It’s a busy season at the Museum of Boulder. Two new exhibitions are bringing fresh stories and artifacts into the galleries, while a new executive director is taking the helm of the 82-year-old institution.
Juliette León Bartsch was recently promoted to executive director after more than two years as the museum’s director of development and marketing. Bartsch succeeds Christopher Taylor, who has accepted a position as executive director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust in Chicago.
During her tenure at the museum, Bartsch has helped expand its community presence and increase contributed revenue by nearly 40 percent this year alone.
She also brings deep ties to Boulder’s arts and cultural communities. Before joining the museum, Bartsch spent more than two decades curating the Boulder Library Concert Series and leading cultural programming at the Boulder Public Library. She later worked with the Boulder Library Foundation and led education and engagement initiatives at the Dairy Arts Center.
“Juliette has a keen sense for our community,” says Bob Yates, chair of the museum’s board of trustees. “She knows what residents and visitors want, and she delivers.”
The leadership transition comes as the museum builds on recent momentum.
“I am proud of the work we’ve done over the past two years,” Taylor says. “The museum is on stronger footing from both a programming and financial standpoint, and I am confident that the staff and board are ready to carry the organization into its next chapter under [Bartsch’s] leadership.”
Bartsch’s appointment comes as the museum mounts two new exhibitions that look at history and heritage from different perspectives: “A Century of Collecting: Stories from Our Vault,” which draws on the museum’s collection of more than 45,000 objects, and “Heritage in Motion: Third Series,” which explores Nepali identity, migration, memory and the evolving meaning of home.
Both exhibitions are now on view at the Museum of Boulder through January 3, 2027
A Century Of Collecting
“A Century of Collecting: Stories from Our Vault” marks 100 years of collecting Boulder history with objects drawn from the museum’s collection, many of which have never been displayed publicly.
The exhibition spans the city’s history through an eclectic assortment of objects, including garments from the nationally recognized Phyllis Plehaty Costume Collection, artwork, trunks, quilts, early mining tools, vintage toys, saddles, typewriters and computers.
Alongside the objects, the exhibition offers a behind-the-scenes look at how museums preserve and manage their collections—and how they decide which objects and stories will represent a community for future generations.
The museum’s collection now contains more than 45,000 objects, making the anniversary an opportunity to look not only at what has been preserved, but also at whose stories are represented in the collection and what might be collected next.
Programming connected to the exhibition includes “Object Lessons,” a curator-led web series about collections care and preservation, as well as “What’s It Worth?” community appraisal events featuring local experts.
On October 10, visitors can also take “Where History Lives,” a guided tour of the museum’s off-site collections storage facility in Gunbarrel to see rarely displayed artifacts and learn more about how they are cared for.
Heritage In Motion
At the same time, “Heritage in Motion: Third Series” examines what happens when cultural traditions travel across borders and generations.
Presented in partnership with the Colorado Nepalese Community and curated by Binisha Shrestha, the exhibition explores Nepali identity, migration, memory and the changing meaning of home through artifacts, textiles, ritual objects, photographs, artwork and personal narratives.
The third iteration of “Heritage in Motion” builds on earlier exhibitions at the Aurora History Museum and Denver International Airport, with a particular focus on intergenerational storytelling and the experiences of Nepali families in Colorado.
The exhibition looks beyond formal ceremonies and festivals to the everyday ways culture is maintained and adapted—from food and family conversations to relationships and other acts of care.
View this post on Instagram
Featured artists and community contributors include Ang Tsherin Sherpa, Erina Tamrakar, Asha Dangol, Subhash Awale, Yuvak Tuladhar, Paramesh Adhikari, Shraya Rajbhandari, Sajal Siwakoti, Sunila Bajracharya and Kabi Raj Lama.
Curator-led tours are scheduled for October 5, November 16 and December 14, and a November 1 screening of Amitabh Joshi’s documentary “Have You Seen My Gods?” will explore Nepal’s stolen sacred heritage, followed by a discussion about cultural preservation, repatriation and identity.
The museum is also working with the Colorado Nepalese Community on an educational workshop centered on mandalas and the ideas of connection, balance and wholeness found in Buddhist and Himalayan artistic traditions.
For Bartsch, the exhibitions are part of a broader vision for the museum as a place where Boulder’s history and its present-day communities can meet. She’s thrilled to take on the directorship but, she says, she’s “even more excited about what lies ahead—extraordinary exhibitions, dynamic programs, meaningful collaborations and a vibrant next chapter in the life of this significant institution.”
That future includes “Boulder MIXTAPE: Local, Live & Loud,” an upcoming exhibition about Boulder’s music history from 1955 to 2005. The exhibition is slated to run February 19, 2027, through January 8. 2028.
