Summary Schedule of the 2011 SIAMS Session

Faculty
Marion Goethals, Director; Katy Kline, Associate Director
TAs, Betsy Athens, Yale; Jason Vrooman, NYU
Staff, Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA) with Ann Musser, Associate Director of Academic Programs and Public Education

Week I

 
   

Sunday June 12

 
10 – 5:30 Check-in at Hubbard House
6:00 Welcome dinner at Lamont House
After dinner House meeting at Hubbard
   

Monday June 13

 

9 – 12
Hillyer 109

Introduction – Marion Goethals, Katy Kline
Logistics, introduction of faculty and TAs. Overview – discussion of reading: what art is meaningful?  Basic functions of art museums: collecting, preserving, exhibiting, interpreting, audience building.  Explanation of assignments: reading, class participation, trip preview report (sign-up today), class exhibition, five writing assignments culminating in final portfolio. 

1 – 5
Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA)/Hillyer
Behind the scenes tours, and presentations by museum staff
   

Tuesday June 14

 

SCMA/Hillyer tours

Behind the scenes tours, and presentations by museum staff, continued

12:15  Lunch at Riff’s Café in the Brown Fine Arts Center
1:00 – 2:30

Other Resources, Tours.
Start in Hillyer Art Library. STUDENTS! Bring your laptops this afternoon.
Barbara Polowy, Head of the Hillyer Art Library, Introduction to library resources
Elisa Lanzi, Director, Imaging Center, Introduction to image resources

3:00 Continue SCMA tours
   

Wednesday June 15

 

9 – 12 Hillyer 109

Governance, Marion Goethals
Governance structures of both independent and “nested” museums.  Boards of Trustees and Advisory Committees; responsibilities and ethical obligations of the Board; role division between board and staff.  The Public Trust.  Role of the Attorney General. Mission and Vision statements.  In-class exercise writing mission statements for new museums.

1 – 5 Hillyer 109

Exhibiting, Katy Kline
Types of exhibitions: permanent collection, temporary, blockbuster, interventions, etc.; audience driven exhibitions; curatorial role; challenges to museums.
Also, SCMA, Winslow Gallery, looking at SIAMS exhibition artwork with Ann Musser
Trip Preview: Yale, Florence Griswold Museum

   

Thursday June 16

 
Trip

Yale University Art Gallery and Florence Griswold Museum

   

Friday June 17

 
9 – 12 Hillyer 109 and SCMA

Class Exhibition, Marion Goethals, Katy Kline, Ann Musser
Open discussion in gallery of artwork for SIAMS exhibition: themes and connections, potential audiences, programming, design.
Trip review

1 – 5 Hillyer 109 and outside

Working in Groups, Bob Wright, Assoc. Director of Human Resources, Williams College
Announcement of Exhibition Practicum student teams

   

Week II

 
   
Monday June 20 Writing Assignment One due
9 – 12 Hillyer 109

Audience, Marion Goethals, Allison Berkeley, Manager of Marketing and Public Relations, Worcester Art Museum
Understanding visitor demographics; national participation in the arts; different kinds of audiences.  Why attendance matters.  Reaching and informing potential audiences. Use of new media in audience development.

1 – 2 Hillyer 109 Trip Preview, New York, part one
2 – 4 SCMA Exhibition Practicum:  SCMA mentors meeting with exhibition practicum teams
   
Tuesday June 21  
9 – 12 SMCA

Education, Ann Musser
Role of the museum education department; learning theory; looking strategies; art-making; didactic materials; assessment and evaluation; SCMA program

1 – 5 Hillyer 109 Collections I, Katy Kline, Aprile Gallant, SCMA Curator of Prints, Drawings, Photographs
Collecting: Defining collecting parameters; relation to mission, various means of acquisitions: gifts, bequest, transfer, including pro-active acquisitions: purchase--auction houses, galleries, private dealers, art advisors, art fairs.
Trip Preview, New York, part two
 

 

Wednesday June 22  
Trip NYC, with dinner at collector’s residence
The Museum of Arts and Design, curator; The Frick, curator
   
Thursday June 23

 

Trip, continued NYC, with early evening Graduate School Panel
Metropolitan Museum of Art, art conservator, Whitney Museum of American Art, educators
   
Friday June 24  
Trip, continued NYC, D.C. Moore Gallery; Rubin Museum (Art of the Himalaya), curator, museum on own
   
Saturday June 25  
Trip, continued NYC, return late afternoon
Storm King Sculpture Center
   

Week III

 
   
Monday June 27    Writing Assignment Two due
9 – 12 Hillyer 109

Writing and Publishing, Susan Rossen, Director Emerita of Publications, Art Institute of Chicago
Museum publications for varying audiences, writing about artwork, editing workshop


1 – 2 New York trip review
Afternoon Exhibition Practicum
7 – 8 Washburn House Computer Lab InDesign Workshop (optional) with Jessie Magyar
   
Tuesday June 28  
9 – 12 Hillyer 109

Collections II, Katy Kline
Policies and Procedures; shaping a collections plan; role of staff; role of Board; appraisals; tax law.  Ethical issues: provenance, Nazi-era, cultural patrimony, NAGPRA.  Collections management: deaccessioning policies and procedures; responsibility toward scholarship; role of the Registrar: record-keeping, curatorial files, databases; accessioning and cataloguing; photography; inventory; copyright and reproduction rights.
Sign up for Career Exploration Day preferences; sign up for faculty appointments.

1 – 2 Hillyer 109 Trip Preview: Boston
2 – 5 SCMA Conservation, David Dempsey
In-class technical examination of original objects from the SCMA collection
   

Wednesday June 29

 
Trip

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, American Wing, curatorial, provenance; Isabella Stewart Gardner, building expansion

 

   
Thursday June 30  
  Boston, Peabody Essex Museum, Chinese curator; Skinner’s Auction House
   
Friday July 1  
9 – 12 Hillyer 109

Financial Pictures
A look at a typical museum budget: sources of income; expenses; what happens in a downturn.  Role of the museum fundraising department, board, staff; campaigns; membership programs; stewardship. Earned income: admission fees, café, shop, rentals, benefits.  Grants.  Foundations.  Strategizing about seeking grants.
Boston trip review

Afternoon Individual faculty appointments
   

Week IV

 
   
Monday July 4 HOLIDAY    
 

Neilson Library open over weekend, no evenings, check hours

   
Tuesday July 5 Writing Assignment Three due
9 – 12 Hillyer 109

Planning and Evaluating, Marion Goethals
The value to museums of assessing and evaluating museum goals, understanding the impact of demographic trends, and planning for the future. Case study.

1-2 Hillyer 109 Trip Preview: Williamstown and North Adams
Afternoon Exhibition Practicum
7-9 Hillyer 103

Graduate School panel

   

Wednesday July 6

 
 

Career Exploration (Mt. Holyoke College Art Museum, Eric Carle Museum, Emily Dickinson Museum, Mead Art Museum, University Art Museum, Historic Deerfield, Smith College Museum)

   
Thursday July 7  
9 – 12 Hillyer 109

Architecture, Katy Kline, David Dempsey
A look at several examples from the recent explosion of new and renovated/expanded museums, often by international “starchitects”, examining how these new buildings reflect their institutions’ missions, programs and values. In-class spaces exercise.
Sign up for preferences for 2nd Career Exploration Day; sign up for faculty appointments

Afternoon Exhibition Practicum  [FYI!  Nielson Library closed, Sat. July 9 and Sun. July 10]
   
Friday July 8  
Trip

Williamstown and North Adams, MA
Clark Art Institute, building and development; Williams College Museum of Art, exhibition design; MASS MoCA, director, planning
4 – 8 SCMA 2nd Friday (optional)
LA Style, Print Making at Gemini G.E.L., 1966-1976. 6 pm Gallery Talk by Aprile Gallant

   

Week V

 
   
Monday July 11 Writing Assignment Four due
9 – 12 Hillyer 109

Ethics, Katy Kline
Transparency, conflict-of-interest, ethical conduct.  Discussion of examples.

Afternoon  Exhibition Practicum
2:00 SCMA Installation workshop
   
Tuesday July 12  
 

Career Exploration (Mt. Holyoke College Art Museum, Eric Carle Museum, Emily Dickinson Museum, Mead Art Museum, University Art Museum, Historic Deerfield, Smith College Museum)

   
Wednesday July 13  
9 – 12 Hillyer 109

History of American Museums, Marion Goethals

Founding of civic museums; establishment of private museums; John Cotton Dana; museum visit to see Guerrila Girls posters; role of state, local and federal governments; proliferation of new museums; shifts in the future?

Trip Preview: Hartford and Springfield

1 – 2:30  Hillyer 109 Career Counseling, Janice Schell, Assistant Director, Smith College Career Development
   
Thursday July 14  
Trip

Hartford and Springfield

Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, strategic planning; Springfield (MA) Museums, curator and director

   
Friday July 15  
9 – 12 Hillyer 109

What’s Next?  Tom Sokolowski, Director Emeritus, The Warhol Museum

Afternoon Individual faculty appointments
   

Week VI

 
   
Monday July 18

Writing Assignment Five due

9 – 12 Paradise Road

Last Questions, Marion Goethals, Katy Kline

Trip review

Afternoon Exhibition Practicum
   

Tuesday July 19

 
  Exhibition Practicum
   

Wednesday July 20

 
  Exhibition Practicum
   
Thursday July 21

Writing Assignment Six due
(Portfolio of Writing Assignments 1 - 5, revised)

10 – 12 SCMA, Graham Hall

Presentation in gallery of SIAMS 2011 exhibition to SCMA staff and faculty

Graduation rehearsal

1:30 Hillyer 109 Written program evaluations
   
Friday July 22  GRADUATION  
10:00 Graham Hall and SCMA

adjourn by 1:00 or so