art and academia

The global economic downturn of 2008 revealed, among other things, what might be called the structural vulnerability of academic museums. It is now clear that the academic museum, being, typically, part of a larger academic institution with its own independent governance structure, risks being seen, at times of crisis, as inessential from the perspective of the larger academic mission. And in times of financial crisis, its collections might be seen, opportunistically, as prime candidates for monetization – as immediate solutions for short-term financial problems rather than as the embodiment of long-term educational value that they truly are. In response to this realization, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation commissioned Dr. Corrine Glesne, a leading qualitative researcher, to undertake a study of “The Campus Art Museum.” Disseminated initially via the Kress Foundation’s website [www.kressfoundation.org], that study now appears simultaneously in monographic form as The Exemplary Museum: Art and Academia, courtesy of MuseumsEtc. We applaud the publisher for recognizing the timeliness and importance of this study and for distributing it in a format that will help guarantee Dr. Glesne’s report both the wide readership it deserves and a permanent place on the contents | 7

max marmor | 7