What Do We Mean by Access?

In the museum world, the accessibility of institutions and their collections and programs is a frequent and important topic of discussion. These conversations often center on access as a goal, an accomplishment in itself. At Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA), however, we are inclined to think about access as a beginning, not an end. When you remove obstacles, it makes other things—if not everything—possible.

Providing access means making sure we are a place that holds significance for people and their lives. It means listening to what’s needed and responding to it. It means acknowledging and identifying the barriers that exist—barriers to participation, to entry, to understanding—and working collaboratively and compassionately to address them. It’s hardly one-and-done, but rather an ongoing effort that keeps us engaged with our growing audiences.

It is a process that requires reflection and a willingness to rethink our practices. I am grateful to work with a team of thoughtful museum professionals who are all deeply committed to best practices for the preservation and stewardship of a collection that supports teaching and learning at Smith and is a valued resource for the campus and wider community.

We have many wonderful stories to tell about access and what it means to SCMA and the people we serve. Free admission, for one, has been truly transformational in opening the museum to all, inviting engagement from our neighbors near and far. We have realized that the barrier of cost is sometimes less about finances and more about a feeling—knowing that when you need a dose of museum, it’s there for you—without pressure to devote the better part of a day to it because you paid to be there. Unfettered entry changes one’s relationship with the museum in profound ways.

Since discontinuing admission fees in July 2023, visitation numbers and program attendance have climbed, growing by more than 50 percent. The diverse mix of those coming through our doors is also exciting: students from every corner of campus, faculty and friends of the college, families and individuals of all ages curious about our offerings. This extraordinary investment in community has been made possible by Smith alumnae Jan Fullgraf Golann ’71 and Jane Timken ’64, whose visionary gift keeps giving.

In November 2023, we received funding from Art Bridges Foundation as part of its new grant initiative, Access for All, partnering with institutions like ours outside of urban centers to make sure we have what we need to fund and fulfill our mission. The award of $280,000 over three years has allowed us to build on Jan and Jane’s generosity with expanded hours, programming, student outreach, and community partnerships. The museum is grateful to Art Bridges for welcoming us into this program, which aligns so beautifully with our own efforts to increase access and engagement.

To this end, we are doing less visible but equally critical work on the Five College Collections Database, an important point of entry for people interested in exploring SCMA’s roughly 29,000 objects as well as the collections of our partner museums within the Five College Consortium and Historic Deerfield: Amherst College, Hampshire College, Historic Deerfield, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. This collaboration on shared infrastructure remains very rare in the museum field, but it has had enormous benefits for our museums and our users since it was pioneered in the 1990s, making the extraordinary richness of our museum collections discoverable and accessible. Since 2019, the database partners have been planning to migrate to a new, state-of-the-art data management system, which will be complete as of early 2026.

What makes this project significant, in addition to the complex coordination and collaboration required to build technology of this size and scope, is all the work that went into first understanding what this shared tool should be. SCMA holds diverse material, and not all of it has been catalogued in ways that rightfully reflect its origins, so this project has involved a great deal of data renovation to make sure that the way we describe works in our collections is culturally informed. The result is an important organizational resource that represents deep investment, necessary insight, and powerful possibility.

Also on the heels of the pandemic, Smith encouraged all of us at the college to think about wellness as more than the absence of illness and how our departments might contribute to a culture of well-being on campus. We have long recognized SCMA as a space that promotes such a culture, and there is exciting research being done to document why and how engaging with the humanities—and the arts specifically—contributes to human flourishing. It’s all part of a growing understanding that when you care for your well-being, you are even more available for the rigor of learning; it is both/and, not either/or. We are thrilled to tell this important story in this edition of SCHEMA.

I find it compelling to think about access as an invitation to learning, discovery, and partnership. When you remove something as functional as an entry fee, you invite visitors to consider why and how the museum is meaningful to them, rather than simply telling them why and how it’s meaningful. When you provide a pathway into the profession, you invite young people to explore their career curiosities while being compensated fairly. When you commit to deep listening, you invite people to share their voices and perspectives. And when you forefront representation and a range of experiences, you invite all who come through your doors to feel a sense of belonging.

Art is a powerful holder of human experience. At SCMA, it’s our privilege and responsibility to represent it in all its richness and make it possible for anyone and everyone to enjoy it.