PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Berkshire Community College (BCC) presents "Transformative Spaces: Building a New Museum" via Zoom on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. 

 

The event is free and open to the public. 

 

Pamela Franks, Class of 1956 Director of the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), will share the current plans for the new museum building, scheduled to open in 2027. The building was designed by Brooklyn, N.Y. architecture firm Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu, known as SO-IL. The new WCMA will be purpose-built to support transformative experiences with art that are integral to liberal arts education, lifelong learning and human connection. 

 

According to a press release:

 

Franks, a specialist in modern and contemporary art, has devoted her career to unlocking the potential of college and university art museums — working with students, collaborating with artists, fostering inclusive academic and public engagement, and training future generations of museum professionals. Franks' arrival at Williams in 2018 launched a period of collaborative planning for WCMA's first purpose-built building. Prior to WCMA, she worked at the Yale University Art Gallery as Senior Deputy Director and Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, where she played a central role in a major renovation and expansion project completed in 2012, and at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas during construction and through the museum's opening in2003. Franks received her PhD in art history from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000 and is a graduate of the Getty Leadership Institute (2008) and the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program (2019).