New Group Set to Bring Students to Art Museums

Growing up in Los Angeles, Paris A. Spies-Gans ’09 worked in the education department at the Getty Villa museum and became accustomed to spending much of her time there. When she came to Harvard, however, she found herself longing for that level of involvement with museum life. She found, too, that many of her friends—including her blockmate Anna M. Chen ’09—shared this desire.

Together, the two contacted Lynne Stanton, the coordinator of public education at the Harvard University Art Museums. Stanton—who had serendipitously been working on a student docent program at the museums—was immediately excited to get involved. Together, those involved created the “Nights” Series at Harvard University Art Museums, to generate publicity about the museums and opportunities for student involvement therein.

Their group, OUR HUAM, is a collective of students seeking to encourage undergraduate interest in the Harvard University Art Museums. In particular, they hope to commission a student tour guide program, expected to be up and running in the fall of 2007. While Harvard may not have facilitated a connection between its undergraduates and its museums, many other schools already have “docent programs” at their art museums. Now there seems to be an impetus for change.

Starting on Nov. 2, OUR HUAM will host three “Nights” at the Harvard University Art Museums. Specifically, these will be nights when the museums stay open late for students, and ply visitors with free food, entertainers, and student gallery talks. The first such event will take place next Thursday, Nov. 2 at the Fogg Museum from 7-9 p.m. “We just really want students to realize what an amazing resource they have, and that the museum is really theirs,” Spies-Gans says.

“It has developed into something amazing,” she writes in an e-mail. “We have so much amazing support from students. At our first introductory meeting, 30 people came, which was incredibly gratifying.”

Each OUR HUAM event will feature an eclectic mix of entertainers. At the first, a harpist will perform in the Renaissance Art Gallery, a piano player and guitarist/singer in the main courtyard, and another guitarist and singer in the corridor on the second floor. The event will also feature performances by the Harvard Ballet Company and the Harvard Veritones a cappella group.

The meeting will also include presentations by HUAM members of ten pieces of artwork. After the brief talks, the students will stand by their respective pieces and will answer questions for the rest of the evening.

Stanton articulated OUR HUAM’s desire—and her own—to bring students to the museums: “We really are in possession of some of the finest art collections in the world, and these are completely accessible to all students at Harvard! It is painful for us to think that students might go their entire four years here without even having set foot in the place!” Better late than never.