Art Bridges Projects

• What projects receive Art Bridges support?

  All partnerships are tied to a specific project. Projects facilitate the sharing of high-quality collections of American art with people across America – either through a collection loan or an exhibition. Projects may range in size from one object to many and are often designed to travel to multiple locations.

  Most projects start with an object from the Art Bridges collection or with one of the collection-based exhibitions we are helping to travel to venues across the country.

  Once an organization has been approved for a collection loan or exhibition project, they may be eligible to apply for programming and evaluation or convening project support.

   

• How do I apply for project support?

  All projects and partnerships begin with a conversation. Once we’ve agreed on a project, the Art Bridges team provides a wide range of support.

  The process is very interactive – we assist you in writing your project proposal, building your budget, and refining your idea. Overall, we believe it shouldn’t be an intimidating process, so we’re with you every step of the way.

  We love innovative and experimental projects that align with our mission. We are happy to discuss your idea, so please reach out.

  For more information on developing an Art Bridges project, please visit our guides for step-by-step instructions. 

• How long is a typical project?

  Every project is different. The length is based on the needs of the project – so we will determine that together. For a traveling exhibition, most venue time slots are between 10 and 16 weeks in order to honor the larger tour schedule. If you’re borrowing from the Art Bridges collection, loans typically last between 6 and 12 months.

• Can a museum work on more than one Project at a time?

  Yes. We are excited to work on multiple projects with your team. If you have the capacity to participate in multiple projects with us, we’re happy to support you.

• My project idea focuses on programming alone. Is it eligible for support?

  No. All Art Bridges projects begin with either a collection loan or exhibition project, because our mission is to share artworks broadly. We do support programming associated with approved exhibition or collection loan projects.

• Does Art Bridges support all touring exhibitions?

  No. We focus on supporting traveling exhibitions created from a single museum’s collection. That’s our focus – collection sharing. Therefore, we are not currently supporting exhibitions created with loans from galleries, private collections, or multiple museums.

• What projects has Art Bridges already done?

  You can see some of our projects in the partner stories section.