20 Sep Maritime Museum invites community to meet with director

BEAUFORT — The director of the North Carolina Maritime Museums will be in Beaufort next week, and he’s set aside some time to meet with the community.

“I always try to remain open and accessible,” Joseph Schwarzer, director of the three museums in the system, said. “This is the first time we’ve formalized it.”

The Friends of the Maritime Museum will host Coffee with the Director on Wednesday, Sept. 25, starting at 10:30 a.m. in the auditorium of the museum, located at 315 Front St. in Beaufort. The free, relaxed event will feature coffee, doughnuts and conversation and is open to the general public. Registration is not required.

Brent Creelman, director of the Friends, said the event is designed to get dialogue flowing between Schwarzer and the community. While it was initially floated as an event limited to Friends of the Museum members, Creelman saw the benefit in expanding the invitation to the wider community.

“He can get input from the community about how the museum is doing, and the community can get updates from him,” Creelman said.

Any museum-related topic is up for discussion, but Creelman thinks the future of the museum and its planned move to Gallants Channel will be the “hot topic.” Schwarzer said the topics are up to the attendees.

“Anything that they want to discuss will come up,” Schwarzer said. “While we are a state-run museum, we exist in the Beaufort community and are a part of the Beaufort community.

“The residents need to understand this is their museum.”

For more information on Coffee with the Director, contact the Friends of the Maritime Museum at (252) 728-1638 or visit maritimefriends.com.