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Community College Art Museum Leadership Convening & "Art for All" Public Event

Four panelists at a table discussing Art for All

Community College Art Museum Leadership Convening: A Gathering to Foster Collaboration and Expand an Understanding of American Art on Two-Year Campuses

October 9 - 10, 2024: Working Sessions - by invitation only; closed to the public

October 10, 2024 from 3:30pm - 5pm: Art for All: Connecting Campus and Community - open to the public (see recording)

"Art for All" will feature a panel presentation on a range of topics, including art collections, exhibitions, and student engagement and professional development. A panel of four experts and a moderator will tackle these issues and more, to advocate for safeguarding these critical institutions.

The Housatonic Museum of Art under the leadership of Dr. Jennifer Reynolds-Kaye was awarded a $25,000 Convening Grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art for the proposal "Community College Art Museum Leadership Convening: A Gathering to Foster Collaboration and Expand an Understanding of American Art on Two-Year Campuses." Funding will support a first-ever gathering of community college art museum and gallery leaders from across the country and will be proudly hosted at Connecticut State Community College Housatonic in Bridgeport, CT from October 9-10, 2024.

Community college art museum leaders are responsible for sharing American art with an economically and racially diverse two-year students, and yet there is no currently established community of practice. This gathering will provide the opportunity for community college museum and gallery leaders to identify shared concerns, determine areas of collaboration, and pursue advocacy efforts on behalf of our students and our institutions. Topics of working sessions include:

Current holdings of American art in community college art museums
Making collections of American art accessible
Synergies of American art across community college art museums
Serving our students needs and career development
Advocacy efforts across the field of American art and museums
Engaging students and community members with American art through programs, exhibitions, and educational initiatives.

The convening also includes one public program as a panel discussion around the role of academic art museums and galleries for 2-year campuses. This will be an opportunity for the larger community to learn about the range of community college art museums and galleries around the country, including the major challenges facing the field.

Confirmed participants include leaders from the Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, MI; the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS; The Art Galleries (TAG) at Austin Community College (ACC) in Austin, TX; the San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery in San Diego, CA; Foundation Art Collection, Hudson Community College, Jersey City, NJ; Foundation Art College, Ocean County College, Island Heights, NJ; The Cleve Carney Museum of Art, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL; Gallery at Founders’ Hall CT State Community College - Northwestern, Winsted, CT; Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, CA; Munson Museum of Art, Utica, NY; and the Kathryn Tucker Windham Museum, Coastal Alabama Community College, Bay Minette, AL.

Financial supporters include the Terra Foundation for American Art; Connecticut Humanities; the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts; the College of DuPage Foundation; and the Johnson County Community College Foundation.

Jennifer Reynolds-Kaye

Director of the Housatonic Museum of Art

Published

July 02, 2024

"Art for All" Brochure

Read Press Release 1

Read Press Release 2

Read Press Release 3

Hear Radio Interview 1

Hear Radio Interview 2

List of participants and their institutions

Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, MI

Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS

Kathryn Tucker Windham Museum, Coastal Alabama Community College, Bay Minette, AL

Housatonic Museum of Art, CT State Housatonic, Bridgeport, CT

The Cleve Carney Museum of Art, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL

The Gallery at Founders Hall, CT State Community College Northwestern, Winsted, CT

Krause Center for Innovation Gallery, Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, CA

Contact

Munson Museum of Art, Utica, NY

San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery, San Diego, CA

Nathalie Sánchez, Independent Consultant, Arts Education and Museum Leadership, Los Angeles, CA

Contact

The Art Galleries (TAG) at Austin Community College, Austin, TX

Foundation Art Collection, Hudson Community College, Jersey City, NJ

Foundation Art Collection, Ocean County College, Island Heights, NJ

Craig Hadley

Director, Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, MI

Email contact:

Phone contact: 231-995-1572

Website URL: dennosmuseum.org

The Dennos Museum Center builds community, sparks conversation, and inspires change for audiences of all ages through its exhibitions, programs, and the collection and preservation of art. Opened in 1991 and expanded in 2018, the 60,000 square foot Dennos Museum Center is located on the campus of Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, MI. The museum curates one of the largest contemporary Inuit art collections in the United States, with over 2,000 prints and sculptures ranging from the late 1950s to present day. The Dennos also features a robust temporary exhibition program and produces performances and concerts in its 367-seat Milliken auditorium. In 2021, the Dennos became a Smithsonian Affiliate and most recently joined the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC).
JoAnne Northrup

Executive Director and Chief Curator, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS

Email contact:

Phone contact: 415.290.7646

Website URL: http://www.nermanmuseum.com

The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art is located on the campus of Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS, a major suburb of Kansas City. The 38,000 square foot building was designed by Kyu Sung Woo Architects. The collection includes approximately 2,000 artworks from 1980 to the present. Four hundred artworks are on display outside the Nerman Museum in buildings across campus and outdoors, integrating contemporary art with the everyday life of more than 15,000 students who attend JCCC. Ten percent of the collection is by contemporary American Indian and First Nations artists, a commitment which likely exceeds that of any other major American museum of contemporary art. The Nerman Museum is also distinguished by the fact that one quarter of the collection and exhibition programming is focused on artists living in or associated with the Kansas City region.
Peter Bonfitto

Director of Art Galleries and Exhibition Programming, The Art Galleries (TAG) at Austin Community College, Austin, TX

Email contact:

Phone contact: (512) 223-7858

Website URL: https://admc.austincc.edu/tag/

The Art Galleries (TAG) at Austin Community College (ACC) launched in 2020 as a new initiative by the Arts and Digital Media Division and Art Department. Building on an over 40-year history of art programming at ACC, the new TAG program at Highland Campus greatly expanded the college’s academic art program and ability to engage with the city’s communities. TAG organizes exhibitions and educational programs in three gallery spaces that serve the college’s over 40,000 degree-seeking students and the rapidly-growing urban center of Austin. With a focus on student success and professional development, many gallery projects feature student artworks or include students in all aspects of their execution. For 20 years, ACC has collected student artwork for its Permanent Collection. The core gallery projects include faculty exhibitions and special exhibitions which feature works by established, underrepresented, and emerging Texas artists. A student internship program at TAG trains students in exhibition and collection management, design, installation, and curatorial practices. TAG frequently collaborates with ACC’s Peace and Conflict Center and its Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Center.
Nathalie Sánchez

Independent Consultant, Arts Education and Museum Leadership, Los Angeles, CA

Email contact:

Phone contact: (562) 583 -9226

Nathalie previously worked as a visual arts teacher for arts education non-profit organizations and museum educator with two academic museums: Fowler Museum at UCLA and the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College.

The Vincent Price Art Museum (VPAM) was established in 1957 as a teaching museum on the campus of East Los Angeles College (ELAC) with a donation of 90 artworks from actor and art collector Vincent Price and his wife Mary Grant Price. Since then, VPAM's mission has been to serve as an educational and cultural resource for ELAC and surrounding eastside and San Gabriel Valley communities through the exhibition, interpretation, collection, and preservation of works in all media of the visual arts. Today, its permanent collection contains more than 9,000 historical and contemporary works of art. For 65 years, VPAM has served as a unique cultural resource for ELAC students and the surrounding public. Emerging as a national leader in the field of contemporary art by Latinx and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists, VPAM addresses diversity, inclusion, and equity in the arts and museum fields by centering Latinx and BIPOC artists in its collections, acquisitions, exhibitions, programs, and partnerships and by organizing museum education and workforce development programs with ELAC to diversify and ultimately transform the museum field.
Alessandra Moctezuma

Gallery Director and Professor, Fine Art, Museum Studies, San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery, San Diego, CA

Email contact:

Phone contact: (619) 388-2829

Website URL: https://www.sdmesa.edu/about-mesa/galleries-and-attractions/mesa-college-art-gallery/exhibits/index.shtml

The San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery has as our mission to enrich and engage our community through art. The gallery exhibits are complemented with artist lectures, workshops, and guided tours. The works on display reflect a variety of topics in order to engage students from other disciplines and departments. We have created exhibits in collaboration with Chicano Studies, Women Studies and the Black Studies departments. The gallery serves as a laboratory for the Art Department's Museum Studies Program. The college is the only San Diego institution to offer an AA and a Certificate of Performance in Museum Studies/Gallery Exhibition Skills. During the academic year four exhibits feature art by emerging and established contemporary artists from the San Diego region and beyond. A student exhibition is held at the end of the school year. Our Museum Studies class curates a themed juried exhibition during the fall semester. In the past the class has also curated exhibits in locations around San Diego. Past exhibits have been on display at Space4Art, Mission Valley Library, Art Produce, Voz Alta, Latin American Arts Festival 2019 and San Diego Contemporary Art Show 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Jennifer Reynolds-Kaye, PhD

Director, Housatonic Museum of Art, CT State Community College - Housatonic, Bridgeport, CT

Email contact:

Phone contact: 203-332-5052

Website URL: www.housatonicmuseum.org

The Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA) holds one of the largest art collections of any community college in the United States with almost 7,000 artworks. The focus of the HMA is modern and contemporary American and European art, including Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Romare Bearden, Cindy Sherman, and Jenny Holzer. The collection also includes artwork from Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Unlike most campus museums, the HMA displays selections of its collection throughout CT State Housatonic. Visitors also enjoy the special exhibitions and programs offered in the Burt Chernow Galleries. Free and open to the public!
Deborah Kline

Assistant Professor, Director of The Gallery at Founders Hall, CT State Community College Northwestern, Winsted, CT

Email contact:

Phone contact: 860.983.8783

Website URL: nwcc.edu/gallery/

The Gallery at Founders Hall in CT State - Northwestern offers a distinctive venue for showcasing professional contemporary art exhibitions. It also features alumni and student shows as part of its annual schedule. The gallery encompasses a wide range of art forms such as fine art, photography, video, installation, and digital media. Students can participate in exhibition installation, promotion activities, and have the chance to engage with visiting artists. Overall, The Gallery serves as a vital link between educational experiences and professional art practices.
Cynthia Brannvall

Art Historian and Artist, Full-time Faculty, Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, CA

Email contact:

Phone contact: 650 949-7477 or 650 245-6224

Website for Cynthia Brannvall: cynthiabrannvall.com

Krause Center for Innovation Gallery is a small gallery adjacent to the maker space that focuses on introducing teachers and students to new technologies including laser cutters, 3D printers, sewing machines, vinyl cutters, soldering irons and much more. Gallery exhibitions are focused on photographic art.
April Oswald

Museum Education Director, Munson Museum of Art, Utica, NY.

Email contact:

Phone contact:315-797-0000, ext. 2144

Website URL: https://www.munson.art/

Munson Museum of Art houses a collection featuring American art from the 19th-century to the present with 20 galleries and a collection of more than 12,000 works of art in a landmark building designed by architect Philip Johnson in 1960. Fountain Elms, an Italianate mansion built by the Munson family in 1850, includes galleries and room settings that house much of the Museum’s decorative arts collection. Pratt Munson College of Art and Design dates back over 20 years when Munson ’s School of Art affiliated with Pratt Institute in New York City to begin offering college level education, preparing 1st and 2nd year students to complete their degrees at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn as well as other leading art schools nationwide.
Marilyn Kralik

Foundation Art Collection, Ocean County College, Island Heights, NJ

Email contact:

Phone contact: 732-255-0400 x2276

Website URL: https://www.ocean.edu

Still in its infancy, the Ocean County College Foundation Art Collection maintains both indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces that enrich and challenge our students as well as our larger community. Twenty life-sized bronze sculptures on loan from the Seward Johnson Atelier marked our public debut, followed by the complete ("song") folio of photographs by Francesco Scavullo, and the display of more than 100 heritage Barnegat Bay decoys.
Kelly Gates Elmore

Coordinator, Kathryn Tucker Windham Museum Director and Library Coordinator, Coastal Alabama Community College, Bay Minette & Thomasville, AL

Email contact:

Phone contact: 334-637-3146

Website URL: https://www.coastalalabama.edu/

Kathryn Tucker Windham spent most of her career recording and preserving Alabama's history and folklore. Coastal Alabama Community College in Thomasville opened the Kathryn Tucker Windham Museum with a celebration of her 85th birthday on June 1, 2003. The museum takes visitors through Ms. Windham's early childhood in Thomasville, her career as a journalist and her rise to national attention as a storyteller. An exhibit covering her one-woman show on the life of Julia Tutwiler features the costume she wore in productions across the state. The Windham Room, a reading and archive room, includes photos and accompanying stories beginning with Ms. Windham's earliest photos taken with a Kodak Brownie camera she received at age 12 in 1930. The museum also includes a sculpture of Ms. Windham by Alabama folk artist Charlie Lucas and a collection of numerous paintings displayed in the museum and throughout the campus that showcase regional artists. This museum is a part of a greater network that includes the Southwest Alabama Regional Arts Museum which expands the gallery collection of Coastal Alabama Community College.
Justin Witte

Curator, The Cleve Carney Museum of Art, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL

Email contact:

Phone contact: 630-942-3206

Website URL: https://www.theccma.org/

The Cleve Carney Museum of Art (CCMA) fosters a deep appreciation for contemporary and modern art through its exhibitions, educational programming, and collections. Opened in 2014 as the Cleve Carney Art Gallery, it expanded in 2019, featuring a 1,850-square-foot addition and state-of-the-art upgrades. Located on the campus of the College of DuPage, the museum’s collection includes over 800 artworks, many of which were gifted by the late Cleve Carney himself. The CCMA has gained national attention for its exhibitions, such as the 2021 blockbuster Frida Kahlo: Timeless and its 2023 Warhol exhibition. The Cleve Carney Museum of Art’s goal is to encourage the growth and understanding of contemporary and modern art through exhibitions and educational programming that cultivates a variety of perspectives.
Andrea Siegel, PhD.

Coordinator, Foundation Art Collection, Hudson Community College, Jersey City, NJ

Email contact:

Phone contact: 201-360-4007

Website URL: https://www.hccc.edu/community/arts/foundation-art-collection/index.html

The Hudson County Community College Foundation Art Collection includes painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, limited-edition prints, and more. The Collection reveals aspects of America’s and New Jersey’s rich artistic and cultural heritage from the Hudson River School period to today.