Save a Museum

Hey guys,

I hope this will be of interest to some of you. Brandeis University announced on Monday their plans to close the Rose Art Museum and sell the collection of over 6000 works. The money will be used to shore up the university's ailing finances, according to a press release.

In it's 40 year history, the museum has become a leading exhibitor of contemporary art, and has been a place for challenging shows which would never have been possible at other larger public institutions. Indeed, many Tyler alums have shown at the museum and are part of its permanent collection. This past summer, Tyler professor Odili Odita curated a show and created site specific work for the museum, and Tyler alum Angela Dufresne is part of the current exhibition "Masters of Reality". The museum constantly loans out it's work to museums around the world, including exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The museum's collection is worth far more than the school needs to fix it's budget deficit, and closing the museum is a rash, and possibly illegal, move. It's a terrible blow to the contemporary art community at any rate.

You can read more at the New York Times article

You can also sign the petition here

Or send an e-mail to the president of the school, Jehuda Reinharz, at jreinhar@brandeis.edu, letting him know what a dumb idea this is.