of Compassion and recently formed and co-chaired The Compassion Council for the Dallas Arts District.