SEQUIM — The Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley board has hired DJ Bassett, who has been serving as MAC interim executive director since August, as the permanent director.
Bassett will be introduced publicly as executive director at the MAC’s annual members meeting from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Dungeness Schoolhouse, 2781 Towne Road.
Bassett succeeds Katherine Vollenweider, who retired from the executive director position in July.
Bassett was selected from up to 20 applications received after the position was advertised locally and nationally, said Layton Carr, MAC board vice president.
“We had a high-quality level of applicants, and DJ was clearly the right person at the right time for the museum. He was selected unanimously by vote of the board,” Carr said.
“He has the management and personnel skills, and during his tenure as interim director, he has clearly demonstrated an ability to organize and oversee the affairs of the museum.”
Carr said eight of the nine board members selected Bassett on Tuesday, with one member absent and unable to vote.
Bassett’s knowledge of local history and his involvement in its preservation were seen as one of his strengths, Carr said.
Bassett said his salary had not been determined but that he was paid $2,500 a month for the interim position.
He said the move clears the way for him to continue what he started.
“It’s not a big change from what my priorities have been since I took over in late August,” Bassett said Wednesday.
“The difference is now I know I can follow through on what I wanted to do.”
While serving as interim executive director, Bassett has worked on a master plan for the MAC, elements of which have already been put into action, including digitizing the archives, finding aides to ease research and inventorying the entire collection.
“I’ve thought about the MAC and the direction in which it needs to go for several years,” Bassett said.
“There has been a lot of work done, and there’s still a lot to do, and we’re on track,” said Bassett, who wants to recruit more volunteers.
“I think the MAC is poised at this junction with the staff, volunteers and board to make it happen.”
The MAC has about 500 members and 100 volunteers helping to operate at the exhibit center on West Cedar Street; the Second Chance thrift store that helps fund the operation; the DeWitt building where MAC’s offices, collections and records are stored on North Sequim Avenue; and the historic Dungeness Schoolhouse on Towne Road.
Bassett stressed that the arts side of the organization was just as important as history, especially given the economy, and said that top-notch exhibits would continue at the exhibit center.
He noted that MAC is focusing on video-recording oral histories from longtime local residents, which will add a dimension to the historic photos archived at the DeWitt Building, MAC’s administrative offices, 544 N. Sequim Ave.
He has said he believes MAC is on its way to building a permanent museum fronting the administrative offices building in a large lot off North Sequim Avenue. He hopes to help MAC raise the money to do so.
Bassett also hopes to help the MAC prepare for Sequim’s centennial celebration in 2013.
Bassett — who has served as president of the Clallam County Historical Society and who was a MAC board member in 2008 — said he hopes the Clallam County Historical Society and the MAC will continue to collaborate on classes and other events.
He also is chairman of the Clallam County Heritage Advisory Board, which advises the Clallam County commissioners on historic matters, and is Sequim Cemetery Association president.
Bassett has lived in Sequim for eight years and has helped run the Happy Valley-area Blue Moon Lavender Farm with his wife, Magdalena.
Bassett, an expert in digital photo preservation, is the owner of Bassett Studio, www.historicphotopreservation.com.
The MAC Exhibit Center, 175 W. Cedar St., Sequim, is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
For more information, phone the center at 360-683-8110 or visit www.macsequim.org.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.