Culture
New Decorative Arts Center Director Emphasizes the Importance of Human Stories
By: Emily Votaw
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The Decorative Arts Center of Ohio welcomed Jason Crabill as their new executive director earlier this summer.
“Taking on a job like this in the middle of a global pandemic — I might have chosen different circumstances around it — but I couldn’t be happier to be here,” said Crabill, who, prior to coming to the Decorative Arts Center, managed the curatorial services at the Ohio History Connection for 14 years.
Crabill is also an Ohio University alumni, graduating with an anthropology degree that served as the catalyst for his career working at regional museums. Although Crabill has worked most exhaustively at science and history museums, he is enthusiastic to bring his skills to an arts space.
“I think art and history are really interesting in the ways they are alike and the ways they are different — and I would argue that they are more alike than they are different,” he said. “Art and history really deal with human stories: the stories we tell ourselves about the world to understand the world — whether it is visual media, or archives, or whatever it is — I think [art and history] both have the potential to serve as tools for people to understand the world.”
Listen to WOUB Culture’s conversation with Crabill, embedded above.
