Rather, visitor engagement intersects with how we, the people who work at SCMA, experience the museum. The atmosphere we bring to events transfers to our visitors, and I think for many of us, contributing to the thrilling moments of connection between visitors and artworks in turn motivates our commitment to museum work. With the goal of enhancing visitor experience, we focused over the last year on developing the internal support and training needed to consistently give our visitors a genuine and inclusive sense of welcome. In addition to articulating visitor services priorities for SCMA and introducing staff trainings focused on visitor experience, we have bolstered staff expertise and support in this area by promoting David Andrews to the position of visitor services assistant. In this role, he will continue to provide the initial welcome to our visitors at the front desk, and he will also participate in staff initiatives focused on improving all aspects of the visitor experience at SCMA, from the look and feel of our entrance spaces to what and how we communicate with our audiences. Over the next year, as we approach the museum’s centennial in 2020, we will continue to focus on strengthening our visitor services team, and will also increasingly turn to the outward aspects of how visitors—including Smith and Five College students and faculty, alumnae, members and local visitors—experience SCMA. Just as we are conceiving of visitor services as encompassing not only visitors but also staff, so too are we defining visitor experience as comprising not just what one might encounter in the museum spaces, but all points of interaction with the museum, including our digital presence on social media and the SCMA website. Many people have contributed to our current project to update our website and visual identity to more fully convey the museum’s mission and activities and how we see them evolving as we enter SCMA’s second century. We look forward to seeing these initiatives come to fruition. And ultimately, we hope that our efforts to improve visitor experience at SCMA will build on the vibrancy, complexity and dynamism that you, our visitors, bring to the museum and its collections. Lily Foster is associate director of museum administration at SCMA EXTENDED HOURS, EXPANDED OPPORTUNITIES: OPEN THURSDAYS ‘TIL 8! In September 2017, SCMA began offering extended hours on Thursday evenings through the generous support of The Brown Foundation. Staying open until 8 pm provides students with an additional opportunity, outside of class hours, to find their way to the museum for coursework or personal enjoyment. As part of this new initiative, our post-baccalaureate fellows worked as a team to develop a range of targeted student programs for four of these Thursday evenings. In addition, Smith students were invited to apply for museum grants to support development of two additional Thursday-evening programs in collaboration with museum staff. After reviewing a range of proposals, grants were awarded to the Latin American Students’ Organization (to develop a program focused on sharing Latinx art and culture) and The Writers Flock (to develop an open-mic night inspired by SCMA’s Un/American installation). • September 28 — A Dangerous Woman Mocktail Party; 371 attendees • October 26 — Halloween at Your Museum; 102 attendees • November 30 — Our Flight is Endless (presented in collaboration with the Latin American Students’ Organization, through the support of a museum grant for student programs); 143 attendees • January 25 — Zodiac Kickback; 286 attendees • March 29 — Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (presented in collaboration with Smith Libraries); 25 participants • April 26 — Un/American: Open Mic Night at SCMA (presented in collaboration with The Writers Flock, through the support of a museum grant for student programs); 50 attendees 40 ABOVE: David Andrews, visitor services assistant, greeting museum visitors