JCSM TAKES TO TWITTERSPHERE FOR GLOBAL EVENT

Museum curators from all over the world are taking part in Ask A Curator Day on Wednesday, September 19, 2012. The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University is among nearly 500 museums from 28 countries online to share knowledge via Twitter for this one-day live event. Followers both locally and globally can tweet art related questions directly to @JCSMAuburn or tag the post #askacurator for a response.

Representing JCSM is Dennis Harper, M.F.A., Curator of Collections and Exhibitions. For Harper, tweeting is a new form of sharing his knowledge of both traditional and contemporary art and different from writing an exhibition article or essay. “140 characters is not a problem,” says Harper. “But, the hard part”, he acknowledges, “will be if someone asks a brief question that requires a long answer.”

The topic of using technology to reach broader and diverse museum audiences is always trending with Director Marilyn Laufer. “Ask A Curator Day makes what has been, up until now, a long range plan into areal time actuality,” says Laufer. She adds, “Looking at the other museums involved, we are pleased to be in such good company for this project.