Established in 2007 by the Center for Ancient Studies and Archaeology, this fund supports both small and large exhibitions of ancient and medieval art (or related historical art) at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art. Artworks from these time periods are rare in the Salem area, and indeed in the entire Pacific Northwest, and so any exhibition that brings to the museum a really fine Roman portrait, an exquisite Chinese bronze vessel, or a brilliant French Gothic illuminated manuscript would provide a unique first-hand experience of cultural masterpieces of high aesthetic quality and historical significance. University students, faculty and staff, local schoolchildren, as well as the general public would benefit from these enriching displays. Such objects, carefully chosen for their multifarious links to the university’s curriculum, displayed in the quiet and distinctive galleries of the university’s art museum, and accompanied by abundant explanatory materials and related programming, also encourage careful and critical viewing habits. The fund helps to make possible the exhibition of such objects (which is often otherwise prohibitively expensive) in this context -- objects that wonderfully compliment the university’s paramount mission to pass on the tradition of liberal learning by fostering the skills of critical thinking and questioning, reading and observing, as well as speaking and writing.
Purpose and Proposed Mechanics of Annual Exhibition Fund:
1) The purpose of this exhibition fund is pedagogical (as outlined above), but also strategic and practical. Specifically, it would set the Hallie Ford Museum of Art apart from many other university art museums as a place where significant ancient/medieval and related historical art is meaningfully displayed and studied on a regular basis. This kind of attention would not only attract good students and scholars, but might also attract collectors of fine ancient/medieval and related historical art who are looking for a place to donate their pieces, a place that will not warehouse their objects, but carefully study and display them for the educational benefit of students and other visitors. On the practical side, however, even small exhibitions of significant ancient/medieval and related historical art can be quite expensive. Most lenders will want to charge loan fees, conservation fees, mount fees, packing/crating costs, courier airfare, courier per diem, shipping costs, and insurance. And, at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, there is a need to cover the cost of text panels, labels, installation, publicity, programming, etc. A reliable source of funding for the exhibition of such materials would help to stabilize and diversify the museum’s programming as well as partially free faculty and the museum’s small staff from the burden of constant fundraising, allowing them to do what they do best—discover, research, and display masterpieces of ancient/medieval and historical art for the enrichment of the community at large.
2) $4,000 will need to be set aside in the center’s annual budget for this exhibition fund. If the money is unused or partially unused in a particular budget year, it will roll over into the next budget year.
3) No formal application procedure or deadline. Memos with exhibition project proposals and budgets considered on a rolling basis. Supporting letter from the museum’s director required. Applicants are encouraged to seek other, outside sources of funding as well.