Lacy Middlebrooks Camp, co-winner of the 2021 Smitty award, poses with her award on Saturday, August 21, 2021, at the Georgia Museum of Art.
The annual M. Smith Griffith Volunteer Award (the “Smitty”) recognizes the Georgia Museum of Art’s most dedicated volunteers. This year’s co-recipients of the 25th Smitty award are Lacy Middlebrooks Camp and Gordhan Patel. A month ago, we featured Patel’s longtime involvement(opens in new tab) with the museum. This week, to finish out Friends Appreciation Month(opens in new tab), we’re highlighting Camp’s efforts and contributions.
The award is named for Smitty Griffith, a vital player in the growth and development of the museum. Griffith moved to Athens from Atlanta in 1961, quickly immersing herself in the community through various outreach projects. She was a founding member of the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art in 1973 and assisted in the organization of the first Elegant Salute in 1986. Throughout the years, Griffith contributed to the museum’s success in numerous ways, paving the way for future volunteers like Camp and Patel to make a mark on the museum.
Camp and her husband began visiting the museum in the 1990s, but it wasn’t until around 10 years ago, when they knew they were retiring from their careers in marriage and family therapy, that they began volunteering at the museum. As they entered retirement, the museum became a way to socialize and connect with interesting people.
“It’s a cool community of art-loving people, so I feel like I belong,” Camp said.
Camp’s background in therapy gives her a unique appreciation for the mental and physical health benefits of art.
“Right now, in particular in the stress of COVID, I think art institutions provide an opportunity for health that we can’t find in other places,” she said.
It’s this sense of community, built around something therapeutic, that’s kept Camp involved and invested in the museum. She’s been a docent for seven years and just finished a two-year term as president of the Friends Board of Directors. In particular, Camp has enjoyed helping with and sponsoring the museum’s Black history celebration over the years.
“It exemplifies the best of what the museum can do in connecting people and communities through art,” she said. “It has been a place where we move past boundaries and hear the truth. It’s been a pleasure and privilege to be part of this event.”
One of the major accomplishments to come out of Camp’s tenure as president of the Friends Board is the establishment of the Fund for the Future endowment, which she enthusiastically supported.
“We [the Friends] had money that was sitting there not working for us. It was just earning interest,” Camp said. “When COVID hit, it seemed like the way became clear: this money needed to be used to help underwrite the ongoing business of the museum. People love to give money for acquisitions, but for the telephone or stationery or stamps — that’s not nearly as sexy.”
“An operating endowment has been in discussion for decades and without Lacy’s support and encouragement the transition of the quasi-endowment to a seed gift might not have been possible,” said museum director William Underwood Eiland.
Leading the Friends Board through a pandemic was certainly not easy, but Camp’s background in facilitating connection made her well equipped for the challenge.
“One of the things I did in my professional life was to facilitate groups as well as families in being able to talk to each other,” she said. “So, I just transferred that skill into working with people over Zoom. We did some unusual things, but we talked to each other beyond just the business of doing the Friends work. That became an important piece of what we were doing, because otherwise we lost a lot of the energy that I think is important for us to continue doing the work that we needed to do.”
