“Art Connects” Blog Launch
Dear Museum Exchange Community:
Today we are excited to announce the launch of our blog Art Connects. Over the last four years, we have seen Museum Exchange grow from a fledgling idea for a new model of arts philanthropy to a community that now numbers over 2,000 people and 375 institutions. In that time, our scope and impact have grown exponentially. This past year alone, we will have facilitated more than 1,000 gifts of art to communities in over 40 US states and Canadian provinces.
We never would have expected to find ourselves here, having first collaborated nearly 15 years ago on a survey exhibition of a pioneering Canadian conceptual artist. David and Robert were then working at the Art Gallery of Ontario and Michael had just begun his tenure at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Cutting to the present, what initially brought us together continues to motivate us: creating connections through art and bringing lesser known artists and stories to the public’s attention.
Our Leadership Team (Left to Right: Robert Wainstein, Michael Darling, Joanne Cohen, and David Moos) at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, March 2023 in front of Robert Irwin, 1º 2 º 3 º 4º, 1997.
Through Museum Exchange, we have met so many incredible patrons and professionals who have been generous with their time and expertise. Those interactions have taught us a tremendous amount and now we want to share those insights with all of you. We value transparency and learning, and with this blog aspire to bring greater understanding to how the art world operates and to highlight some of the shining stories from within it. This is all with the aim of opening up arts patronage to new participants and increasing access in a space that can sometimes feel closed off.
What you can expect to find here:
Company News: Announcements about the company and team.
Product Releases: New features added to our digital platform.
Industry Insights: Takeaways from our interactions in the art world.
Field Reports: Learnings from events our team is continually engaging in.
Collector Advice: Best practices from leading experts.
Partner Stories: Spotlights on our museum, hospital, and university members.
Donor Stories: Spotlights on our donors.
New Narratives: Updates to the canon told through examples of recent donations.
We will be inviting members of our team across the curatorial, registration, operations, and engineering departments to share insights from their areas of expertise. This will give you a chance to get to know the people behind Museum Exchange and a view into the work they are doing to modernize philanthropic giving. We will also be featuring leading voices from the field, experts who we have partnered with to bring best-in-class practices to the different touchpoints on the collecting journey. These will span the domains of law, accounting, valuations, logistics, and more.
We hope you will find our blog to be both informative and inspiring and look forward to sharing with you regularly.
Onwards!
Robert, David, and Michael