2024 will be a transformational year for the Muscarelle Museum of Art! By the end of this year, we will reopen the expanded Museum in the new Martha Wren Briggs Center for the Visual Arts, and join our colleagues in William & Mary’s new Arts Quarter.

We are looking forward to all that we will be able to accomplish in our new facility. From exhibitions to presentations and workshops, we will have the opportunity to leverage our new building to elevate the exploration of the visual arts on campus and in the broader community.

This year, the Museum team will be deeply engaged in planning for our future. In addition to ensuring that the final construction of our new facility goes according to plan, we will be engaged in planning for exhibitions and designing work areas and storage infrastructure for our new spaces. This will be a year of deep attention to details, with the goal of inaugurating a finished product that exceeds expectations!

As you would expect, our behind-the-scenes work will be completed alongside our efforts to continue a robust dialogue in the visual arts. Once again, we have planned an exceptional sequence of programming for the spring. Our Muscarelle Explorations series
will focus on photography, in conjunction with the presentation of two exhibitions at the Stryker Center adjacent to the Williamsburg Public Library. Our Selected Topics in Architecture series will focus on Italian Renaissance architecture, and we will have a variety of art-making workshops throughout the semester.

We are incredibly proud to be hosting the noted artist Delita Martin for a week-long residency this spring, and we are looking forward to learning more about her artistic journey. I hope you will mark your calendars and join us over the coming months in our educational endeavors.

None of what we do at the Muscarelle Museum of Art would be possible without the financial support of members and donors. Each year, our fundraising efforts account for 30% of the revenue available to the Museum, including membership contributions, general gifts, and our important Wine & Run for the Roses fundraiser, held each year in conjunction with the running of the Kentucky Derby.

In addition to general operational support, the generosity of individual donors has been critical to our capital project. The construction of the Martha Wren Briggs Center for the Visual Arts is entirely funded through private donations, as was the original Muscarelle Museum of Art in the 1980s.

If you are not yet a member, I encourage you to consider our various options for membership. And, if you are able, we would welcome you as an investor in our expansion project — although we have made amazing progress, we are still short of our final fundraising goal.

Thank you for your engagement, and I look forward to seeing you at our events this spring!