Watch Lunder Institute @ the deYoung Museum

This weekend, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, in collaboration with the Colby College Museum of Art’s Lunder Institute for American Art, presented Making America: Conversations on Creative Work + Freedom of Expression, the first of six Lunder Institute @ programs at museums around the country.

Invited guests examined the state of American art through the lens of radical imagining and collective care in a pair of discussions featuring artists, curators, and interpretation specialists. Together, participants explored the responsibility of art workers in the face of censorship, the aftermath of the reversal of affirmative action, and ongoing assaults on education and freedom of expression. Moving beyond the buzzwords of diversity, equity, access, and inclusion, these conversations challenged both speakers and visitors to reassess the possibilities of creative work in shaping American life and discourse.

Watch below.

A conversation on interpreting American art

This conversation considers the role of art museum interpretation professionals in shaping the narrative of American art within the current socio-political climate.

Featuring Lisa Silberstein (she/her), manager of learning, experience, and programming in the area of experience development at the Oakland Museum of California and Erica Gangsei (she/they), director of interpretive media at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, moderatef by Abram Jackson, director of interpretation at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

A conversation on creativity + defiance in American art

This conversation explores the role of the artist, producing creative work, and meaning-making in the face of threats to freedom of expression. Featuring American Artist, Diedrick Brackens, and Rashaad Newsome, moderated by Devin Malone, director of public programs and community engagement at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

This program is part of Lunder Institute @, an initiative of the Colby College Museum of Art’s Lunder Institute for American Art. Lunder Institute @ programs invite thought leaders at the nation’s most prominent art institutions to engage publicly with a single question: What is the state of American art? These convenings promote discourse leading toward innovation, new areas of exploration, and possible answers to questions around what American art is and what impacts its production, scholarship, and research.