This post is an advertorial written by an organization that serves the museum field. The views, opinions, and positions expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or positions of AAM or its employees.
Everyone, no matter where they live, deserves access to art, and expanding arts access is critical to the development of our communities. That’s why at Art Bridges, we believe that by engaging with artworks that expose visitors to perspectives beyond their own, we can foster empathy and understanding for our patrons.
Unfortunately, significant obstacles prevent museums from achieving this goal. Right now, there is an unequal distribution of art across the United States, and many collections lack representations of the communities in which they sit.
To ensure that important artworks are getting out of storage, put on display, and experienced by audiences nationwide, we created the Art Bridges Partner Loan Network—an art-sharing model that allows museums to circulate their collections.
Skip over related stories to continue reading articleNot only does our lending model circulate important works of American art around the country, but it aims to fill a necessary gap in museum collections—by increasing the representation of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and women artists, which remain vastly underrepresented in most museums.
The program also allows smaller regional museums to show artworks they might otherwise not have the resources to acquire or borrow while allowing larger institutions to bring new life to pieces that would otherwise remain in storage. Additionally, our program helps institutions expand their collections and addresses a decline in museum attendance post-COVID by driving new and returning audiences by ensuring there is always something to see.
How it works
We partner with major institutions across the country that identify pieces from their collection to then prepare them for distribution to other museums in groups of five to seven artworks. Art Bridges then takes care of all logistical aspects, including packaging, shipping, loan agreements, and insurance, without any additional cost to the museum. Loans last between eighteen and twenty-four months, after which they travel to another borrowing museum.
Our network continues to grow nationwide. Take a look at some of the works that we’ve been able to loan from major institutions to museums all across the country:
- Memorial Art Gallery: With the help of Art Bridges Foundation, the Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) at the University of Rochester received a loan of Clementine Hunter’s artworks from the American Folk Art Museum. The loan helped MAG fill a necessary gap in its programming, displaying more works by BIPOC artists and reflecting the demographic of the local community.
- Hudson River Museum: The Hudson River Museum was able to introduce twelve artworks on loan from the Joslyn Art Museum to incorporate into its fourteen-month exhibition, Order/Reorder: Experiments with Collections. The exhibition aimed to examine past and present American identities through various media and was paired with a series of events and interactive experiences for its audiences.
- Huntsville Museum of Art: The museum created a dedicated American gallery to increase the amount of its collection on view. Art Bridges supported it by loaning important works to further contextualize and expand the story of American art in its collection.
Art-sharing programs like the Partner Loan Network are critical for ensuring museums of all sizes, regardless of location, have the resources they need to increase their impact and attract new audiences. Art Bridges supports your efforts to share American art with communities everywhere. Learn more about our work.
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