Communiversity — the annual celebration of the arts and creativity that brings University and community together—has just been held along Nassau and Witherspoon streets in downtown Princeton. Bringing thousands to the gates of the University—the 2009 Communiversity drew a record 35,000 attendees—this is a great emblem of how the arts comfortably bring disparate players together under one umbrella for the benefit of varied constituents. It equally reveals the impact of the arts in drawing communities together and serving as an economic catalyst, with arts participants visiting local shops and restaurants and bringing important tax revenues into the public coffers.

Communiversity is far from the only (or even the best) marker of collaboration in the arts in Princeton, or the only occasion when arts institutions cross the symbolic line of Nassau Street to create more effective programming. With summer upon us, and with it the end of another academic year on the Princeton campus, it seems a good moment to reflect a bit on other “town-gown” collaborations, and the further possibilities the future affords.

The Princeton University Art Museum has an important history of collaboration, taking many forms. We have regularly worked with local institutions such as the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) and the Arts Council of Princeton, each contributing what it does best to find natural partnerships in which each benefits. The PSO’s spring concert held in March was specifically “curated” to respond to, and benefit from, the major spring exhibition held at the Museum titled Architecture as Icon. John Tavener’s extraordinary piece for cello and string orchestra on that program was intended to be the musical equivalent of an icon painter’s brush moving across the wood panel in creating an object of devotion. I’d never before heard it performed live, and for me this concert in beautiful Richardson Auditorium was a revelation that asked me to think differently about Byzantine art.

In the previous month, the Museum collaborated with another musical mainstay in the community—
the Princeton Singers. In a concert wholly conceived in celebration of the reopening of the long-closed galleries for medieval, Byzantine, and Islamic art, and actually staged in the galleries themselves, the soaring vocal notes of this wonderful ensemble found the perfect marriage of the aural and the visual—as well as substantial audiences, playing two sold-out concerts. I look forward to many future partnerships with both the Princeton Symphony and the Princeton Singers, both in the Museum and elsewhere.

These collaborations weren’t new for us, nor was the fall’s partnership with the Arts Council of Princeton, which took two forms. The first was the presentation of jointly conceived and timed exhibitions, held in our two venues, that looked at the native art of the Bering Strait region past and present. With openings planned on separate evenings, the project allowed each institution to develop a project with substantial independence, aligning with our separate but related missions, while maximizing impact for audiences who might seek out both exhibitions. The second collaboration brought the Princeton Public Library into the mix for a community day held on Hinds Plaza, where visitors could discover the work of native artists and performers brought to Princeton for the occasion.

One of the long-time mainstays of the Museum’s work in the community is our program in Trenton, in which we work with second graders in the Trenton city schools to mount a year-long learning (and mentoring) opportunity. Working with the same docents throughout the year, these young children visit the Museum on multiple occasions, viewing different parts of the collections, learning about several distinctive world cultures, making arts projects, and ultimately gathering in the headquarters of the Trenton School Board for a graduation with their teachers, families, and docents. It’s a fantastic program that serves children who might otherwise lack a sustained engagement with the arts—and one I’d love to replicate with other schools.

Such efforts come about not only because of their natural potential for building audiences and garnering visibility, but also because of relationships. The boundaries of “town” and “gown” are rarely as clear as the shorthand would suggest: many Art Museum staff (myself included) live in Princeton or in other nearby communities, and are active in volunteer opportunities. One need not be of the University or of the community; as individuals we often cross these lines and roles. Caroline Harris, curator of education and academic programming, serves on the boards of both the Princeton Singers and Historic Morven, offering her special skills in museum education and a passion for the performing arts. Kelly Baum, Locks Curatorial Fellow for Contemporary Art, serves on the exhibitions committee at the Arts Council, helping to assure thoughtful partnerships with the advance knowledge often needed to pull these off. For my part, though still a newcomer to Princeton, I’m very pleased to have been invited to serve on the board of the McCarter Theater, the Tony-award winning performing arts center that has brought tremendous programming and great acclaim to Princeton for many years. And of course, volunteerism goes the other way as well: many members of our Friends Board serve with great energy and distinction on other boards throughout the community; the Art Museum’s Advisory Council typically has at least one Princeton resident among its twenty members.

The future suggests many possibilities. I look forward to continuing our partnerships with Historic Morven and other museums across the state and beyond, lending from our collections when we can, borrowing when needed to supplement works in our own collections, and, on occasion, collaborating in the development of major touring exhibitions and other public programs. I’m delighted that our friends at Westminster Choir College are considering how we might join forces to bring yet more music and performance into our galleries. Most notably, a number of organizations, inspired by a proposal put forward by the Art Museum, are gathering together to develop a rich series of programs in 2011 on the theme of “memory and the work of art.” Starting in February and culminating in September with the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, this project will draw on the talents of partners including the Art Museum, Firestone Library, the University’s programs in the visual arts, dance, and music, the Arts Council, the Princeton Public Library, Westminster Choir College, and more to investigate the ways in which the arts shape our memories of the past and how the work of art builds community and helps to shape the future.

The work of art is never done, but with creativity in crossing lines and crossing the street, the Museum’s work can be more impactful without diluting its primary commitment to the University and to scholarship, inviting new initiatives in the world of creative practice.

James Christen Steward Director