SALEM SWITCH.

• Author: Mildenberg, David
• Position: STATEWIDE: Triad

Frank Vagnone, who has made revitalizing tradition-bound museums his lifework, says he's having a blast at Old Salem, which portrays a Moravian community as it existed in the 18th and 19th centuries. The portrayal now includes new research into the lives of free and enslaved African-Americans who lived among the European immigrants. That's the type of edginess that Old Salem Museum and Gardens, the nonprofit that runs the 251-year-old site near downtown Winston-Salem, wanted in hiring Vagnone in March. He was an unconventional choice: Vagnone runs a consulting firm called Twisted Preservation and wrote a book called Anarchist's Guide to Historic House Museums.

"I remember someone telling me when I got to town, 'I can't believe they hired a gay man, because that board is so stodgy,'" Vagnone, 53, says. "Well, my board has been 100% supportive and helped us activate programs more quickly than in the past. And we've done this while tightening our financial budget." Old Salem visits have increased more than 40% since 2011 to more than 400,000, though ticketed admissions make up only half of that total. Revenue from tickets, retail and other programs has been flat at more than $4 million in recent years, while the attraction relies on donations and income from its endowment to stay vibrant. Old Salem has cut...