Wadsworth Atheneum Museum Of Art

Programs: Curating and curatorial research fy2018the curatorial division cares for, researches, and displays the museum's collection of art. These include paintings, sculptures, decorative arts (furniture, glass, ceramics, and metalwork), works on paper, costumes and textiles, and videos, ranging in date from antiquity to contemporary and including works from most continents. The curatorial division is also responsible for curating the exhibition program for the museum, which in fy2018 comprised the following:hand-painted pop! Art and appropriation, 1961 to now, april 29-august 13, 2017; simply splendid: rediscovering american design, may 13august 13, 2017; mika tajima/matrix 177: after life, june 1-september 3, 2017; museum menagerie, july 22, 2017-april 1, 2018; sublime north: romantic painters discover norway: paintings from the collection of asbjrn lunde, september 7, 2017-january 15, 2018; morgan: mind of the collector, september 23-december 31, 2017; sam messer/matrix 178: denis the pirate, october 5, 2017-february 11, 2018; herbert ferber: space in tension, january 27-july 29, 2018; david smith: figures & dwelling, january 27-july 29, 2018; gorey's worlds, february 10-may 6, 2018; frederic church: a painter's pilgrimage, june 2-august 26, 2018; and conrad shawcross / matrix 179, june 21-october 21, 2018. Permanent collection installations included: john trumbull: visualizing american independence, november 5, 2016-july 23, 2017; keith sonnier: three neons / three decades, january 28-october 8, 2017; svres' vase de l'adour: a closer look, february 18, 2017-february 25, 2018; mirror, mirror, december 1, 2017-june 3, 2018; fine prints and drawings by rembrandt and his contemporaries, march 10-july 15, 2018; and sculpture circa 1950, opened april 25, 2018. Outdoor sculpture installations included:sean scully (american, born ireland, 1945). 30, 2018. Aluminum and automotive paint. Courtesy of the artistconrad shawcross (english, born 1977). Monolith (optic), 2016. Galvanized steel and stainless steel. Private collectioncuratorial research resulted in the following publications: thomas j. Loughman, wadsworth atheneum museum of art: uncommon legacy (wadsworth atheneum museum of art, hartford, ct, in association with scala arts publishers, inc. , new york, ny, 2017). Thomas j. Loughman, lead author; with contributions by lynne zacek bassett, eileen doyle, patricia hickson, marci king, erin monroe, linda h. Roth, and oliver tostmann. Erin monroe, gorey's worlds (wadsworth atheneum museum of art, hartford, ct, in association with princeton university press, princeton and oxford, 2018). Erin monroe, lead author; with contributions by robert greskovic, arnold arluke, and kevin shortsleeve. The museum curators, working with the registrars, also engage in a significant loan program, lending objects in the collection to important and innovative exhibitions. In fy2018, forty-nine (49) works of art were approved for loans to forty-six (46) institutions in the united states, canada, and europe. Finally, curators, through purchases, gifts, and bequests acquired 92 works of art for the collection, including: one (1) american sculpture; three (3) pieces of american ceramics; three (3) pieces of american furniture; four (4) contemporary paintings; two (2) contemporary prints; fifty-three (53) contemporary photographs; seven (7) contemporary sculptures; twelve (12) costumes; four (4) textiles; one (1) european drawing; one (1) european painting; and one (1) european decorative arts object.

education and visitor servicesthe education department at the wadsworth atheneum museum of art provides learning and engagement opportunities for all audiences. Programs for families, prek-12 students, teachers of all grade levels, youth out of school, and our broader public activate our collections and special exhibitions and encourage visitor connections with art's history and contemporary meaning. The department works closely with curatorial on interpretive projects, evaluation efforts for programs and exhibitions, and fundraising. Adult-centered programs take many shapes, including gallery talks, drawing courses, demonstrations by artists, dance and music performances, panel discussions and events that include social interaction around art. Major adult programs in fy18 included an international symposium centered on the extensive collection of j. P. Morgan and the shaping of the modern collector, our continued chamber concert series with the hartford symphony with music inspired by special exhibitions, and the annual emily hall tremaine lecture in contemporary art, this year by former matrix artist mierle laderman ukeles. Programs imagined through the community engagement initiative, designed to deepen the museum's relationship with families, schools, and our community, have become distinct components of our department's work. Museum on the move, community days, and second saturdays for families continue to resonate with the evolving demographics of hartford and our vicinity and attract new funders. In fy18, almost 8,000 visitors participated in youth and community programs, and nearly 13,000 in school and teacher programs. Studio programs were especially popular with over 2,600 students in grades prek-12 finding connections between a gallery tour and studio project. Much of our department's work depends on a highly active and educated docent council, which celebrates its 50th anniversary year in 2018. Ninety-one docents toured over 20,000 visitors this past year. New projects in fy18 include an art & writing pilot for grades 6-8 with an addition of three themes drawn from the hartford public school curriculum: city life, historical perspectives, and mythology. Funding from frame (french regional american museum exchange) is supporting the development of an art and empathy curriculum for youth-serving organizations. And a grant from the anonymous foundation ignited efforts towards cultivating latinx audiences. In the meantime, the department has produced a series of ten bilingual english/spanish family guides and added spanish translations to our tap mobile tours. Developments in the digital realm are imminent as we build content in partnership with smarthistory's seeing america project funded by the walton family foundation, the neh, mellon foundation, and the terra foundation for american art. Objects from both the wadsworth atheneum and the amistad center for art & culture were selected for inclusion on an internet platform designed to teach american history through material culture. The museum's relationship with the academic community continues to develop as partnerships grow. A conference convened by the hartford consortium for higher education in the fall of 2017 explored ways to invigorate hartford as a college town. The museum hopes to play a central role in the endeavor along with many organizational collaborators as we become more effective partners for colleges and universities. The new encounters series in partnership with the hartford public library and the uconn humanities institute drew close to 200 faculty, students and public for conversations around topical issues. The museum's internship program provided opportunities for 11 students to contribute to seven museum departments through project-based placements with professional mentors. Visitor services continues to warmly welcome and orient all visitors to the museum. The team also takes the lead on surveying audiences, managing the museum's robust volunteer program that places volunteers throughout the museum for department and program support, and registering hartford residents for wadsworth welcome. Since the inception of wadsworth welcome and the museum's offer of free admission to all who live within the city of hartford, the museum has registered about 3,385 people who speak 44 languages in their homes.

other program expenses: other program expenses include marketing, public relations, membership, museum shop, theater, cafe and other miscellaneous.