William Benton Museum of Art achieves national recognition

Connor Linskey, The Chronicle, Willimantic, Conn.
·2 min read

Jul. 21—STORRS/ MANSFIELD — The William Benton Museum of Art announced on its Twitter page Monday that the museum had achieved accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums.

This is the highest national recognition afforded to a museum in the United States.

The William Benton Museum of Art is located on the campus of the University of Connecticut at 245 Glenbrook Road in Storrs Mansfield.

It is the state of Connecticut's art museum and contains more than 6,500 works of art. The museum contains exhibitions of art dating from the 15th through the 21st centuries. The artworks include paintings, drawings, watercolors, prints, photographs and sculptures.

According to the American Alliance of Museums' website, their accreditation has been the museum field's mark of distinction since 1971. They claim accreditation offers high profile, peer- based validation of a museum's operations and impact.

" Accreditation increases your museum's credibility and value to funders, policy makers, insurers, community and peers," reads a statement on the American Alliance of Museums' website. " Accreditation is a powerful tool to leverage change and helps facilitate loans between institutions."

The accreditation process is centered on self- study and review by museum professionals.

According to the American Alliance of Museums, the accreditation process takes between eight and 16 months to complete. They believe this process should be repeated for each accredited museum every 10 years.

Two core questions guide every accreditation review.

The first question is how well does the museum achieve its stated mission and goals. The second is how well does the museum's performance meet standards and best practices as they are generally understood in the museum field, as appropriate to its circumstances.

Nancy Stula, the Benton Museum of Art's executive director, and Karen Sommer, the museum's operations and programs manager, could not be reached for comment for this story.

Follow the Chronicle on Twitter — @ thechroniclect.