Meet the new Executive Director for the Park City Museum and Historical Society, Andrew Cohen.
What is your previous experience and what brought you to the current position?
For the past seven years I was actually retired, I moved to Park City in 2013 full time, from Florida. I had owned several technology companies and participated in more than a dozen nonprofits where I was either a board chair or worked on strategy and development, so I did a lot of give back through my professional career. I got involved with the Egyptian Theatre and I was hooked into Park City after that. I also spent a lot of time at the museum as a volunteer, I was attracted to it right away, I am a history buff and have traveled the world. History is the connection to it all. I wanted to change my career into a nonprofit, and do more of a give back.
What are you most looking forward to in this new role?
The reason I took this job is about the community, it’s about my love for Park City. Once I got into the job, I understood that Glenwood Cemetery came under the Historical Society three years ago, there is a lot of work to get done there, it has been around for 150 years. We also have a huge private collection of Park City history which is why we built this facility (Education and Collection Center) to maintain it and there is so much opportunity related around that. This is something that I feel my skills could really help, it’s kind of my give back to the community in a sense. I really want to make a difference.
Any future plans or goals for the museum or the historical society?
We have 50 years that really aren’t represented and we have so much more to talk about; science and music and film that are historically based and are more relevant to where the current local community is at. Our community has changed a lot in the last ten years. Also bringing in Glenwood Cemetery and the mining structures, bringing that messaging into the museum. I also want to add to the volunteer benefits, people that give time to the museum, including discounted memberships. ■
Locals only come visit us once a year, I want to make it more relevant for them to come in. I also hope to bring in more people from Wasatch and Summit County.
