New Leadership, New Energy: Stuart F. Siegel of Schooner Adventure

Posted

COVID brought countless challenges to local museums.  But it also marked a shift in leadership at some key museums on Cape Ann, with new directors taking the administrative helm at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum, the Manchester Historical Museum, and the Schooner Adventure in Gloucester.  It's brought a new sense of energy and a fresh perspective on the local museums.  Let's get to know Stuart Siegel of the Schooner Adventure ...

STUART SIEGEL was named executive director of Gloucester’s Schooner Adventure in April.  He’d arrived from across the country, but in many ways his life on Cape Ann and his role at Adventure feels like coming home. 

“When my wife and I decided to settle our family in Gloucester, I was determined to find work that connected me deeply to the city, in which I could promote Gloucester’s unique history and appeal. In my wildest dreams I couldn’t imagine a more exciting and compelling opportunity than this,” he said.

Schooner Adventure is an experiential museum, a renovated 1926 fishing schooner that was one of the last of the Gloucester fishing schooners, known as "Gloucestermen," and famous throughout the world.  The Adventure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, designated a National Historic Landmark, and an official project of Save America's Treasures.

Siegel leapt in at a heady time for the museum.  Adventure was gearing up for its busy summer season with weekly sails and heavy education rotations for area students and schools.  He was up for the challenge, and the summer has whizzed by. 

Stuart leads the museum’s overall management, works with the Board and leads the effort to fortify Adventure as an experiential education asset to teach fisheries, maritime history, and the ocean environment. 

As part of that, Siegel is focused on integrating the museum into the community in creative ways.  He understands the Adventure is a “physically challenging” environment, but Siegel believes Adventure’s future will be strengthened if the museum can widen the spectrum of access to this important experience.  He’d like to expose new local people—underrepresented resident populations, like the elderly or those in poverty—to Adventure.  He’d also like to develop programs to reconnect those with Gloucester roots, regardless of where they live, back to Gloucester and its history. 

“These ideas are all worth exploring,” he said.  “Through it all, I’m asking, ‘What is the most organic way we can make this vessel a teaching tool?’ That’s what it’s about.”

Seigel moved to Gloucester during COVID with his wife Emily and children Jonah and Bayla, drawn here by family in Rockport.  The pair had been co-directors of an education-focused non-profit inn and event space Ajo, Arizona.  Before that, Stuart was a director at Brandeis University Office of High School Programs, where he designed and directed nine residential summer education programs serving hundreds of teens from across the US and the globe.

This week for Siegel, it’s a bit of work and fun, as the 38th Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival kicked off Thursday with 27 schooners (including the Adventure, Ardelle, and the Thomas E. Lannon) and will culminate with a dramatic schooner race on Sunday, September 4.  Then, before he knows it, it will be 2023 and Gloucester will be kicking off its year-long “Quadricentennial” (a.k.a., 400th Anniversary) celebration.  Siegel said the museum has plans for more sails for the public next year, and expanding the Adventure experience to new folks as well as working with other schooners. 

Sounds like fun.

manchester historical museum, harold burnham, peabody essex museum, smithsonian institution, cape ann, gloucester, kd montgomery, stuart f. siegel, thomas e. lannon, brandeis university office of high school programs, essex shipbuilding museum, gloucester’s schooner adventure