PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Hancock Shaker Village plans to have a new, expanded visitor center next summer.

 

"It's a complete exterior and interior renovation of the visitor center and Center for Shaker studies," Village Director and CEO Carrie Holland said.

 

The Shaker museum is demolishing the current center, which was built more than 20 years ago, last summer.

 

The visitor center is the main entry point to the 64-year-old museum, serving as its welcome center, where tickets are purchased, exhibition rooms are accessed, the museum store, the cafe, and more are available. 

 

The ticketing will be held through the gift shop and come Baby Animals season, a ticketing trailer may be brought in to relieve congestion in the gift shop. 

 

The new center will have two additional galleries, making a total of three, a scholarly research space for the curatorial team, and an expanded storage space for the collection, which is critically needed, Holland said.  

 

"We're excited because it presents us the opportunity to share not just our collection, these will be better spaces to share our objects," she said.

 

"We have almost 30,000 objects of Shaker ephemera and furniture and different pieces. So, we now have a better space, more secure, more environmentally appropriate, to show those objects." 

 

It also will equip the museum with the ability to showcase artists, crafters, and other objects that will enhance the experience at the living history museum.

 

The redesign gives the museum appropriately appointed gallery spaces for exhibits that cannot be done in the barns and in the historic buildings, which will be fun, Holland said. 

 

"This will create a new and extra space for us to work with more creatively," she said. 

 

Additionally, museum officials are taking the opportunity to refresh the circulation of the space so when people first experience the village, they are getting context of its history early on, she said. 

 

"Not just improve the physical movement through the spaces, but also being really intentional about the narratives and messages and educational elements that we're trying to relay in that space," Holland said. 

 

"So setting that context in the early stage, I think we'll just set our visitors up for a much more enriching experience."

 

The museum is one of the only existing Shaker communities in the country that has such a well maintained and historic village, she said.

 

However, a lot of people visit the museum without much knowledge about who the Shakers were and what the site is, Holland said. 

 

The budget for the project is part of a $10 million museum legacy campaign, she said. 

 

The renovation of the space will costs about $8 1/2 million and the remainder will go toward the endowment to maintain the building and the rest of the village. 

 

"We don't have a large endowment right now. We're continuously adding to it, but this is a big moment for us" to be disciplined in its approach to fundraising and strengthening the financial position to maintain the village's 750 acres, she said.