Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Reimagining the Cemetery as Museum | Page 20

People and Happenings
Council of Visitors
On October 1, 2015, Mount Auburn welcomed seventythree friends and colleagues for the fourth annual Council
of Visitors meeting. Our afternoon began with lunch under
a tent on Bigelow Chapel Lawn followed by breakout
sessions focused on preservation (below), horticulture, and
contemporary monumentation. Award-winning horticulturist and landscape designer Patrick Cullina gave the
Keynote Presentation, Landscape as Art: Transforming
the Urban Experience. Cullina showed how the sensitive integration of plants can transform a diverse range of
designed and managed landscapes such as New York’s High
Line, where he served as Vice President of Horticulture and
Park Operations, and Mount Auburn Cemetery, where he
consulted on our recent Wildlife Action Plan.

Reimagining the Cemetery as
Museum!
Mount Auburn hosted 70 collections managers, preservation
planners, landscape architects, sculpture conservators, architectural historians, and cemetery presidents and superintendents from around the country for a one-day program
in November to celebrate Mount Auburn’s Significant
Monument Collection and learn about highlights from our
Museums for America Stewardship Grant project. The crossdisciplinary program presented new strategies for managing
and interpreting outdoor collections in cemeteries and
historic landscapes.

A Glimpse Beyond
The fourth-annual A Glimpse Beyond
took place on September 19th and 20th,
2015. Memorable performances by
Lorraine Chapman, Commonwealth
Ballet, Jo-Mé Dance, Juventas
New Music Ensemble, Jamie
LaDamasquina & Antonio Tiri Tran,
the Mount Auburn Celebration
Brass Band, Ruckus Dance, Paul
Schaffner, and Voices Rising
anchored this year’s production, which
took its inspiration from the poetry
of David Watson McCord (McCord is
buried at Mount Auburn on Chestnut
Avenue). Under the leadership of
Artistic Director Denise Pons, Music
Director Nate Tucker, and Producer
Lauren MacCarthy, the 2015 production
of A Glimpse Beyond was Mount
Auburn’s most successful to date. Stay
tuned for more information about the
2016 production, tentatively scheduled
for the first weekend in October.
18 | Sweet Auburn