Summer Institute in Art Museum Studies (SIAMS)
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 provides 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 the team in a conservation laboratory. 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.
Dates for the 2012 session are June 17–July 27. The program is open to male and female undergraduates and recent graduates who have not yet entered a graduate program. Generous financial aid in the form of full and partial scholarships is available for students with need. Students who would contribute to the expanding diversities of the museum field may also apply for the Brown SIAMS Fellowship, which includes a full SIAMS scholarship and an additional four-week paid internship at the Smith College Museum of Art. Please click here for more information.
Smith College is grateful to The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, and several individual donors for partial support of this program.