ABSTRACT
Detailed accounts of several projects undertaken in collaboration between the J. Paul Getty Museum and various two and four-year colleges in Southern California illustrate challenges and possibilities for museum-university partnerships. The projects described include a partnership with a group of community college photography faculty; with the costume and set design programs at the University of California, Los Angeles; and with various colleges to develop content and marketing for the Museum’s annual College Night. The projects and partnerships were each implemented repeatedly over multi-year periods, and relied on personal relationships which developed between the partners. The essay suggests that comparing engagement of museum audiences with marital engagement reminds us that institutional projects also rely on inter-personal trust, understanding, and a commitment on the part of partners to work with and for each other.
