University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) Needs You

Thank you for your interest in supporting the Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA).  Here’s a bit more information on the museum, its collection, and its role in educating our students and community.

The art collection at UMass Amherst, held in the public trust by the Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA), was begun in 1962 and now comprises over 3,600 works of art on paper (prints, drawings, and photographs) from modern masters of mid and late 20th-century art to work by leading artists of our time. 

As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of this vital visual arts resource, it is also a moment for reflection, critical examination, and charting new directions. The museum’s most recent collecting strategy prioritizes diversifying the collection, to include more work by women and artists of color, emphasizing a renewed commitment to deepening and expanding diversity, equity, and inclusion into this critical UMass resource for study and research, now and in the years to come.

As we start the next vibrant chapter of our story, we look forward to expanding our reach and impact by continuing to champion the powerfully diverse artistic expressions of our ever-changing world. We need your investment in UMCA to make this happen.  

Through our education program, UMass students from across the disciplines study and curate exhibitions from the UMCA’s collection as part of the Eva Fierst Curatorial Fellowship. Student educators also across disciplines train to uncover new connections and provide innovative interpretations of modern and contemporary art—providing tours for our guests and high school students from Springfield and the UMass Upward Bound program. And, in our community, the collection has launched the careers of many local artists through UMCA’s Dialogue with a Collection. 

As our partner, you can weave our Teaching Museum and creative laboratory more fully into the fabric of our entire academic and local artistic communities.

Please make a gift to UMCA and help us grow this remarkable art collection as an integral part of education at UMass Amherst!

Thank you!