WCMA is now open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in a limited footprint with Object Lab, featuring rotating selections from the collection chosen in collaboration with faculty across disciplines.
Object Lab Fall 2024 has closed as of Friday, Jan. 17, with Object Lab Spring 2025 opening on Monday, Feb. 3.
Read more about WCMA in transition:
In the past five years, Williams College has completed a strategic plan, which identifies the future of the arts as one of the three major academic initiatives at the College and set the stage for constructing a new, purpose-built home for the Williams College Museum of Art and a home for interdisciplinary arts education in Lawrence Hall.
Site preparation and construction for WCMA’s new building are currently underway, with expected completion sometime in 2027. During construction, Lawrence Hall will remain WCMA’s home. Beginning in 2025, the upper-level galleries will be closed to the public, as WCMA begins planning its relocation.
During this time, two of WCMA’s galleries will remain accessible to the public to present rotating selections from the collection, including the museum’s collaboration with departments across disciplines, Object Lab, each semester.
Beginning in January 2025, the museum’s public hours will also change. The two open galleries will be available for classes and to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. The most up-to-date visitor hours and programming information can be found on the museum’s website.
Looking to the future, the museum is undertaking a thoughtful and deliberate planning process to shape its curatorial vision in light of the possibilities presented by the new facility and findings from a comprehensive collections assessment.
Williams College is now initiating plans for a programming study to explore the reuse of Lawrence Hall as a facility that will address the needs of the Art History department and support interdisciplinary arts education, creating a centralized, student-centered hub for collaboration across all arts departments.