The Jule received awards for exhibition, technology work, publication design.
Auburn, AL – The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University is pleased to announce they are a recipient of the 2024 Southeastern Museums Conference Bronze Award in the over $100,000 category for the exhibition, Black Codes: Art and Post-Civil Rights Alabama, two Bronze Awards in Media Production for the inaugural Auburn Forum for Southern Art and Culture and The Jule at 20, and two Gold Awards in both Media Production for The Jule Museum Podcast and in publication design for our 2023-2024 Academic Calendar Mailer.
The SEMC Exhibition Competition showcases the best in the museum profession and provides benchmarks for regional exhibition efforts in southeastern museums. For many visitors, exhibitions are the public face of museums, and effective planning, management of resources, research and interpretation, collections care, public programs, publications, and fundraising all contribute to the fulfillment of a museum’s mission. Expectations and standards were exceptionally high for this year’s applicants. The SEMC Exhibition Competition received a record-breaking number of applications from a wide variety of museums across the southeast. The Exhibition Competition recognizes exhibitions for overall excellence or for stretching the limits of content and design through innovation. Winning entries were well-designed exhibitions of merit with educational value and demonstrated, respectful treatment of objects. Recipients of the awards were judged by an appointed jury of museum professionals across the region who specialize in curatorial studies and exhibition design.
The Jule’s exhibition, “Black Codes: Art and Post-Civil Rights Alabama,” displayed in February 2024 in the Bill L. Harbert Gallery.
Black Codes: Art and Post-Civil Rights Alabama was a guest-curated exhibition highlighting the lives and works of four pivotal Alabama artists: Thornton Dial (1928-2016), Lonnie Holley (b. 1950), Ronald Lockett (1965-1998) and Joe Minter (b. 1943), all of whom were directly or indirectly impacted by Jim Crow laws, also known as Black Codes. The exhibition’s guest curator, Dr. Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander of the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, visited Auburn in the spring during the exhibition, and spoke about her support for the inquiry of academic art museums, as well as the origins of the exhibition, with Holley, one of the exhibition’s featured artists. The exhibition explored how each artist grappled with personal and familial histories, as well as global and local political, cultural and historical events.
Audience members listen to exhibiting artist Lonnie Holley speak with guest curator Dr. Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander at the inaugural Auburn Forum for Southern Art and Culture.
The SEMC Technology Competition recognizes excellence in the use of technology within southeastern museums and celebrates the accomplishments of innovative work. As technology continues to gain importance throughout the museum field, expectations and standards were exceptionally high for this year’s applicants. The SEMC Technology Competition received a record number of applications from a wide variety of museums across the southeast. Winning entries were expected to demonstrate innovation, effective design, accessibility, creativity, and recognition of institutional identity. Recipients of the awards were judged by an appointed jury of museum professionals across the region who specialize in the fields of digital media and technology.
The Auburn Forum for Southern Art and Culture is a half-day symposium featuring acclaimed artists and scholars. The inaugural event held in the spring of 2024 was held within the museum’s auditorium, but also broadcast through its YouTube channel, allowing interested artists and scholars who could not otherwise travel to Auburn to watch the discussions in real time. The museum aims to make it an annual event, with the next Auburn Forum set to take place this coming February in 2025. The Jule at 20 encompasses the foundations of The Jule and how its mission has been carried forward across the last two decades. Available on the museum’s YouTube channel, it tells the story of how the museum came to be, how it has impacted students, faculty and community members of Auburn, and how it continues to carry forth the legacy of Jule and the Smith family through its work as an academic art museum. The Jule Museum Podcast – which previously won a Bronze Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education – features artist talks, discussions with museum professionals and other art education endeavors, distributed through all major podcast networks, promoting accessibility of The Jule’s work to all regardless of location.
SEMC’s publication design award recognizes those institutions excelling in visual design and brand consistency in print materials for external messaging and outreach. The Jule’s academic calendar mailer is just one of the many publications the museum creates to thoroughly communicate the work of museum staff and Auburn University students and faculty.
“We’re honored to be recognized by our peers in the Southeastern Museum Conference,” said Cindi Malinick, The Jule’s executive director. “Recognition in these areas demonstrates the museum’s role in raising the university’s profile in areas of outreach and student experience.”
Award winners will be recognized at the 2024 Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon on October 23, 2024, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and in the Winter 2025 Edition of INSIDE SEMC, a digital publication of the Southeastern Museums Conference. This designation recognizes The Jule’s contribution to professional standards in Southeastern museums.
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About The Jule
Located at a nationally ranked land grant institution committed to interdisciplinary research and an elevated student experience, The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University advances meaningful creative scholarship, outreach and education through the study and stewardship of art objects. Since 2003, the museum has cared for the over 3,000 objects that comprise the university art collection, grounded in American modernism and spanning the 17th to 21st centuries. With regularly changing exhibitions, artist residencies and scholarly forums, The Jule champions art and cultural inquiry across disciplines to instill lifelong learning, improve relationships and cultural understanding, and inspire curiosity and wellbeing. Admission is free. Visit jcsm.auburn.edu for more information.
About the Southeastern Museums Conference:
The Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC), a nonprofit membership organization, is an association of museums, museum staff, independent professionals and corporate partners. We focus on the Southeastern United State including: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands.
SEMC works to:
- Provide educational and professional development opportunities
- Improve the interchange of ideas and information
- Encourage respect and collegiality
The Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) is dedicated to providing a safe, inclusive, and welcoming conference experience for everyone. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment in any form.
For more information about the Southeastern Museums Conference, visit https://www.semcdirect.net/
