The Research and Academic Program at the Clark Art Institute

The Clark Art Institute

The Research and Academic Program (RAP) supports scholarship in art history, visual culture, and interdisciplinary inquiry that challenges how we think about writing history and addresses the complexity of our contemporary world. We are particularly dedicated to projects that reimagine the borders and geographies of art history’s dominant narratives. RAP hosts fellows who pursue innovative research projects at the Clark. We also create and collaborate on programming that invests in thoughtful and passionate debate with colloquia, exhibition concept workshops, and our Clark Conference. Through public and academic events, international partnerships, and an active role in the Clark/Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art, we aim to make our art history accessible to a diverse audience while supporting research that shapes how we understand and imagine our world. RAP is an integral part of the Clark Art Institute, which has one of the strongest art history libraries in the United States. Located in Williamstown, a rural corner of Western Massachusetts, the Clark boasts a pastoral setting, striking natural and architectural landscapes, and the strong artistic community of the Berkshires. This combination of solitude found in nature and the lively community fostered among scholars offers an exceptional opportunity for the pursuit of intellectual inquiry.

Fellowships are awarded every year to established and promising scholars with the aim of fostering a critical commitment to inquiry in the theory, history, and interpretation of art and visual culture. As part of our commitment to cultivating diverse engagements with the visual arts, RAP seeks to elevate constituencies, subjects, and methods that have historically been underrepresented in the discipline. Furthermore, we are particularly committed to supporting scholarship that reveals the systemic inequalities of art history as a discipline and challenges us to address these inequalities as we move forward differently. All fellowships are intended to nurture a variety of disciplinary approaches and support new voices in art history.