September has been a month of coming together, and Constitution Day offered a uniquely MassArt way to think about our civic life: through making, questioning, listening, and conversation.
Since 2005, all educational institutions receiving federal funding have been required to observe Constitution Day. I’m proud of the way our community made Constitution Day our own, with letterpress, posters, and button making, “Writing for Democracy” with Humanities, the Library’s Democracy Reading Room, voter registration, and more.
The Constitution is a historical document, but it remains deeply connected to questions at the center of our public life. What does it protect? Who does it protect? Where does it fall short? These are complicated questions, ones that have been asked since the document was signed, and they are questions worth asking together.
I am reminded of something Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, who will be stepping down, has said about the role of cultural and learning institutions. In speaking about museums and education, he emphasized the importance of helping people become more comfortable with ambiguity, nuance, and debate:
“I think that the most important thing we can do as cultural institutions, as learning institutions, is really help the public become more comfortable with ambiguity… I think that what you want to do is help people understand the shades of gray, the nuance, the debates. I think if we could do that, regardless of what history, what culture we’re teaching people, what’s important is if you can get people to grapple with complexity, then we’d be a better nation.”
At MassArt, each of us brings different skills, ideas, and perspectives, and we all have a responsibility to engage with the complexity of the history behind us, the questions before us, and the possibilities ahead.
As we continue to navigate complicated issues nationally and internationally, I’m grateful that we have many opportunities to raise complex questions, listen to one another, use our creativity and our talents to make a difference, and create moments of joy that give us the energy to keep moving forward.
Sincerely,
Mary K. Grant, PhD
President
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September Highlights
Opening Week 2026
Opening Week brought fresh energy to campus and marked an exciting start to the new academic year. From move-in and New Student Orientation to Convocation, Opening Day breakfast, and Marty’s House Party, it’s been wonderful to see our community come together and welcome our newest students. To our students, faculty, and staff, thank you for all you do to make MassArt such a special place. I am especially grateful to our Student Success team and the many colleagues across campus who helped make Opening Week so warm and welcoming. Your care and creativity set the tone for the year ahead, and I’m grateful for all that you do.
Photo by Melissa Ostrow
“They Say” at MassArt x SoWA
This month we enjoyed They Say, an exhibition at MassArt x SoWa that brings together the work of MassArt alumni spanning nearly three decades, from the Class of 1995 to the Class of 2025. Representing MFA artists from Studio Arts, Photography, Sculpture, SIM, Low-Residency, DMI, Art Education, Architecture, and more, the exhibition offers a reflection of the many practices and paths that emerge from a MassArt education. Thank you to Felicia Scott Flint, Aghigh Afkhami, and Dhanshree Patil for curating and preparing this exhibition, and to all of the alumni artists who contributed their work. Thank you, too, to everyone who joined us for September’s First Friday!
Our on-campus galleries offered a look this month into the creativity and leadership that shape our community. The Student Leadership Show brought together work by students who contribute to campus life through their leadership and creative voices. Thanks to the new Academic Exhibitions SAGES team for curating and installing this show!
Meanwhile, in the Doran and Arnheim Galleries we enjoyed Spaces of Departure, Selected Works by MassArt Faculty on Sabbatical 2022-2024, and celebrated the creative work that emerges when faculty have the opportunity to step away from the rhythms of teaching and make space for deeper inquiry. Curated by Liz Morlock, the exhibition featured fantastic work by Elaine Buckholtz, Stephanie Cardon, Joshua Hart, Lisa Kennedy, Robert Maloney, and Heather White, offering a window into their practices and their time on sabbatical.
Photo by Melissa Ostrow
Jess Dugan ’07 Returns to MassArt
It was a pleasure to welcome Jess T. Dugan BFA ’07 Photography back to MassArt this month for an artist talk celebrating the release of their new book, Love Pictures, created in collaboration with curator and writer Charlotte Cotton. Their conversation offered a thoughtful look at Dugan’s practice and the themes that have shaped their work, including gender and identity, family, language, the book as object, and the exhibition space.
These conversations are an important part of our community, connecting our students with alumni and artists whose practices are making an impression on the world. My thanks to our Graduate Programs and Photography departments, Billie Mandle, and the Alumni Relations team for helping bring this special evening to campus.
Photo by Hao Yang
Welcoming São Paulo’s Cultural Leaders to MassArt
This month, we were pleased to welcome a delegation from São Paulo’s Municipal Department of Culture to MassArt as part of the World Cities Culture Forum Leadership Exchange Programme, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The visit brought together cultural leaders from São Paulo and Boston to share approaches to creative workforce development and explore how our cities can learn from one another. These exchanges remind us that the work of artists and designers connects communities and cities around the world. As a public college of art and design, MassArt has an important role to play in conversations about the creative workforce and the future of our cultural communities. Many thanks to our colleagues at the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and across MassArt who helped make this exchange possible.
Constitution Day and Creative Connections to Civic Life
On September 17, we marked Constitution Day with an afternoon of making, reflection, and dialogue across campus. Through voter registration, a Democracy Reading Room, Redacted Poetry, button and poster making, postcard writing, letterpress, live radio, and other activities, our community explored the connections between creativity, participation, and civic life.
At a time when civic knowledge and discourse are ever more urgent, this day is an important reminder to make space for asking questions, learning, and engaging with one another with openness and respect. My thanks to our colleagues in JET, who led the Repair Project; Humanities and Professor Lisong Liu, for their engaging conversations about the Constitution; Erin Davis and Fish McGill for leading us through letterpress; Luanne Witkoski for facilitating postcard writing; Elena Belle White and the CACP team for organizing button-making, stamps, and more; Brian Hone and MAAM for their poetry poster making; the Library for their Democracy Reading Room; Erik De Luca for providing the soundtrack with MassArt Radio; Allison Maladore Bangura for the wellness resources table; Susannah Hogan, John Intoppa, and the entire Student Engagement team; Brendan O’Bryan; and the many other students, faculty, and staff who contributed their time and ideas to this year’s Constitution Day.
Photo by Hao Yang
MassArt Night Market Brings Artists and Community Together
More than 100 MassArt students and alumni brought their art, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit to Downtown Crossing this month for the MassArt Night Market. Across two blocks, visitors encountered original work, demonstrations, installations, and market stalls, creating a lively celebration of the creative community that extends from MassArt into Boston. The Market is always a true celebration of how creativity can strengthen connections between our college and the city we call home. Thank you to Downtown Boston Alliance for their partnership, and to Sara Hartmann, Colomba Klenner, the Normal Art Student team, our student and alumni vendors, demonstration artists, and everyone who helped make the evening possible!
Photo by Melissa Ostrow
State and Federal Higher Education Updates
We continue to closely track updates from the federal government that impact our community. The State University Council of Presidents (SCOP) recently weighed in on proposed changes to accreditation regulations, in the spring we submitted a public comment on proposed earnings and career outcomes metrics, and I was relieved to see at least a temporary stop to proposed changes to the way student visas for international students are issued. At the same time, we are also thinking hard about the recent directive from Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon asking colleges and universities to demonstrate how they are living up to certain shared principles and fulfilling their missions—work that, as you know, we are doing every day whether or not anyone is asking. We are also hard at work at the State House pushing for the BRIGHT Act to get finalized and for public higher education priorities like student financial aid.
Launch of “my experimental essay”
I was thrilled to join the launch of my experimental essay, a new MassArt journal led by Jeannette Eberhardy that brings together faculty and student reflections on creativity and creative practice. The inaugural issue explores how imagination takes shape in our everyday work, with students using the form of a dictionary definition to reconsider a word that represents their creative process. Together, these student and faculty essays offer a thoughtful look at the many ways imagination informs contemporary artmaking. Thank you to Jeannette and to all of the faculty, the mentors, and students who contributed to this new publication and conversation. It was a very special treat to hear the authors read their thoughtful pieces out loud.
Photo by Hao Yang
2026 MassArt Common Good Award Honorees
I’m thrilled to share this year’s MassArt Common Good Award honorees, whose work demonstrates the many ways art and creativity can strengthen communities and contribute to the public good. I hope you will join me in celebrating David Greenberger, Silvina Ibanez, the Fine Arts Work Center, Ekua Holmes, Candelaria Silva-Collins (posthumous), and Josh Simpson. You can learn more about this incredible group and their impact in our press release, and register now to save your seat for the awards ceremony on December 5 in the DMC.
Fall Party & New Exhibitions at MAAM
The MassArt Art Museum continues to create meaningful opportunities for our community to gather, encounter new ideas, and experience contemporary art together. Tonight, MAAM will welcome visitors for its Twilight: Fall Party and the opening of two new exhibitions by internationally recognized contemporary artists Banu Cennetoğlu and Robert Lazzarini, creating a lively evening of art, conversation, music, and celebration. Don’t miss it!
These new exhibitions remind us of the essential role museums play in bringing people together and creating space for dialogue. My thanks to Lisa Tung and the entire MAAM team for their vision, care, and commitment to making the museum a vibrant part of both the MassArt community and Boston’s cultural life.
MassArt alumna Yasuyo Takeo BFA ’04 Communication Design is featured in The New York Times for co-founding the inclusive Brooklyn skateboarding program, SKATEYOGI.
Modern Casting Magazine features 3D Arts Faculty Marjee-Anne Levine, who brought hands-on aluminum casting to the Watertown Free Public Library this summer alongside MassArt students.
The Boston Globe highlights recent work by Ekua Holmes, Associate Director of CACP and sparc! the ArtMobile Director, along with Dorchester community members to memorialize and honor 133 Black women buried in unmarked graves at Cedar Grove Cemetery.
On GBH’s The Culture Show, President Grant joined Jared Bowen to discuss commemorating Constitution Day, news from the Smithsonian, and the MassArt Night Market.
MassArt senior Cass Kansky is named among Campus Compact's 2026 Newman Civic Fellows, recognizing their work supporting community health, equity, and access.
The 2026 MassArt Night Market invites the public to discover original artwork, meet local makers, and experience the energy of Boston's creative community.
President Grant highlights a busy June at MassArt, from welcoming incoming students and launching summer programming to campus planning, advocacy at the State House, and looking ahead to the creative opportunities still to come this summer.
This fall, MAAM presents solo exhibitions by internationally recognized artists Banu Cennetoğlu and Robert Lazzarini, exploring the ideals, symbols, and institutions that shape contemporary life.
The Healey-Driscoll Administration highlighted MassArt’s leadership in higher education innovation and co-op learning models, underscoring the college’s role in advancing experiential, career-connected education in Massachusetts.
President Grant reflects on recent highlights including the 2026 MassArt Auction, student exhibitions, alumni accolades, the Climate & Justice Teach-In, and more.
