Museum Studies and Art History Symposium

St. Ambrose University and Western Illinois University will host a Museum Studies and Art History Symposium on Friday, Jan. 31 and Saturday, Feb. 1 at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport.

The symposium will kick off at 10 a.m. Jan. 31 with WIU Museum Studies graduate students paper presentations, followed by SAU undergraduate Art History students paper presentations at 2 p.m.

There will be a reception at 5 p.m., and at 6 p.m. Heidi Lung, PhD, board president of the Iowa Museum Association and leader of the Museum Studies certificate program at the University of Iowa, will present the keynote address: Making Meaning Together: Reflections on a Transformative Practice.

Lung has more than 20 years of museum experience, including at the Saint Louis Art Museum and the St. Louis Science Center, and strives to empower emerging professionals and increase equity and diversity in the museum field.

Events on Feb. 1 begin at 10 a.m. with gallery talks featuring local high school students, followed by an 11 a.m. panel discussion, "So you want to work in a Museum?" Panelists include museum and archival professionals from the Institute for Learning Innovation, Discover Muscatine, Figge Museum, Edwards Creative, and St. Ambrose University.

The symposium is sponsored by the SAU Art History and Museum Studies program and the WIU Museum Studies graduate program. All events are free and open to the public. The Figge is located at 225 W. Second Street, Davenport, Iowa.