As part of its new initiative, Lunder Institute @, the Colby College Museum of Art’s Lunder Institute for American Art has invited six prominent art institutions across the nation to respond to the question: “What is the state of American art?”

In February, the de Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco will host the first Lunder Institute @ program, followed by The Broad Museum in Los Angeles, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and, finally, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

This initiative offers space and time for institutions to consider, discuss, and innovatively respond to the opportunities and challenges within the field of American art in relation to their own institution, collection, and location within the United States. Moreover, this work fosters important and necessary dialogue within and between institutions.

Practice and methodology are core interests of the Lunder Institute, and that interest extends beyond individuals — artists, scholars, and curators — to institutional practices within the field of American art. As a think tank for the field and part of a leading academic art museum, the Lunder Institute seeks to provide opportunities and resources for institutions to engage with questions related to American art. A primary goal of this initiative is to promote transparency in the field of American art — beyond public-facing exhibitions and scholarship — extend that process across each organization, and share a product of that engagement with the public. 

The Lunder Institute @ convenings promote discourse in an open and fertile space leading toward innovation, new areas of exploration, and possible answers to questions that continue to arise around what American art is and what impacts its production, its scholarship, and its research.

The schedule for the six remote Lunder Institute @ programs is:

Lunder Institute @ the de Young Museum
San Francisco, California (February 10)

Lunder Institute @ The Broad
Los Angeles, California (March 2)

Lunder Institute @ Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Bentonville, Arkansas (March 7)

Lunder Institute @ the Addison Gallery of American Art
Andover, Massachusetts (April 7)

Lunder Institute @ Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Boston, Massachusetts (May 23)

Lunder Institute @ the Whitney Museum of American Art
New York City (September 2024)

For more information, visit lunderinstitute.colby.edu.