Welcome!

Welcome to the RISD Museum Associates! Founded in 1956, the organization exists to stimulate public interest in and support the RISD Museum. Over the past seven decades, the Museum Associates have done just that, raising over 4 million dollars to benefit the Museum.

The group supports general operating expenses, acquisitions, conservation, exhibitions, and programming for learners of all ages, including the popular and family friendly Super Art Sunday, which attracted nearly 2,000 visitors this year.

In addition, in the 1980s, the Museum Associates funded the Radeke Garden Endowment fund to ensure the perpetual upkeep of this space which regularly hosts classes and gatherings.

Today, the RISD Museum Associates are a vibrant group dedicated to supporting our gem of Southern New England, the RISD Museum.

This spring, our annual fundraising event brought in over $80,000. Total gifts for the year were $105,000, which went to support of the Radeke Garden, overall programming including Super Art Sunday 2024, and two exciting upcoming exhibitions – one featuring the work of Nancy Elizabeth Prophet and the other an excitingly curated show of the RISD Museum’s extensive wallpaper collection.

A look at our spring 2023 fundraising event:

May 2023 Dear Friends, I want to take a moment to say thank you to all of the sponsors and supporters who helped make the RISD Museum Associates’ Spring Fundraiser such a fun evening to benefit the RISD Museum. Over $80,000 was raised to support exhibitions, conservation, and programming for learners of all ages. We hope those of you who were able to attend found Katy Hessel’s presentation as thought-provoking as we did! I’m thrilled to share that in addition to press coverage just last week in Vogue, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, CBS, PBS, and more, The Story of Art Without Men landed on the New York Times bestseller list and is on back order at Amazon and Barnes and Noble! So, if you got a book at our event, it was one of the last ones currently available! We hope all of you will come back to visit the RISD Museum soon and consider joining as a member. With so many exhibitions, events, and programs, there is something for everyone! For those of you who couldn’t make it, we hope you’ll join us next time! Thank you again for your generosity. With gratitude,

Kris Connell RISD Museum Associates Chair