Outreach

"Christ in the Manger" by Francis Musangogwantamu, along with nine other selected artifacts from other institutions in Virginia, will be featured in an online public voting competition, which will take place from February 20th to March 3rd, 2024. The artifact that receives the most votes will receive the People’s Choice award and a $1,000 grant to be put towards the object’s conservation treatment.

Tashae and I recently visited the African Modernism in America exhibition at the Phillips Collection and connected with colleagues at two conservation labs, thanks to funds provided by the Mellon Grant for professional development and research.

Read this post to learn more about Bria Miller's experience as the Andrew W. Mellon curatorial intern for the Summer of 2023!

With the research and professional development funds provided by the Mellon Grant, we were recently able to view an exhibition of artwork closely related to our own, which opened at Fisk University Galleries at the beginning of October. We also visited Frist Art Museum and other sites around Nashville, connected with colleagues, and explored the fabulous Music City!

At the end of September, I was able to attend the Annual Symposium of the Midwest Regional Conservation Guild (MRCG) in Detroit, Michigan. It was a great opportunity to give a presentation about the Mellon project to a group of friendly and insightful conservators. After lots of networking and nerdy conservation discussions, I made it back home, despite the best efforts of Hurricane Ian! Read more about the trip here.

In July, we had the opportunity to participate in Hampton University Museum’s Tree House Summer Camp, which this year was a virtual program for children ages 5-12. We described the basics of what a curator and a conservator do, and conducted several activities to help them practice each role.

One of the goals of this grant project is to present outreach programs to the public, both virtually and in-person. So far, we have had the opportunity to participate in two such programs, partnering with The Links, Incorporated and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. In this post, we will be sharing the details of these programs, including feedback we received and our key takeaways.