Thornock Selected as New Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center Executive Director

The Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center Board of Directors have selected Marriah Thornock as the museum's new Executive Director.

Thornock has been with the museum for almost nine years and has served in several roles. She is currently the museum's Director Operations and Special Projects and before that was their Volunteer and Membership Coordinator as well as the Deputy Director for a time.

Thornock said one of her biggest goals is to bring the community back into the museum following the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We have classes starting up for kids. We are re-starting our bus tours, which was an incredibly popular thing. We did geology tours and native history tours." Thornock said, "We've gotten the chance to evaluate what is meaningful to the community."

Thornock is also prioritizing enhancing guests' experiences at the museum. She used an upcoming exhibit from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry as an example. The exhibit, titled 'Zoo in You', explores the world of germs inside the human body.

"There are institutions like the Smithsonian that put on incredible traveling exhibits. I'm excited to work with our exhibits curator over the next year to really dig in and identify who the larger organizations are, what they have available and how we can bring the bigger world to Wenatchee," continued Thornock.

Thornock will begin her new role Friday. Her promotion concludes a six-month search process by the museum's board after Keni Sturgeon resigned in late September. Laurel Turner has been serving as the Interim Director, but her contract only runs through Thursday.

Thornock has a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the University of Washington. She also hold an Executive Master's degree in Nonprofit Management from the Evan's School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington.