COVID-19 has undoubtedly changed both people’s lives and ways of life drastically. The U.S. suffered historical job loss that it has not seen since the Great Depression. However, as the duration of unemployment lengthens, temporary furloughs are likely to become permanent. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, YoY change in

seasonally adjusted permanent job losers

from September 2019 to September 2020 grew from 1.3 million to 3.7 million, roughly a 185% increase. In

a report by McKinsey and Co.

, sectors such as Arts, entertainment, and recreation and accommodation and food services, which are hit hardest by the pandemic, could take more than five years to get back to 2019-level contributions to GDP. In response to the demand shock, businesses in vulnerable fields had to undertake significant operational changes to adapt. In the eye of the storm, museums around the world are weathering a “extreme financial distress”. According to a June 8th

survey conducted by the AAM

(American Alliance of Museums), “one-third of museum directors were not confident they would be able to survive 16 months without additional relief.” Art critic Jerry Saltz once said that “Museum are wormholes to other worlds. They are ecstasy machines.” As immortal as museums might seem, their unshakable foundation and pivotal role in providing educational programs and experiences was tested during this unusual year. The President of AARM, Laura Lott points out that the common public perception that museums rely on government support is mistaken.

NPR reports

that only one-quarter of funding comes from federal sources, institutions including aquariums, botanical gardens, and science centers primarily rely on ticket, gift shop sales, school trips and museum events for revenue, all of which “went to zero overnight when they were all shuttered.” For example, according to

a letter sent to its department heads

, the renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, which is known to have a sizable endowment, is reported to embrace a loss of $100 million spread over a span of a few years in anticipation of reduction in global and domestic tourism and spending. For less established museums, reduction measures in discretionary expenditures and hiring will not suffice.

It is easy to dismiss the plight of museums as a symptom of the growing disengagement with cultural heritage. After all, one may ascribe its shrinking young audience as a function of the fundamental vicissitude in cultural attitudes and the society’s shifting taste. “A significant proportion of young people remain disengaged with heritage, with 19% of those surveyed saying they never visit museums, 36% never visiting galleries, 33% never visiting castles and 48% never visiting stately homes,” reports

Museum Association

in a recent survey that found that many younger audiences “prefer to stay in and watch TV or use social media.”

Nevertheless, as a “teaching museum”, the Wellin Museum on Hamilton College’s campus is seeking to emerge from the mold of dated assumption of museums, and to reinvent itself as a space that “spark dialogues across disciplines, inspires experimentation, and foster creative inquiry,” says Tracy Adler, the Johnson-Pote Director at Wellin, in an interview with the Spectator. The Wellin opened to the public in October 2012 under her leadership and has since embodied the liberal arts experience through groundbreaking exhibitions, a globally representative teaching collections, and programming. The Wellin welcomes about 10,000 people a year and that includes Hamilton students, faculty, staff, and alumni, K-12 school groups, artists, and community and regional visitors. The Wellin differs from a traditional museum in that “it provides opportunities for students to get involved in museum work from research to event planning, whilst providing faculty with the opportunity to bring in classes to meet with accomplished artists, hear from students, and see artworks both in the special exhibitions and in the museum’s permanent collection.” Tracy Adler further add that as a laboratory, Wellin is looking contribute to providing artists, “often [those] who are having their first solo museum show”, a platform to explore new directions in their work. “We create long-term relationships with artists that impact their practice and bring new ideas that have been percolating, sometimes for years, to the fore.”

Some notable past exhibitions in which Hamilton students collaborated with artists on the creation of site-specific works include pop-artist Julia Jacquette’s exhibition in the Spring of 2017 titled


Unrequited and Acts of Play


. The exhibition featured ceramics, works on paper, and murals that explored the commodification and commercialism of images of desire from advertising campaigns. Five students worked with Julia Jacquette to create the two site-specific murals.

During the exhibition


SUM Artists: Visual Diagrams & Systems-Based Explorations


, a group of ten students in Heidi Ravven’s

Philosophy as a Spiritual Quest

class reenacted Plato’s

Symposium

in the

WellinWorks space

, an auxiliary room within the Dietrich Exhibition Gallery. Working closely with Wellin’s Building Manager and Museum Preparator, curators Matthew Deleget and Rossana Martinez materialized the lyceum-themed project which “allowed students to lean into the theatrical interpretation of their characters.”

“During COVID, the Wellin is a place where classes can visit at a time when off-campus trips are not possible. It is also a place where students, faculty, and staff can come to explore works of art while many museums are closed due to the pandemic.” Per

guidance from the College

, the museum is currently open only to the Hamilton community. Note that necessary capacity restrictions are put in place. The migration to the digital environment ensures the health and safety of the visitors without sacrificing diversities of creative engagement offerings. Appointments are now required for visits, and workshops for K-12 groups are now remote and virtual. “Each workshop is facilitated by a group of docents, all of whom are Hamilton students, and is focused on the exhibition




Michael Rakowitz: Nimrud


. The workshops incorporate a mindfulness moment and artmaking activities that can be completed at home.”

The Wellin museum commissioned Iraqi-American visual artist Michael Rakowitz to re-create

Room H of the

Northwest Palace

constructed by Ashurnasirpal II between 883 and 859 BCE. Using packaging for food products, Rakowtiz has selected chose to only re-create the panels from the palace that was destroyed by the jihadist group the Islamic State (ISIS). Room H is part of an ongoing series titled “The invisible enemy should not exist.”