Colby Museum's Lunder Institute for American Art Announces Lunder Institute @ 2026
Launched in 2024, Lunder Institute @ is a collaborative initiative that invites leading institutions to engage in conversation with one another and the public—prompting them to reflect on what constitutes American art, its history, its future, and its evolution. Each partner institution develops and hosts a public program co-presented by the Lunder Institute. These programs foster open, generative discourse that sparks innovation, new areas of exploration, and responses to ongoing questions about American art and the forces shaping its production, scholarship, research, and institutional practice.
“As we reflect on the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States, Lunder Institute @ 2026 explores how the nation’s origins are part of a larger story that extends far beyond its borders,” shares Erica Wall, Director of the Lunder Institute. “The United States was not created in isolation, and these connections to other continents and their histories will be explored through multiple lenses.”
As a think tank within the field and part of one of the nation’s leading academic art museums, the Lunder Institute provides time, space, and resources to engage critically with questions of American art. This initiative supports dialogue within and between institutions as they respond to pressing issues in the field in relation to their collections, locations, and practices, with a core commitment to transparency.
Schedule for Lunder Institute @ programs:
May 7–8, 2026, Lunder Institute @ Yale Center for British Art
May 25, 2026, Lunder Institute @ Tate Britain
May 27, 2026, Lunder Institute @ Royal Academy of Arts
June 11, 2026, Lunder Institute @ Peggy Guggenheim Collection
October 2026, Lunder Institute @ Colby
Additional details for each program to be announced.