Students, this is your museum! The University Museum of Contemporary Art strives to be an integral part of your UMass education. As a teaching museum and creative laboratory, we offer many ways for you to get involved. Whether you're interested in joining our Student Educator team, curating an exhibition, completing a for-credit internship, or working as a museum attendant through work-study, you are invited to learn and build your professional experience here at the museum.
Student Museum Educator Practicum
The Student Museum Educator Practicum is a two-credit course that trains undergraduates to become museum educators. Students practice public speaking, research artworks and artists at the museum, discuss contemporary issues in museums, and design a thematic tour for a range of age groups (UMass students, K-12 visitors, and the general public).
Students also gain exposure to a range of museum careers and get a behind-the-scenes look at day-to-day museum operations. The course includes guest lectures, field trips to local museums and art galleries, and opportunities to connect with our network of advanced student museum educators.
After completing the practicum, students may return as advanced student museum educators and regularly lead class visits at the University Museum of Contemporary Art. Visit the exhibitions page for details on our current exhibitions and artists.
For information, email the museum's education coordinator, Talysha Rivera, at @email.
Internships and Student Jobs
Internships
The museum offers internships in social media, collections management, installation, and museum education. These positions give students hands-on experience in museum operations and support the work of our professional staff.
To apply: Please send your resume and a cover letter to Education Coordinator Talysha Rivera at @email. The cover letter should introduce your relevant background, explain your interest in the position, and indicate which internship you prefer.
Student Jobs
UMass students who are eligible for work-study may apply to serve as visitor attendants. Responsibilities include interacting with museum visitors, answering questions, and monitoring museum security.
To apply or for more information, please contact Visual Arts Administrative Manager Mari Bianchi at @email.
Eva Fierst Curatorial Exhibition Program
The annual Eva Fierst Curatorial Exhibition Program offers selected students the opportunity to curate a full exhibition drawn from the museum’s permanent collection of more than 3,800 contemporary works on paper.
Fellows develop the exhibition theme, research selected artworks, and write the curatorial essay, wall text, and exhibition labels. Students create marketing materials including a press release and exhibition invitations, and they host an opening reception to introduce the exhibition to the public. Students also plan gallery talks, a symposium, or other opportunities for the public to delve deeper into the exhibition’s themes.
Two or more students are selected in consultation with their academic advisors and work collaboratively throughout the year-long program. Museum staff support the curatorial fellows in all aspects of exhibition development, while academic advisors offer conceptual and theoretical guidance. Students sign an agreement outlining the program’s responsibilities, and those seeking course credit receive a final grade from their academic advisor.
Thanks to the Eva Fierst Curatorial Exhibition Fund, each participant is awarded a stipend for their year-long research and culminating exhibition at the museum.
For more information or to apply, please email Associate Director Amanda Herman at @email.
Graduate Assistantships
The museum partners with graduate departments at UMass to support semester- or summer-long assistantships for interested graduate students. Past graduate assistants have worked closely with museum staff to develop public programs and symposiums (such as the For Freedoms Town Hall and Art + Math =), curate exhibitions, and complete crucial collections-management projects.
For more information, please email Associate Director Amanda Herman at Amanda Herman.
Collecting 101: Acquiring Art for the UMCA
Collecting 101 is a one-credit course offered each fall that gives UMass students the opportunity to research, select, and purchase a new artwork for the museum's permanent collection. Funding for the acquisition comes from the Lois B. Torf Collecting Fund, an endowment established in memory of Lois B. Torf (class of 1946; honorary doctorate, 1986).
The course is open to all UMass undergraduate students in any course of study. No previous art knowledge or experience is required. Classes meet four times during the fall semester, including one full-day field trip. Students present their final selections at a public Vote for Art event in November, where the museum's new acquisition is chosen. For more information, email Associate Director Amanda Herman at @email.
Check out coverage of our 2023 Collecting 101 class in the Boston Globe here!
Explore Our Collection
The University Museum of Contemporary Art's permanent collection contains more than 4,000 works of art, with a focus on works on paper. It is the most expansive compilation of contemporary photographs, drawings, and prints housed in a Massachusetts public institution outside of Boston.
The museum belongs to the Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, which hosts a database that integrates area museums' collections and makes their respective holdings accessible for study and research.
As the teaching museum of UMass Amherst, the University Museum of Contemporary Art is a resource for faculty. We are committed to supporting educators through innovative exhibitions, public programming, educational opportunities, guided tours, and collaborative exchanges.
Plan a Class Visit
We invite you to visit the museum with your students!
We offer a range of curriculum-integrated educational experiences during the academic year. These include: tours of current exhibitions led by our trained student educators; guided conversations about a topic relevant to your course; hands-on museum studies workshops with museum staff; or self-guided explorations.
Our multidisciplinary exhibitions can be easily incorporated into your curriculum, and we encourage you to reach out to learn how your visit can be tailored to create a unique experience for your students.
Using tools like Visual Thinking Strategies and close-looking techniques, we help students think, feel, reflect, and connect to artworks — no matter their field of study.
To plan your visit, please fill out our online form here and contact Talysha Rivera to discuss your goals for the visit. The more we know about your teaching objectives, the better we can plan a worthwhile experience for you at the museum. Please contact us at least two weeks in advance of your desired visit date.
Visitor Guidelines: No food, drink, large bags, or pens are allowed in the museum. We provide pencils if needed. Please share these guidelines with your students before they arrive.
Interdisciplinary Collaborations
The museum is committed to working collaboratively with UMass faculty across disciplines to create new opportunities to learn through art. Through public programs, artist lectures and roundtables, symposiums, and exhibitions, the museum seeks to engage diverse audiences across campus.
Past interdisciplinary projects include Cross Town Contemporary Art, a series of temporary public art installations linking UMass to Amherst, organized in collaboration with the Department of Art and Architecture and the Town of Amherst. Another example, Art + Math =, was a multi-day symposium and concert exploring the intersections of these two disciplines; it included faculty and students from the departments of math, engineering, art and architecture, and music and dance.
To discuss your ideas and explore possibilities of future interdisciplinary collaborations, please contact UMCA Education Curator Amanda Herman.
Explore Our Collection
The museum's permanent collection contains more than 4,000 works. It is the most expansive compilation of contemporary photographs, drawings, and prints to be housed in a Massachusetts public institution outside of Boston. Faculty may request to view objects from the collection during a visit with at least two weeks’ notice. To ensure the safety of the artwork, a maximum of ten objects per visit can be requested.
The permanent collection is also accessible through the Five College Museums/Historic Deerfield Collections Database, which integrates regional museum collections for study and research. All UMCA collection images are identified with “UM” in their accession numbers.
Online Project Space
The museum's Online Project Space serves as a laboratory where multi-disciplinary practices are explored and tested. The space provides a showcase for a variety of Art History Department class projects that may or may not be related to the museum's exhibitions, such as student essays, virtual exhibitions with interactive content, research results, intellectual inquiry, and collaborations with other institutions. This space stretches conventional approaches to teaching and learning, and to our visual culture. Although the Online Project Space does not replace the experience of seeing original works of art at a museum, the digital exhibition offers access to global collections and intellectual collaborations.
We invite you and your students to visit the museum for a virtual or in-person educational experience. Our education curator will welcome your students and introduce one of our featured exhibitions. Students will be given questions to consider as they explore the work independently, then the group will reconvene to discuss and share what they learned. We can tailor your visit to best support your class content. Plan your visit today!
To schedule or for more information, please contact Talysha Rivera
The Museum Is a Classroom
We invite teachers to use our museum as an alternative classroom. We offer dynamic learning through close looking, in-depth discussions, and hands-on activities. We work closely with educators to design visits that support your groups’ needs and aligns with the state arts education curriculum framework. Using Visual Thinking Strategies and close looking techniques, we provide tools for students to think, feel, reflect, and connect to the work they see. We strive to cultivate a sense of belonging for all our visitors.
Plan a Group Visit
We can provide: guided tours of current exhibitions led by our education curator or student educators; custom visits that respond to a topic most relevant to your studies; or self-guided experiences. In preparation for your visit, we offer materials for you to share with your students introducing them to the exhibitions they will see.
Big Yellow School Bus, a grant program from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, helps schools meet the transportation costs of educational field trips for their students to cultural institutions.
To plan a school group visit, please fill out this online form here.
Visitor Guidelines: No food, drink, large bags, or pens are allowed in the museum. We provide pencils if needed. Please share these guidelines with your students before your visit.