b'connecting people to each otherFOR ME, SCMAS AIM OF CONNECTING PEOPLEto each other gestures to the most aspirational sense of an art museumand especially an art museumembedded in a collegeas a place where works of art can prompt us to arrive at more nuanced, empathetic and critical understandings of ourselves and others.Much of this aspiration is condensed in our programs. In thinking about the past year, severalmoments stand out for me. In the fall, ProfessorAnne Lafont spoke about gender, art and race on the occasion of the exhibition Becoming a Woman in the Age of Enlightenment, bringing the work of the neoclassical artist Marie-Guillemine Benoist directly into pressing contemporary conversations. In the winter, the 48 museum screened videos highlighting the role of art in current AIDS activism and advocacy on Day With(out) above:Lily Foster, associate director of museum administrationArt. And in the spring, students from Holyoke STEM below:Smith students at SCMA during Plastic Entanglementsbelow right:Justin Thomas, museum shop managerconnecting people to each other'