Museum, UA pact details art history program

FAYETTEVILLE — A written agreement outlines collaboration between the University of Arkansas and the nonprofit Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art that will extend to the diplomas of students in a soon-to-launch graduate art history program.

“Diplomas and official records will accurately reflect the collaborative nature of the program and both participating institutions,” states a memorandum of understanding between the state’s largest university and the Bentonville museum.

The memorandum — released under the state’s public disclosure law — is titled as an agreement between the University of Arkansas board of trustees and Crystal Bridges “for the operation of a Master of Arts in Art History, Arts of the Americas degree program.”

University trustees in March approved a 2023 launch for what will be the only art history graduate degree program in the state.

Terms of the agreement state that both UA and Crystal Bridges — founded by Alice Walton, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton — will be able to conduct reviews to “determine the feasibility of its continuance.”

The memorandum says that “both institutions agree to offer the program for a minimum of five years” to “ensure stability of the program roll-out,” with reviews taking place “at least” every three years.

UA in 2017 announced a $120 million gift in support of arts education from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation, created by members of the Walton family.

Students in the program will be “fully funded” by an art history graduate endowment that’s part of the $120 million Walton gift, UA Interim Chancellor Charles Robinson told trustees in March.

Walton gifts from a different foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, in support of Crystal Bridges have topped $1.36 billion, according to data published on the foundation’s website.

‘RESPECTIVE EXPERTISE’

Graham Bader, chair of the Department of Art History at

Rice University in Houston, said that art history graduate programs “are probably more often than not at institutions that have close connections to a museum.”

But even with tight working relationships, “there has to be a clear sort of structural authority,” Bader said.

“I think it’s important, again, to make those roles clear, in terms of, the museum doesn’t drive the graduate program, the university drives the graduate program, because that’s where it’s housed,” Bader said.

UA spokesman Mark Rushing, asked if UA is solely in charge of curriculum design and course requirements for the Master of Arts, or M.A. program, said in an email: “Yes, the course design and curriculum for the Arts of the Americas M.A. is led and designed by the art history program. Art history faculty have collaborated with and will continue to collaborate with [Crystal Bridges] curatorial staff to develop unique learning experiences and overall program ideas for course content.”

K. Angel Horne, a spokeswoman for Crystal Bridges, described collaboration in developing the program’s main themes.

“Yes, we brought our respective expertise to conversations about the program’s focus and themes as well as ideas for courses. We look forward to active dialogue and collaboration as the program further develops,” Horne said in an email.

Materials presented to UA System trustees ahead of their March meeting stated that “courses and academic support services will be institutionally located within the university, which maintains oversight of the program.”

ART TIES

In the academic field of art history, schools often tout their ties to museums.

Rice University began a doctoral art history degree program in 2008, and Bader said the university ramped up its art history offerings in part because of the school’s proximity to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and what’s known as The Menil Collection.

“Art history is a discipline that is about objects, it’s about original works of art. So to really study that at a high level, you want to have access to those works of art, not just reproductions in a book,” Bader said.

Some colleges with art history programs have access to university art museums, such as at Yale and the University of Michigan, Bader said.

Elsewhere, schools and independent museums agree to various types of arrangements.

For example, the University of Denver, on the web page for its Master’s in Art History degree program, states it has “official partnerships” with local museums, including the Denver Art Museum.

A formal collaboration known as the Chicago Objects Study Initiative ties together two private universities, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, with a museum, the Art Institute of Chicago.

Close, collaborative relationships are at the core of a few U.S. art history degree programs.

Case Western Reserve University, a private college located in Cleveland, on its website describes having “a Joint Program with the Cleveland Museum of Art.”

Williams College, a private college in Massachusetts, has its graduate art history program “physically located” at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, described as a “principal collaborator” on the program’s website.

OBLIGATIONS

The UA and Crystal Bridges agreement was signed by the museum’s executive director, Rod Bigelow, and three university leaders: Terry Martin, interim provost; Todd Shields, dean of UA’s Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences; and Gerry Snyder, executive director for the UA School of Art.

The written agreement spells out “obligations” for both the Bentonville museum and university while also stating that terms “will be revisited and negotiated annually.”

UA will administer the program’s admissions and manage other aspects of the program, according to the written agreement.

“Students will apply for admission, be admitted, matriculate, pay tuition and fees and apply for graduation through UA. Students will be formally enrolled at UA, and student record keeping, and future transcript releases, will be managed by UA,” states the agreement, which also affirms that “all aspects of the program will be subject to the policies of the University of Arkansas.”

The agreement also states that UA “will retain all tuition and fee revenue of the program.”

The memorandum of understanding states that the museum agrees to “place up to 6 MA students per year in 8-10 hour-per-week internships in various museum departments.”

Crystal Bridges also “will make every effort to factor in MA program goals and needs in the museum’s expansion plans.”

The specified roles for each include having “approved” museum curators “be afforded appropriate faculty status at UA,” with the agreement stating that the university’s “Graduate School is responsible for vetting [Crystal Bridges] curators who apply for graduate faculty status.”

Rushing, the UA spokesman, said Crystal Bridges curators “will go through the employment process to be appointed as adjunct faculty with appropriate graduate faculty status before they are able to teach in the program or supervise internships.”

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

The agreement refers to students being able to enroll in the art history graduate program with financial support.

“The program, which will include required enrollment in an internship as part of the program, is designed to

provide student financial support to cover the full estimated cost of attendance,” the agreement states, listing this under obligations of the university.

Rushing said the university is collaborating with Crystal Bridges “to provide our students access to highly qualified and experienced museum curators, internship opportunities, and financial support.”

About the reviews referred to in the memorandum of understanding, Horne, the Crystal Bridges spokeswoman, in an email said this “type of review enables both institutions to regularly evaluate the partnership and ensure we are working together to advance shared goals and adjust if needed.”

Horne said that “staff time and preparation, as well as the efficacy of the courses” will be factors in how the museum evaluates the program’s “sustainability and feasibility.”

“We will also measure the success of the student internships in various museum departments,” Horne added.

Austen Barron Bailly, chief curator for the museum, in a statement said that having a close relationship with UA “offers more applied learning for the students and enables the curators to gain distinct perspectives and feedback from the next generation of scholars.”

John Blakinger, art history program director at UA and an associate professor of art history, in a statement gave some information about how diplomas will refer to Crystal Bridges.

“The degree will be issued from the University of Arkansas, but our collaboration with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art will be acknowledged with a notation on the transcript and diploma,” Blakinger said.