Telfair Museums’ Jepson Center will be open free to the local public the weekend of November 13-15.

In partnership with the City of Savannah, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, all Savannah and Chatham County residents will receive free admission to the museum on the southwest corner of Telfair Square. Face masks are required. For more on Telfair’s safety procedures, visit https://www.telfair.org/hours-admission.

Visitors to the Free Family Weekend are invited to tour current exhibitions and explore art activities led by Telfair’s education team, including a self-guided scavenger hunt and take-home activity kits. Exhibitions currently on view include Collecting Impressionism: Telfair’s Modern Vision, a sweeping survey of some of the museum’s most important paintings; Youthful Adventures: Growing Up in Photography, which includes iconic photographs of the 20^th and 21^st centuries; and Cut and Paste: Works of Paper, a special exhibition of paper works by Georgia artists.

This will be Telfair’s final free weekend of the year.

Nov. 18: Lawrence Lecture will be free and virtual

In addition to the Free Family Weekend, the public is invited to join the museum’s 2020 Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Lecture, which will take place virtually this year at 6 p.m. Nov. 18.

Noted photographer Frank Stewart, whose work is featured in Youthful Adventures and who is known for his five decades photographing prominent jazz musicians, will be joined in conversation by Rob Gibson, former executive and artistic director of the Savannah Music Festival, and Walter O. Evans, Savannah collector and founder of the lecture series.

The Zoom discussion will include highlights from Stewart’s long career, with a special focus on his work created in Savannah. It is sponsored by the Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation and presented by Telfair Museums, Telfair’s Friends of African American Arts, and the Savannah Music Festival. Register at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3-OQOac2SMSGM8n7y8PXAA.

ICYMI: Telfair hires new executive director/CEO

Earlier this month, Telfair announced the hiring of a new executive director/CEO who will lead its three sites in Savannah starting in 2021.

Benjamin T. Simons, 50, will join the museum on January 4, 2021. Simons has been the executive director of the Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland, since 2016. His hiring, which came after a six-month executive search, was made official by Telfair’s board of trustees during a special meeting Oct. 30. Robert “Bob” Faircloth has served as Telfair’s acting director since the previous director departed in May and will continue in that role for the remainder of 2020.

“I am honored to take the helm at Telfair Museums and to become a member of Savannah’s vibrant and diverse community,” Simons said. “Telfair’s sterling reputation and its unique focus on art, history, and architecture make this a particularly exciting opportunity for me. The current staff and board have done an admirable job of stewarding the organization through the present public health crisis, and I look forward to leading the organization to continued success in the future.”