For the past four years the University Gallery and the Department of Art, Architecture and Art History have offered a spring workshop to undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing a museum career. These Roundtables have focused on different aspects of museum work including curatorial practice, conservation, and education. They have provided an important overview of career options, training, and the challenges of museum and gallery work. A key feature of the Roundtables is the participation of experts from the museum world who come to UMass Amherst to participate in a panel discussion, giving immediate hands-on information on the specific nature of their jobs and to offer real life experiences. The Roundtable series represents a vanguard trend in universities and colleges offering insider professional information to students.

Distinguished panelists this year will be Jonathan Greenberg, Marjory Jacobson, and Trevor Smith. They will discuss one of the most critical issues affecting the art world today – the building of collections at public institutions. With prices at astronomical levels, the atmosphere has never been more heated and challenging. A myriad of questions and issues will weave into their conversation: How will museums compete with collectors for the great works of art? What strategies are institutions using to survive and thrive? From the perspective of the museum, the private collector, and the corporate/business world, is there a symbiotic relationship between these sectors of the art world? And finally how have boundary shifts in museum and private collecting changed the role and practices of the auction house?

Jonathan Greenberg
Sotheby’s, Senior Vice President. A 1979 M.A. graduate of the UMass, Amherst Program in Art History, he has been with Sotheby’s since 1999.

Marjory Jacobson
Former Director of MIT's Hayden Gallery (now the MIT List Visual Arts Center), Board Member, and various committee chairs of the List Visual Arts Center; she is an independent curator, private collector, and advisor to private collectors. She is author of the following books: Art for Work: The New Renaissance in Corporate Collecting, Art and Business: New Strategies for Corporate Collecting

Trevor Smith
Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA.

As with the first four Roundtables, our goal is to create a forum for discussion where students, faculty, alumni, museum professionals, and the general public can exchange thoughts and knowledge about pressing issues in today's art world. This Roundtable offers one of the few opportunities at UMass, Amherst for students and faculty from different departments and disciplines to co-mingle and share in a rich dialogue with well known museum professionals and the general public.

This event is co-sponsored by the University Gallery and the Department of Art, Architecture, and Art History., At UMass Amherst, we gratefully acknowledge the Dean of the Graduate School and the Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement for their support.