The Summer Institute in Art Museum Studies at Smith College engages liberal arts students in an in-depth, behind-the-scenes, hands-on exploration of art museums. Through a combination of classroom instruction and assignments, visits to museums, conversations with museum professionals, and an exhibition project, participants learn about the purpose and function of art museums and the numerous challenges they face.  Travel to museums, galleries, and art venues in New York City, Boston, and elsewhere provide opportunities to consider the values and responsibilities of different kinds of institutions: academic and city museums, private and public institutions, encyclopedic and focused collections.  Students meet with professionals in a variety of fields, from directors and curators to private collectors and art conservators.  Throughout the six-week program, students have the unique experience of planning and mounting a complete exhibition project at the Smith College Museum of Art.  In collaboration, they conceive and implement curatorial, education and marketing plans, as well as install the exhibit and design and publish the exhibition catalogue.

The Summer Institute in Art Museum studies is a co-educational program designed especially for college undergrads and for recent recipients of the B.A. degree who have not yet enrolled in graduate school. The six-week program is based on the Smith College campus, in Northampton, Massachusetts, and is a program of the Smith College Museum of Art. Enrollment is limited to fifteen participants. A certificate will be awarded to all who complete the program successfully.

Dates for the 2012 session are Sunday June 17 – Friday July 27, 2012.  The application deadline is Friday March 9, 2012. Generous financial aid in the form of full and partial scholarships is available for students with need.

Smith College is grateful to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston, The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, and several individual donors for support of this program.

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