Listen to the interview here!
John Graydon Smith
Toni Reece: Hi there. Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. This is Toni Reece, and today I am with John Smith. John, welcome to the Get Inspired! Project.
John Graydon Smith: Thanks for having me.
Toni: You’re more than welcome. John, tell us a little bit about yourself.
John: Sure. I am the Director and CEO for the Reading Public Museum. I’ve been at the Museum now for almost three years as the Director. It’s my job to keep the place open, and try to impact the community in whatever ways we can.
Toni: Great. Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project. Let’s go into the first question. What does inspiration mean to you?
John: I think as it relates to work certainly, I think of inspiration as sort of the little fire that ignites you to do something above and beyond the day-to-day stuff. I don’t know that I would say for me personally that I’m inspired by my work every day – that might be a little too much to hope for – but certainly, from time to time, and hopefully quite often, there’s something that gets the mind working in a certain way or gets the wheels turning that does something unique and special that allows us to go above and beyond.
Toni: So as you described it, it is something that ignites you to go a little bit further than you would normally go.
John: Yes; either to push the envelope or to look at something in a new, creative way. In anybody’s professional life, certainly, I think you have the set expectations. If you’re thinking of a job description and the things on there, inspiration is that piece that allows you to do that last bullet point that I describe as “other duties as assigned.” Sometimes those nebulous “other duties” are the things that really set you apart from your competitors, or in the marketplace, or whatever the case might be. That’s exciting.
Toni: How do you take that concept of being inspired and apply that here in Berks County?
John: I think as it relates to the Museum, most folks in Berks County and around know about the Museum, and they think they know what the Museum is or what the Museum stands for. What we try to do is use inspiration to come up with a new twist on that, and expose people to the Museum in a different way, or show them a different side of the Museum, and do something that’s a little out of the box, a little different.
There’s a lot of people who think we’re just an art museum, so when we have an exhibition of Legos, that throws people for a loop, but in a good way. Some people just think of us as a museum, but we try to get them introduced to the Planetarium or the Arboretum. It’s just putting a new twist or spin on things, reminding people about all the things that we can be.
Part of our job is to inspire the community in the arts, the sciences, to learn more, and to think differently about the world around them. We’re inspired to then inspire, if you will.
Toni: Okay – it’s that whole pay it forward thing.
John: Yes; that’s one way to put it, I guess.
Toni: Let me ask you, John – when was the last time you can say you were really inspired? What happened? What occurred? What action did you take because of it?
John: Honestly, it happens at different levels. The Museum is an easy place to become inspired. Again, that’s part of the reason we exist. If you work there, you may not be inspired in the same way, because you’re seeing the galleries every day, and it’s different from an eight-year-old kid who comes in for the first time and sees the place, so my reactions might be different.
Honestly, doing what I do, being inspired is pretty easy, because the Museum is not around if not for people who don’t have to support it. We don’t sell widgets hat you have to have to operate your everyday life. The fact that there are so many people in the community and beyond who support the Museum with their time and their talents, that’s what helps fuel me and fuels the other folks who are part of the Museum team as well. It happens really regularly.
I had a meeting about a week ago with a business leader in the community who has access to funds that we would love to have, and we have access to impact kids and their families, and that’s what he’d like to see done. As we’re talking and kicking around some ideas, some things just organically came out. Within a matter of the next couple of weeks, we’ll be announcing some amazingly big initiatives that will impact the greater Berks County community in some phenomenal ways.
I always talk about putting my chocolate with your peanut butter, and we make something that tastes great. There’s so many people who care about the Berks County community that it’s easy to be inspired, especially at a place like the Museum where we’re really a hub for a lot of creative thinking and investment backing of the community.
Toni: Fantastic. Who in Berks County inspires you?
John: It’s a long list. I think when you think about the core group of people, people and entities including businesses and other organizations that really support Berks County, the list is very impressive. I don’t want to name names, necessarily, but the people who really inspire me the most are the people who are constantly giving back in Berks County because they want to make Berks County a better place, and yet don’t have to give back in Berks County.
It’s one thing to love Berks County or love any place because that’s where you grew up and that’s the only thing you really know, and that’s the center of your universe, but there are people who give an immense amount of time, talent, and treasure here in Berks County who aren’t from here originally and didn’t have to stay here, and maybe made their money elsewhere, but ended up here, or made their money here and decided to stay here. Those people who give back to the community because they want to see this community do well, not just because it’s their community, but because they view it as an important community – those are the people I take the most inspiration from.
Toni: What do you want your legacy to be?
John: In my business, my legacy is not as important as the institution’s legacy. It’s not so much about the individual as it is the institution, in my opinion. I don’t worry so much about my legacy, John Smith’s legacy, but I would like a legacy to be that once I’m done at the Museum, that the Museum continues to thrive, prosper, and make impact on people and the community long after I’m gone.
It’s one of those things where you try to leave the place better than it was when you found it, which sadly, in my case, isn’t that hard, because the Museum has hit some tough times, and we’ve been able to turn that corner. When I leave, I want to make sure that they never again have to worry about hitting tough times like that, they we’ve set it up for the future.
We’re in the process now of celebrating our Centennial, and we’re really looking at the last 100 years, but more importantly, we’re looking at the next 100 years, and that’s exciting for me.
Toni: Thank you for the work that you do, and how you support the community. Thank you very much for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.
John: Sure. Thanks for having me.
