Something for Everyone
Culture and education in an airport terminal
By Lindsay M. Hitch
May 2001
When the public affairs department at San
Francisco International Airport set up holiday entertainment in the terminal
some 25 years ago, they didn’t realize where it would lead.
"One of the [city] commissioners kind
of liked the idea that we were providing some sort of cultural experience,"
says Jane Sullivan, manager of marketing and communications.
Moe Burnstein, SFO airport commissioner
at the time, convinced city officials that a museum program was worthwhile.
"The idea was basically to humanize
it;" explains Sullivan, "To display some local artists as well
as represent the different cultures of the people coming through and working
here."
The San Francisco Airport Museums program
began in 1981 as the Temporary Exhibition Program. Eighteen years later,
the museum was officially accredited by the American Association of Museums.
PROGRAM MECHANICS
The San Francisco Airport Museums feature
rotating exhibits borrowed from collections around the world and an aviation
museum and library.
"In San Francisco we like to think
we’re different; in a good way. We are different. You come to our
airport and you see art," says Sullivan.
The airport museum has full-time staff that
organizes some 30 rotating exhibits each year.
"You walk through the airport and you
can see African shields, swizzel stick collections, platform shoes; something
for everybody, hopefully," Sullivan chuckles.
"And the interesting flip side to this
is we have no advertising in our terminals. The idea being that traveling
is stressful enough."
With the construction of the International
Terminal, the San Francisco Arts Commission helped to bring 18 works of
permanent art into the terminal. Additions also include two 60-ft. cases
and two exhibition areas with 20 display islands each.
Sullivan explains, "We have an ordinance
here that a certain percent of construction dollars on public works projects
go into our public arts funds. So that’s how we ended up with this
almost $10 million permanent art collection in the new building."
The new terminal is also home to the Aviation
Library and the Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum. The library holds over
6,000 volumes and transcribed interviews with aviation specialists. The
Turpen Museum is a replica of the passenger waiting room at San Francisco
Airport circa 1937. Both are free to the public.
