Macon Magazine

October/November 2025 | maconmagazine.com 33 early. It's very much a family business, and I was homesick, so I really connected with their close-knit culture." When the Welsh's own daughter came along, she took a break, then became a volunteer artist- in-residence, teaching art, painting murals with students, and doing other projects at Sonny Carter Elementary School, their school. Welsh bemoans the lack of a required arts curriculum in Georgia public schools, a motivating factor in seeing that MAS excels in providing resources for teachers and students at its intersection of art and science. When their daughter was older, Welsh joined Wesleyan College, providing leadership and strategic direction for the offices of development, alumnae relations, and marketing communications. She directed a $20 million comprehensive campaign and the annual fund. "I was there about 10 years," she said. "I also took every art history course they offered and probably every studio art course. It was great. I loved serving there, and it did so much to prepare me for the museum." A MUSEUM MOVING FORWARD WITH PURP O SE A sampling of MAS facts and Welsh's accomplishments is remarkable: First, Welsh credits the museum's 1950s founders and subsequent board members for their forward- thinking in creating and sustaining a museum combining both arts and sciences, a rarity. Connected with national museum associations, Welsh views MAS as one of the finest nationally accredited museums, attracting nearly 100,000 visitors from 48 states annually. She manages a staff of 30, with MAS having a 20-member board of directors, a five-member board of trustees, and 400 volunteers. She manages a lean $2 million annual budget plus capital improvement projects, and the museum's community assets valued at nearly $10 million. She has raised more than $15 million for capital improvements and expanded endowments. Programs have expanded, and four major facility renovation projects have been completed, expanding the landlocked campus's scope. They include hands-on children's exhibits, reptile, animal, and bat features, trails, an amphitheater, and more. MAS received the prestigious Governor's Award of Excellence in the Arts and Humanities. Because Georgia students underperform in science, MAS expanded to deliver accessible enrichment learning experiences, leading the state by using a STEAM framework to integrate arts with sciences. "This required an intentional focus on exhibitions highlighting artists who use math or science to inform or inspire their works," Welsh said. "We strategically expanded our permanent collection to add more than 500 objects of contemporary art, including paintings, drawings, ceramic sculpture, photography, and multimedia works, punctuated by a ABOVE The Fulldome Festival at MAS. Photo courtesy of Macon Film Festival.

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