Co-Directors Anne and Frank Goodyear with SMC leader Marnie Hull ’15 at Student Night at the Museum, Fall 2014
The Student Museum Collaborative (SMC) is a student-led organization that unites students across campus who are interested in the arts and the museum world in particular. SMC works closely with the museum directors, curators and staff in order to plan and carry out a variety of events that are widely attended by students, faculty and the greater Brunswick community over the course of the academic year. Meeting on a bi-weekly basis, the Collaborative offers discussion about the art world and a chance for students to collaborate and come up with new programming for the museum. The group is also fortunate enough to delve into the museum’s collection with private tours led by museum staff.
Successful past events carried out by the Student Museum Collaborative include trips to the Colby College Museum of Art and the monthly Portland Art Walk, art documentary screenings with the museum’s co-directors, and twice-annual student nights featuring refreshments, performances by Bowdoin a capella groups, and on one occasion, in honor of the exhibition William Wegman: Hello Nature!, a guest appearance by some weimaraners. Enticing students with the promise of a fun night out, this event regularly attracts almost 500 attendees, nearly a quarter of the student body!
Students take in a musical performance in the Rotunda during Student Night at the Museum, Fall 2013
Some of them may never have stepped foot in the museum before that night, but they all comment on how excited they are but what they see, and how they definitely plan to come back. This semester’s student party, coming up on April 10th, will be science-fiction–themed, in conjunction with the current exhibition PAST FUTURES: Science Fiction, Space Travel, and Postwar Art of the Americas.
This spring, SMC is continuing its efforts in helping BCMA research and catalogue the recently bequeathed Vogel Collection through its sub-group the Vogel Volunteers. In the next month, SMC also looks forward to bringing the Freer and Sackler Galleries’ curator of South and Southeast Asian Art Debra Diamond to discuss her exhibition Yoga: The Art of Transformation, in tandem with its twice-annual Yoga in the Museum event. Through its programming, the Student Museum Collaborative is able to build connections between Bowdoin students, professors, staff and the greater Brunswick public and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. SMC strives to foster relationships and generate interest in the arts within the Bowdoin community and beyond.
