The Art of Giving – Commit to Georgia

The University of Georgia launched its billion-dollar capital campaign, Commit to Georgia, on November 10, and as part of the campaign, the museum is tasked with raising more than $20 million over the next few years. The campaign has three priorities that shape its focus: increasing access for students from Georgia and beyond, enhancing the student experience and solving world problems through research and service. So how does the Georgia Museum of Art fit into all of that?

Heather Malcom (right), with Cyndy Harbold, president of the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art

First and foremost, the museum is committed to its role within the University of Georgia. Our mission includes the same three pillars as that of the university: teaching, research and service. Our public service is the easiest aspect to see. We serve tens of thousands of visitors a year and bring free visual arts education across the state to communities that need it.

We educate at the same time. We lead gallery tours. We provide a hands-on teaching venue for university students in all disciplines. We supply K–12 teachers with materials that meet state standards at no cost. And we produce the next generation of museum professionals through experiential learning. Finally, we are committed to research. Our curators are faculty members, and every exhibition we organize begins with hours in the library. We’re rewriting art history every day, documenting Georgia’s history and making connections among disciplines.

Though we rely on private gifts for all our programming, numbers aren’t the whole story. When Larry and Brenda Thompson gave us 100 works by African American artists and endowed a curatorial position to focus on that understudied area of art history, their gift served the same three priorities as the campaign. Increasing access isn’t just about scholarships. It’s about making students from a wide variety of backgrounds feel like they belong and providing them with an unparalleled experience while they’re here. The Thompsons’ gift, now reflected in our reinstalled galleries, pushed us toward greater inclusiveness.

That spirit of inclusiveness has also enhanced the student experience, providing models for students of diverse backgrounds to see themselves represented in art. And by validating the importance of all creators, the Thompsons’ gift brings us together as humans, uniting us instead of dividing us. That kind of commitment to the differences that art can make in the lives of individuals is exactly what we’ll be asking of you in the coming years. Together, we can change lives through art.

Heather Malcom
Director of Development

Annual Book and Frame Sale and Membership Specials

Happy Thanksgiving! As the holidays approach, we've organized a few events to help you shop for your loved ones or for yourself. We'll be closed today and tomorrow to allow our hard-working front-line staff to spend time with their families, but will be back open regular hours over the weekend, including Saturday, when UGA hosts Georgia Tech for its final football game of the year. The game starts at noon, but we open at 10 a.m., so if there are exhibitions you've wanted to see and haven't made it over for yet, you have time to fit in both.

From Tuesday, November 29, through Friday, December 2, we'll have our annual holiday book and frame sale. The sale features new and used publications in all genres.

(And for anyone who would like to donate books or frames, give us a call on the main line at 706.542.4662. We'll even come pick them up!)

Then, on December 1, the Museum Shop will be offering special deals and discounts from 10 a.m. to 8:45 p.m., including beautifully packaged gift memberships:

- 20% discount on memberships at the Contributing level or above, either for yourself or as a gift

- 20% discount on non-sale items for museum members, including brand-new members*

- Free cookies and coffee to fuel your shopping, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

- Free parking for shoppers in the museum's gated lot under the building.

Contributing-level memberships include reciprocal membership discounts and privileges at more than 1,000 museums throughout the United States and Canada and can be a wonderful gift even for friends and family outside of Athens.

* Don’t forget to bring your membership card.

 

Free Student Membership to AAMG!

The Association of Academic Museums and Galleries is offering free student membership until October 15.

AAMG functions as a forum to discuss information and issues unique to academic museums, issues such as governance, ethics, education and exhibitions, management, strategic planning, support, collections and professional programs.

Membership in AAMG includes the following benefits:
• Friendly and highly accessible networking contacts with other academic museum professionals;
• Access to the AAMG 1,000-strong mailing list of academic museums;
• Guidance and support on request from Board members and regional representatives;
• The opportunity to participate in the AAMG Conference held in conjunction with the American Association of Museums (AAM) Annual Meeting;
• The opportunity to support and contribute to the advocacy of our field;
• The opportunity to serve in rotation on the AAMG Board.

The application must include either a copy of a transcript or a copy of a student ID, and the form can be found and submitted online.

The next AAMG Annual Conference will be held in Houston, Texas, on May 21, 2011.

For more information, visit the AAMG website.