Johns Hopkins UniversityEST. 1876

America’s First Research University

Ever wanted to curate an exhibition?  Work side-by-side with a museum professional to develop a program or educational resource? Dig deep into a collection of art and artifacts? Museums and society students have many opportunities like these, both in the classroom and outside of it.

In 2011, a $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation recognized the Program in Museums and Society for its unique offerings with a grant to support museum-based projects with our campus museums and with partner institutions in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. This grant was renewed in 2013 as part of a larger program in support of the arts and humanities at Hopkins and funded more than a dozen collaborative projects with institutions as diverse as the Baltimore Museum of Art, Jewish Museum of Maryland, Maryland Zoo, Baltimore Museum of Industry, JHU Archaeology Museum and others. Many smaller grants in pedagogy, the arts, and practical ethics continue to launch innovative digital projects, art installations, and archives.

Since 2017 the program has offered an annual course in partnership with the Baltimore Museum of Art as part of their ongoing collaboration with that museum. In 2021 a collaboration with JHU’s Inheritance Baltimore project launched community-based work with stewards of Baltimore’s Black cemeteries.

See below for a list of recent projects, or check this list of pre-2017 projects.

  • 2016-17 AIG Project

    What is Happening?

    “What is Happening?” was an interactive three-part performance art series  sponsored by an Andrew W. Mellon Arts Innovation Grant and produced by Museums and Society students Sarah Braver and Helena Arose for 2016-17.  Part one, on December 8, 2016, located outdoors in front of…

  • Stemming from Spring 2016 course, AS.389.354 Paper Museums: Exhibiting Artists' Books at the Baltimore Museum of Art, students from JHU, Loyola, and MICA, alongside BMA staff, worked with the BMA collection of artists' books to develop an exhibition of more than 100 books and prints by more than 50 renowned artists.

    BMA Off the Shelf

    Stemming from Spring 2016 course, AS.389.354 Paper Museums: Exhibiting Artists’ Books at the Baltimore Museum of Art, students from JHU, Loyola, and MICA, alongside BMA staff, worked with the BMA collection of artists’ books to develop an exhibition of more than…

  • Homewood Stories & Archaeology of Knowledge Audio Tours

    Homewood Stories & Archaeology of Knowledge Audio Tours

    Drawing from oral histories and archival materials, Homewood Histories builds on the Sense of Place project to expand and diversify the stories of the people who have lived and worked on the site of today’s Homewood campus from the days it was a farm up to the present.…

  • Baltimore National Heritage Area Trail

    Baltimore National Heritage Area Trail

    During the Spring 2015 semester, students in Elizabeth Maloney’s M&S course AS.389.275, explored how heritage areas and historic sites serve visitors through interpretation. After visiting local museums and historic sites, students partnered with staff from the Baltimore National Heritage Area and chose…