Emory University has joined a program at the High Museum of Art that offers the campus community unprecedented opportunities to engage with the Southeast’s premiere art museum.
The Academic Affiliates program gives Emory students, staff and faculty a unique degree of access to the museum’s collections, exhibitions and research, including free admission for students, free admission for students and supporting faculty and staff during university-sponsored field trips, discounted membership rates and opportunities for student art exhibitions at the museum. Emory is the only institution of higher education in Atlanta to join the program.
Valeda Dent, vice provost of Emory Libraries and the Michael C. Carlos Museum, spearheaded the collaboration for Emory.
“Emory has long engaged with the High for educational purposes, but now our students, faculty and staff can wonder, wander, teach and learn in the presence of some of the world’s most important collections, artists and art educators,” Dent says. “The Academic Affiliates partnership is aligned with Emory's focus on deepening community relationships, and we are very much looking forward to what lies ahead.”
Benefits of the new relationship include:
- Undergraduate and Laney graduate students are eligible for free admission for walk-up tickets when they show their Emory IDs. During university-sponsored field trips, students, faculty and staff receive free admission.
- Students, faculty and staff are eligible to purchase memberships at a 20% discount.
- Rising juniors and seniors who apply to the museum’s competitive summer internship program will receive guaranteed consideration.
- The museum will host an annual Emory student art exhibition and reception at its Greene Family Education Center.
- Art educators from the museum will hold conversations and lectures on the university campus.
- Undergraduate classes will have access to Hub @ the High, a workshop-classroom and meeting space for innovation, collaboration and creativity.
Karen Dacres-Salas, executive administration assistant to Dent, will serve as the point of contact for those wishing to explore collaboration with the High.
“I’m incredibly excited about this — especially about the opportunity for the High Museum to become a teaching space for our students,” says Kevin Karnes, senior associate dean of faculty and divisional dean of arts. “I think the partnership will be a tremendous resource for Emory undergraduates across the humanities and the arts, as well as in other fields such as economics, human health and business.”
Branden Grimmett, vice provost for career and professional development and associate dean of Emory College of Arts and Sciences, says the partnership complements the university’s undergraduate curriculum, which is rooted in the arts, humanities and social sciences. “Our partnership with the High Museum gives Emory students and faculty greater access to influential artists and storytellers,” he says, “cultivating creativity, exploration and collaboration within Emory and the broader Atlanta community.”
“Just like Emory, the High is committed to being a place where diverse perspectives and voices come together to exchange ideas, foster growth, encourage creativity and help build a better future,” said the High’s director, Rand Suffolk. “Emory, and its museums and libraries, have long been partners to us in our shared spheres of art history and research, but this new partnership takes our collaboration to a new and exciting level.”
The partnership will last for three years, with the possibility of renewal.