Master of Arts in Art and Museum Studies

Georgetown University’s M.A. degree program in Art and Museum Studies brings the academic study of art museums together with museum practice, and emphasizes the international contexts of museums in the modern world. Through courses, individual research, and internships, students work closely with Georgetown art history faculty, curators, and other museum professionals in Washington DC, and with faculty specialists at Sotheby's Institute of Art in London or New York. The twelve-month course of study combines courses in museology and art history with internships at some of Washington’s premier art institutions. We examine the changing relationships between academic study of art and new configurations of museum display and interpretation. Such topics as the roles of museums in modern cultures, museum education programs and audiences, new technologies, collection management, curatorial work and the ethics of acquisition and display are discussed in classes and individual research projects. Our students take part in critical debates about art exhibition and interpretation. Goals: In seminars at Georgetown, students conduct research using a range of specialized art history literature and direct examination of works of art in area museums. They may do some work collaboratively, and they present their research in class reports and formal art history papers. In practicum courses (Museum Practice, Museum Education, Curatorial Practice), students relate readings in the discipline, site visits, and classroom discussion to specific professional projects and tasks, such as developing exhibition proposals and budgets. Much of the work is collaborative and some may be related to their internship experiences. For internships in the fall and summer semesters, students work with museum supervisors and the program director or other faculty members to fulfill assignments at the host institution and at the same time produce a tangible project and a journal that includes reflective synthesis. Each student works closely with museum staff members and often with interns from other programs and is encouraged to start developing professional networks. The semester at Sotheby’s Institute of Art requires students to select a program of study such as Decorative Arts and Design or Art and Business, which includes units taught by a number of faculty specialists. The Institute’s course work emphasizes connoisseurship and hands-on study of art works, and incorporates study trips to public and private collections, auction houses, and art fairs.