I hope everyone had a truly blessed Easter! For us at the Polish Mission, we left for the Easter break on the heels of another great visit! Mr. Jacek Miler is a man very much on the go. He’s the senior advisor to the Ministry of Culture, and part of his duty to Poland is regularly traveling all over the globe to survey the top institutions that promote Polish cultural heritage. For the first time in Orchard Lake Schools history, he visited our campus for a busy three days, going over all aspects of Polish Mission operations. He arrived Monday evening, April 2 with a special guest from The Polish Museum of America in Chicago, and had a special twilight tour of the campus before turning in at the castle.
Ms. Monika Nowak accompanied Mr. Miler, making the event even more special! In addition to bringing Mr. Miler to Orchard Lake, Ms. Nowak made the visit to view our collection of Polish posters. 20th century posters from Poland are one of the most unique forms of modern art, and the Polish Museum of America safeguards a rich collection for all to appreciate, and is now exhibiting a special series called Art of Association back in Chicago. A tour given by Galeria Director Evelyn-Bachorski Bowman introduced both Mr. Miler and Ms. Nowak to our own special collection of posters, and Ms. Nowak was on the road shortly thereafter back to the windy city. A comprehensive tour of the Polish Mission with Mr. Miler continued. One of the first stops was PARI, our genealogy center, where Mr. Miler was introduced to our historical panorama and recent donation from the Koniarz family by Ceil Jensen. After that, Caryn Noel and Beata Owczarski showed Mr. Miler the rare book room, and the last stop was with JJ at the museums, where the Home Army room and newly renovated Second Corps Room were the main attractions. After a full day of touring and a business lunch with Chairman of the Board Mr. Lud Koci, and Development Director Ms. Patricia Zawadzki, Mr. Miler was treated to a special screening of After The Factory, a documentary film by a culturally-focused and positive-minded local director, Phillip Lauri. The next day Mr. Miler toured the archives with Fr. Flis, and wrapped up his comprehensive survey of the Polish Mission. By mid-afternoon, it was off to the airport to make his next appointment in New York on the way back to Warsaw.
I am very happy to report to you all that Mr. Miler had very positive things to say about our operations. I want to express my deep thanks to everyone who participated in making his visit the best that it could be. He said in direct response to a question from our chairman, that of the over 2,200 Polish cultural institutions worldwide that are engaged by the Ministry of Culture, the Polish Mission ranks in the top twenty-five. This simple answer, spoken with frankness and sincerity, tells us that we’re doing extremely well, and we have been since day one. We’ve come a long way in four years; it looks like The Polish Mission passed the job evaluation.
Now that’s what I call Good News.
Marcin Chumiecki – Director
Polish Mission
Polish-American Art and Cultural Research Foundation
