Join the Bennington Museum Board of Trustees for our annual meeting where we will review all the successes of Bennington Museum in fiscal year 2024 that you have helped to make possible, introduce our new board chair, and discuss exciting projects slated for the coming year.

At this meeting, which is open to members and non-members alike, we will also be presenting the Arnold Ricks Award which is given to an individual or organization in recognition of exceptional contributions to the Bennington community and Bennington Museum. This year we are pleased to honor one of our emeritus trustees, Frances Holbrook. Frances has been an active and dedicated supporter of Bennington Museum and its education programs for a number of years, and has served as a liaison for the Museum to the Edwin S. Webster Foundation, to which she has family ties. With Frances’ encouragement, the Webster Foundation’s most recent contribution helped to renovate the approach to the Grandma Moses schoolhouse and assisted with HVAC upgrades in preparation for a more comprehensive renovation which will include a separate entry for groups, a utility sink and bathroom, and comprehensive technology.

Frances was born in Vancouver British Columbia and grew up outside of Boston. She went to Smith College and then Nursing School. In 1974 she moved to the farm in Pownal with her husband (Tim) and 5 children. She has had a variety of animals over the years and finally learned that electric fences were a must if she didn’t want to have her distant neighbors calling with complaints of the pigs, calves, lambs etc  in their yards. Frances was on the Pownal rescue squad as an EMT for 16 years. She served as a member of the Bennington Museum Board from 1992-2004 and again from 2006-2018.

“Frances Holbrook has been such an amazing, constant, supporter of Bennington Museum for so many years including twenty four years of Trusteeship, all with her wonderful smile and sense of humor, throughout.  We’ve had to share Frances with Maine, each summer, but as the days wane at the end of the summer our Museum and our whole community is lit up again with the joy of Frances’ return. Thank you Frances for always lighting the room wherever you are.” -Consie West (board chair 2020-2024) 

We are holding this celebration for Frances on Grandma Moses’ birthday (September 7th) to honor and recognize the difference that she has made and continues to make through her steadfast advocacy on behalf of the Museum’s education programs. 

Suggested donations of $20 will go to support continued improvements of the Moses classroom as outlined in Project 2 of the Museum’s Century Campaign.

Refreshments and light hors d’ouevres will be served in the Ada and Paul Paresky Court.

The annual report will be available at this meeting, and will also be available for download and viewing online.

*above, Frances Holbrook, awardee (L) and Consie West, outgoing board chair (R)