What’s next for the MAH? New leader Porcella begins to outline her vision

Perhaps it’s not the first thing you need to know about the new executive director of Santa Cruz’s most prominent arts organization, but there’s this: Ginger Shulick Porcella, the newly appointed leader at the Museum of Art & History, is a DJ.

Sure, you want to know something more relevant about the new era at the MAH, like what big changes she is planning (think: bigger and more dynamic gift shop), what she might be discontinuing (goodbye “Frequency” festival?) or how her curatorial vision and interests might surface in the exhibitions (they actually won’t, at least for a while). Still, the DJ thing is pertinent in what effect or culture change this new director might bring right away, a different buzz to the place, maybe even some fun.

“‘DJ Big Fun’ is my name,” she said at the MAH, the day before the museum’s latest exhibition, “Accidentally Wes Anderson” was to open. In case you didn’t catch the reference, “Big Fun” was the name of the fictional band in the 1988 cult-classic teenage comedy “Heathers.” 

“I haven’t booked any gigs in Santa Cruz yet,” said Porcella, 44, of her DJ sideline. “But I probably will. The DJ thing was something I started when I turned 40. Every time I would go to a party, I would just naturally take over [the music selection]. So, it just gradually evolved. You know, people have a midlife crisis. That was my midlife crisis.”

“Midlife crisis” might be a bit melodramatic to describe the MAH’s current circumstances. But after its heyday in the 2010s, when it emerged as a major driver of arts culture in Santa Cruz, the MAH was a bit thrown off its game by the pandemic, when it was closed for a year. Considering that the museum’s role in the community, in the arts scene and in the downtown economic ecosystem is always up for reexamination, a new executive director at least means new energy in the building and maybe even a new direction and new priorities.

She replaces Robb Woulfe, who served in MAH’s top job for four years, a tenure that included the pandemic closure. Woulfe followed in the footsteps of Nina Simon, a revolutionary figure in the MAH’s history, transforming it from a traditional, perhaps even fusty, museum into a more inclusive, hands-on community center, as well as leading the push to establish the commercial hub of Abbott Square.

Is Porcella planning similarly big changes at the MAH? If she is, she’s not saying so yet. 

“You know, I’m a newcomer here,” she said. “So, it’s really about spending time with the community, showing up, joining things, digging in, and then, after I’m here for a while, hopefully I can articulate, OK, this is what Santa Cruz really wants this place to be. I think the vision now is just to continue to support the staff, listen to the needs and wants of the community, see what they’re interested in, and sort of stabilize and build up the museum so we can continue to do interesting, relevant programming that people are excited about.”

As for fundamental changes at her new job, Porcella puts a priority on a new gift shop at the MAH, which is currently a small collection of books and other items near the admissions desk. “That’s probably one of the two main questions we get when people first come to the museum,” she said. “‘Where’s your gift shop?’ So, yes, having a more robust gift-shop experience, that is reflective of the museum, that is fun and ever-changing and quirky. And it just does not reflect that right now downstairs.”

A new gift shop that would serve as a more vigorous source of revenue could come as early as mid-summer, she said. She said that the biennial outdoor festivals that Woulfe established would probably not continue: “I think we’re going to pause them for this year and see what festivals look like for the museum next year. I love festivals. I’ve started a lot of them. So, maybe we’ll hold off and go bigger with our Día de Los Muertos festival, or, I’m a big fan of summer solstice or winter solstice festivals.”

When it comes to programming, it might be a while before Porcella can exercise her curator muscles at the MAH. Like many museums, the MAH has programmed its galleries many months out, so Porcella will be supporting and promoting exhibitions designed and/or approved during Woulfe’s tenure. She doesn’t expect to curate a show for about two years. “I’d love to curate a show here at some point,” she said. “But I certainly don’t want to have a hand in all curatorial decisions here,” referencing the work of longtime MAH staffers Marla Novo, who served as the interim director after Woulfe’s departure, and Natalie Jenkins, the curator of the new “Accidentally Wes Anderson” show. When she does begin to shape the MAH through her curatorial hand, Porcella’s past suggests a deep interest in technology, architecture, gender, spirituality and Indigenous culture.

Porcella, a native of Chicago, comes to Santa Cruz after a well-traveled career as a curator and arts administrator in California, the Southwest and the upper Midwest. Among her leadership roles were at Tucson’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Diego. She was also the E.D. and chief curator at the outdoor Franconia Sculpture Park outside Minneapolis and of Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center, which is dedicated to promoting the work of artists with developmental disabilities.

Her most recent leadership position was at Oakland’s Creative Growth and, evidently, it was not a happy time. She spent only a year in the job, during which she, as the nonprofit’s executive director, was named as defendant in a lawsuit from two former employees, alleging wrongful termination, slander and age discrimination, among other allegations. The case is still pending.

“They were the only two people terminated while I was there,” said Porcella. “And both filed wrongful-termination suits. One has been dropped and the other, hopefully, will be resolved this summer. Creative Growth knows I didn’t do anything wrong, which is why they’re representing me in this suit. It’s unfortunate, because we did everything by the book. And our feeling was it wasn’t wrongful termination, that there was cause for both of these things. But unfortunately, when you’re the director of an organization, this is what happens.” (Whether it was coincidental or not to the labor disputes that Porcella faced at Creative Growth, the organization’s employees voted to unionize a few months after her departure.)

At the same time, Porcella was also having major health issues, coming down with COVID just as her job in Oakland began. “I had had COVID before,” she said. “But [this time], I had a really bad respiratory problem and chronic fatigue because of it. I’ve spent the last 18 months recovering from COVID.”

Porcella said that she is looking to Santa Cruz not as just another line item in her CV, but as a long-term landing spot. Her husband, Ron Porcella, has deep family roots in Watsonville and South County. (He’s part of the prominent Kalich family of Croatian heritage in Watsonville.) 

Before taking the job in Oakland, Porcella ran the Franconia Sculpture Park, northeast of the Twin Cities where, among other duties, she led snowshoe tours through the park in the winter. As a native Chicagoan, she said, she loved Minnesota, but her husband was increasingly intolerant of the brutal winters. “The ultimate endgame was to come and stay in California,” she said. “I’m definitely coming into this with the hopes that this is my forever job. I don’t want to move anymore. I was very deliberate, when I was ready to apply for jobs, that this is the type of place I want to be.”

Maybe the most symbolic changes that Porcella is mulling has to do with the MAH’s signature entrance space, the airy atrium that connects with Front Street and Abbott Square. However spacious and lovely it is, the atrium is also imposing for those who are not used to museums, she said: “The visitor experience right now needs some work. You want welcoming and cozy. And right now, it’s cold — physically cold — and an imposing space to work through. We want the exact opposite of that.”

It might even be a great place for a DJ. 

“Yeah,” she laughed. “Can you imagine? ‘Oh, come to the museum and the executive director is DJing there.’ I mean, that’s just low-hanging fruit, right? It needs to be livened up, and that was one of the first things I noticed. I was like, ‘Why are you not playing music down here?’ Let’s get some tunes going. Let’s get a vibe going down there.”

Music to her ears

One of the abiding interests of the MAH’s new executive director is music. In fact, in the past she has worked as a DJ. Here’s a playlist Ginger Shulick Porcella calls “A Love Song to Santa Cruz”:

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