Giving

The remarkable exhibitions and engagements The Jule presents throughout the academic year require financial support beyond state funding. From creative scholarship to art installation and exhibition design to visiting artists meeting with students to producing academic forums and podcasts, museum programs promote cultural understanding, improved relationships and impactful opportunities for Auburn faculty and students to teach and learn through objects; and this work that ensures excellence exceeds annual university allocations.

The Jule is committed to caring for and strategically building an art collection for Auburn University that advances learning and enrichment and contributes to an exceptional Auburn Experience. Through the collection, The Jule promotes research, the ongoing education of Auburn students and Alabama residents, and faculty and institutional partnerships to raise Auburn’s profile nationally and internationally. Collection strengths include works from artists with ties to Alabama and the Southeastern United States; 19th-century Audubon etchings; ceramics and pottery; 18th to 21st-century European and American art; and American modernism.

Student Guides are part-time paid Auburn students who work at the museum to lead tours and create a welcoming, visitor-centered environment for PreK through 12th grade, college and community audiences. The program showcases them as leaders in the museum, creating a ripple effect to reach other students, faculty and alumni. While working at the museum, students study objects and exhibitions, learn from visiting artists and scholars and build their résumé for post-graduation success. Funds provide scholarships, competitive wages, gallery training, support for writing and research projects and travel to other institutions for additional exposure.

This program will lead and shape the future of faculty and student engagement in the American South through creative scholarship and the visual arts. With no similar initiative among Southeastern Conference peers, Auburn could be the first.

The Forum offers a high-impact, co-curricular and multi-disciplinary experience, connecting audiences across campus with artists and scholars committed to visual art, broadly defined and inclusive of work in the fields of fine art, craft and decorative art, architecture, design, and performance in the Southeast.

Museum in Motion is an outreach initiative that impacts residents across Alabama. Working in collaboration with other arts, cultural, educational, non-profit, governmental and civic organizations, Museum in Motion is a mobile program to bring museum objects, exhibitions, and arts education to places outside Auburn. Museum in Motion programs enrich the museum’s relationship with its surrounding communities and foster innovation and engagement that enhances the quality of life and economic development statewide.

A visionary gift to endow positions at the Executive Director, Director, and Curatorial/Educational Manager levels will reflect affirmations and the critical role The Jule plays at Auburn to create meaningful student experiences and produce scholarly research. Endowed positions further center the museum within the university’s intellectual life and create foundational income streams that increase staff capacity to academically elevate the museum’s presence in the state and nation.