News: Page 2
University of the Arts and DesignPhiladelphia Partner to Stage One of America’s Largest Design Festivals
Tuesday 05 Oct 2010The University of the Arts and DesignPhiladelphia, one of the nation’s largest design celebrations, have entered into a partnership to stage the sixth annual festival being held October 7 – 17, 2010.
“The University of the Arts is an incubator for the next generation of designers and innovators,” said DesignPhiladelphia founder and executive director Hilary Jay, who launched the event in 2005. “University of the Arts students will have the power to contribute to society by making places distinctive and fascinating, enlightening and thrilling, productive and mobilized. And that is what DesignPhiladelphia is about at its core – celebrating the creative forces at work in this region and commending Greater Philadelphia as an incomparable place to live, work, play and grow. What a perfect fit.”
Nearly a week longer than previous festivals, this year’s DesignPhiladelphia will feature work by more than 500 designers in more than 100 exhibitions, workshops, open studios, lectures, street happenings, book signings and product launches.
More Than Thirty Museums Participate in “Match Night” 2010
Friday 24 Sep 2010Museum Match Night is an annual event co-organized by the Museum Studies Department and the Museum Council of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley that brings local museums to campus each Fall in order to meet with students from all three programs–Museum Communication, Museum Education, and Museum Exhibition Planning & Design. More than thirty institutions participated in 2010, providing an extraordinary array of internship opportunities for students.
As Robert Vosburgh, Director of the Museum Communication Program said as he thanked participants, “The rich museum community of Philadelphia is one of the most compelling reasons that students come to the University of the Arts. It’s an important competitive advantage that sets our programs apart from those around the country and around the world, and we couldn’t do it without the generous support of museum representatives willing to help train the next generation of museum leaders.”
This year’s participating organizations included:
Abraham Lincoln Foundation, The Union League of Philadelphia
American Philosophical Society
American Swedish Historical Museum
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
National Museum of American Jewish History
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Society for the Preservation of Landmarks
Museum Studies Alumna Earns Lifetime Achievement Award from Association of African American Museums
Monday 30 Aug 2010Lina Stephens ’02 is the chief curator at Detroit’s Motown Historical Museum
University of the Arts alumna Lina Stephens MFA ’02 (Museum Exhibition Planning and Design), the chief curator at the Motown Museum in Detroit, earned the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of African American Museums at its annual conference held in Pittsburgh, Pa., earlier this month.
“My first reaction (to winning the award) was ‘I’m only 51 years old; have I done enough to receive this award?’,” the Motor City native wondered. “Throughout the constant evolution of the museum profession, I have cultivated my desire to enhance my skills and share my knowledge with people who are interested in applying what I have learned to their own chosen path.”
As the chief curator of one of Detroit’s most popular tourist destinations since 2006, Stephens staged this summer’s Jackson 5 exhibition of photos, awards and uniforms. During her tenure – her second stint at the Motown Museum – she has upgraded several exhibit spaces and was involved with the refurbishment of the museum’s gift shop.
The museum, which is located in the one-time home of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. that he dubbed “Hitsville USA,” was founded in 1985 by Esther Gordy Edwards – Berry’s sister – and houses a collection of historical photographs, artwork, music, costumes and other memorabilia from the Motown heyday. Visitors walk through the fully restored apartment that was once home to the Gordys and stand in the original “Studio A,” where Motown’s greatest acts recorded their greatest hits. The museum is also home to the trademark jeweled white glove and black fedora hat donated in 1988 by the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
After graduating from Detroit’s Center for Creative Studies with a BFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing, Stephens began her professional museum career at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., as a conservation technician. A year into her post at Ford Museum, she became involved in a project that partnered the Ford Museum and Motown Museum. As Motown collections manager from 1993 to 1995, she consolidated the Motown collection from six locations to one for an extensive exhibit at the Ford Museum.
She then served in the position of special assistant of the executive director in Kansas City with the American Jazz Museum for two years before being promoted to collections and exhibitions director. She left that position in 2000 to pursue her graduate degree at the University of the Arts. During her studies in Philadelphia, she worked on projects with the Mutter Museum, Franklin Institute, Please Touch Museum and Philadelphia Maritime Museum. After a four-year stint as the exhibitions manager at the Detroit Historical Museum, where she installed 13 exhibits and upgraded several exhibition halls, Stephens returned to the Motown Museum as the chief curator after an 11-year absence.
Karie Diethorn discusses the Liberty Bell with the New York Times
Tuesday 06 Jul 2010Karie Diethorn, Chief Curator at Independence National Historical Park, recently appeared in a New York Times article and slide show interactive during the Fourth of July weekend. Karie is a master lecturer in the Museum Studies Department at the University of the Arts and teaches collections management. To see the article, visit http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/07/04/travel/20100704-labordayvign-interactive.html?ref=us.
Dana Schloss interviewed by ExhibiTricks
Thursday 24 Jun 2010Dana Schloss, alumna of the MEPD program and lecturer, was recently interviewed by the folks at ExhibiTricks:A Museum/Exhibit/Design Blog. Check out the whole interview, where Dana talks about recent projects.
Out on a Limb
Tuesday 08 Jun 2010The tree canopy walk designed by Metcalfe Architecture & Design at Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania’s “Tree Adventure” exhibit has won the prestigious American Association of Museums Excellence in Exhibition Design Award. Aaron Goldblatt, Partner, is an adjunct instructor in the Museum Studies Department at the University of the Arts.
The award was given May 25, 2010, at AAM’s annual meeting in Los Angeles. Congratulations to our friends at Morris Arboretum.
Museum Exhibition Planning and Design Graduate Student Wins National Fellowship
Tuesday 23 Mar 2010Sarah Asper-Smith, a first-year graduate student in the Museum Exhibition Planning + Design (MEPD) program at the University of the Arts, recently received one of two student fellowships awarded to attend the 2010 American Association of Museums (AAM) annual meeting in Los Angeles May 23 – 26.
This fellowship comes from the National Association for Museum Exhibitions (NAME), an 800+ member standing professional committee of the AAM. The fellowship will include conference registration, a $500 travel stipend and attendance to NAME events with a NAME mentor. This marks the second time in the six years of the award that an MEPD student from the University of the Arts has won.
“I am thrilled to have won the fellowship and eagerly anticipate attending the conference,” said Asper-Smith, who is from Alaska, where she plans to return after graduation. “I know that attending AAM conferences will be more difficult for me when I am back in Alaska, though I do want to go whenever possible. I look forward to meeting many people who will become lifelong colleagues and mentors. I am grateful for this fabulous opportunity.”
