Umd To Announce Partnership With The Phillips Collection

October 05, 2015 Art | Art History and Archaeology | College of Arts and Humanities

UMD to partner with The Phillips Collection to create new arts courses and open art storage facility.

By Ellie Silverman, The Diamondback

The University of Maryland and The Phillips Collection, an art museum in Washington, D.C., will announce a partnership Monday that includes new arts courses, joint programs and the creation of an open art storage facility in College Park.

The six-year partnership will allow university students, faculty, staff and Alumni Association members to receive free admission to the Washington collection for research and educational purposes. Faculty will be able to co-publish research, and the Phillips will offer internships for university students.

“The University of Maryland’s primary distinction has always been STEM,” university President Wallace Loh said. “To take the University of Maryland to the next level of excellence, it can’t only be in STEM fields. We have to be a STEAM university — science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.”

The university is committing $375,000 this academic year and $525,000 for the subsequent five years, Provost Mary Ann Rankin said. Rankin and The Phillips Collection’s director, Dorothy Kosinski, said they hope to renew the agreement after the six years.

“From our standpoint, it’s an opportunity to fulfill our strategic plan of reaching out beyond the confines of our own buildings and really embedding ourselves in different communities and enhancing as much as possible our access and education potential,” Kosinski said.

Art history professor Joshua Shannon said he hopes to be involved with collaborations, whether it means teaching a new course at the university or bringing students to the collection.

“One of the things that’s exciting about this partnership is the two institutions are going to do a lot of planning together to figure out what kind of curriculum is offered and in what ways,” Shannon said. “We’ll see what kinds of possibilities will emerge as the partnership picks up this year.”

Although no location has been chosen for the new art storage facility, to be named “The Phillips Collection at the University of Maryland,” Loh said he is confident that the university, along with the Phillips and the county, will be able to raise the necessary funds.