Ford Bell to Present at SAMFA as Part of Future Lab

The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts is pleased to welcome Ford W. Bell, President of the American Alliance of Museums, who will present his lecture entitled: The Role of Museums in Designing the Future on Monday, October 21 at 5:30pm in the museum’s meeting room. There is no charge and the public is invited to attend. Refreshments will be served. 

Ford W. Bell began his tenure as president of the American Alliance of Museums, the largest museum organization in the world, in June 2007. He brings to AAM a lifelong passion for museums, and a clear understanding of the important role which they play as places of lifelong learning and inspiration.

AAM was founded in 1906 as the American Association of Museums to represent the entire museum field. Today AAM has over 20,000 members, including 3,000 museums, zoos, aquariums and public gardens.

The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts has been accredited by the AAM since 2005, an honor accorded to fewer than 800 institutions nationwide. Our SAMFA director Howard Taylor has also previously served on the board of AAM. SAMFA is pleased to further the long standing positive relationship the museum and community have had with this prestigious organization and is happy to bring Ford Bell to San Angelo. 

Bell has a longstanding relationship with the museum community. He helped raise $103 million as co-chair of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ “Bring Art to Life” capital campaign, completed in 2006, and served as chair of the organization’s board from 2003 to 2005.

Bell's grandfather, James Ford Bell, the founder of General Mills, was a leading supporter of the Institute, and also of the Museum of Natural History at the University of Minnesota, renamed in his honor in 1966. Ford Bell served on the Advisory Board of the Bell Museum from 1983 to 2007. A board-certified veterinary oncologist, Bell credits his many childhood visits to the Bell Museum with fostering a lifelong love of nature and science. 

Ford Bell has more than 30 years experience as a nonprofit executive, board chair, donor, trustee and educator. From 1982 to 1995, Bell served on the staff of the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine, where he taught and did clinical research in comparative oncology. From 1995 to 2005, he was president and CEO of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, a prominent clinical cardiovascular research organization and a nationally recognized provider of community heart health education. Bell was a US Senate candidate in Minnesota from 2005-2006. 

He has advocated for science learning, conservation and community health initiatives through his affiliation with a wide range of organizations, including Project EarthSense, Community Health Charities, and the JASON Advisory Committee, a public-private elementary and secondary school science education initiative. He served as trustee and elder at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, and co-chaired that institution’s $16 million capital campaign. From 1993 to 2007, he served as chair of the James Ford Bell Foundation. An educator for much of his career, Bell also served as a trustee of Connecticut College in New London, CT from 1998 to 2007. 

This event is hosted by the museum’s Collector’s Society, a group within the art museum’s membership, that each year presents a series of discussions and talks on a broad range of issues. This year’s lecture series is sponsored in part by a grant from the FMH Foundation in Midland, which has allowed SAMFA to bring prestigious speakers such as Dr. Bell to our community. All are encouraged to attend. If there are any questions please call the museum at 653-3333. 

The museum’s regular operating hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for senior citizens. ASU and SAISD students are admitted free as well as museum members and active military personnel. 

The museum is supported by generous contributions from both individuals and businesses. This project is partially supported by funds from the San Angelo Cultural Affairs Council, the City of San Angelo, the Texas Commission on the Arts, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.