Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park: A Grand Rapids Treasure

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• published: 19 Nov 2015
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Follow chief curator, Joseph Becherer, as he talks about what makes Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park so unique. Find out why it is one of the Top 30 must See Museums in the World. Transcript: My name is Joseph Becherer. I'm the chief curator and vice president for collections and exhibitions. We're standing in the English Perennial Garden of Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. Well, Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park is a very, very unique organization. Our mission focuses on horticulture and sculpture, the natural environment and the arts. We just really think about ourselves as a significant cultural organization that's here for everyone. There are many offerings that are here, both inside and out. Our main campus is about 150 acres. There, you can enjoy the Lena Meijer Children's Garden. You can enjoy the Woodland Shade Garden. The new Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden. We have an extraordinary amphitheater and we have a 30-acre sculpture park. Meijer Gardens' commitment to sculpture was really founded in Fred Meijer's passion for sculpture. He however never collected for his own personal purposes. It was always for community enrichment. He believed that the ideas were important and the artist was significant and it would do something for the betterment of all of our visitors and our many, many members that we should go ahead and go for it. For us, it ultimately is about the quality. The quality of the idea, the quality of the object, the importance of the artist, the artwork. We want to present something that is meaningful and lasting to our guests. We're very globally focused. We are not strictly coming at things from a European or American phenomenon. We really do believe that we are welcoming the world to Meijer Gardens and then we're bringing people from West Michigan here to experience a much more global sense of place. It gives me great joy to think about the number of people that are experiencing beauty, whether it's through a garden or a specific plant or an exhibition or a sculpture or an installation or how those things come together to realize we're really reaching out and we're informing a very vast, very diverse slice of the population. We're very proud that we are now one of the 100 most visited museums in the world. The energy of people that come here to visit, come here to work, come here to volunteer, combine for something that you can't find anywhere else in the world. Ultimately, it's up to the guests to decide how they want to experience this place and hopefully they'll come back and experience it again and again and again.