FAQs for Campus Loans

Tufts’ Campus Art Loan Program serves the community through the placement of artwork in educational environments across campus. We prioritize siting artwork in areas that are frequented by students such as libraries, lobbies, common areas and gathering spaces.

Artwork can only be requested only by individuals employed by Tufts for display on Tufts’ property. Individuals in the direct chain of command of Tufts may have art in their offices. Dining areas and Faculty offices are not eligible for art loans.

To ensure the safety of the artwork on view, we prefer monitored locations and spaces that can be locked when unoccupied. To ensure long-term preservation of objects in our care, we cannot hang art in direct sunlight, or near heating/air conditioning units.

A revolving selection of objects from the Permanent Collection are available for campus loans and, upon request to artcollections@tufts.edu, a list of available artworks will be compiled for selection. We will work with you to identify art that complements your space.

Due to space constraints, the art collection is held at an offsite facility where all objects are boxed for long-term storage, which makes browsing nearly impossible. We do not have the resources to accommodate in-person viewing, but we do have high-res photographs for most objects that we can share as needed.

Depending on the function and conditions of the space we typically place one or two objects in offices and two or three objects in conference rooms or reception areas. Lobbies are great for one or two larger works of art.

At this time, there is no cost to the borrowing department. Note that all 2D art must be safely framed for display, and while we have many works that are in existing frames, you will have a much broader selection of art to choose from if you have funds available to cover framing.

Depending on the type of art and the environmental conditions of the space, art loans are usually on display for 1-3 years. Sculptural works made of hardy materials, and public art (made for site-specific locations) stay on view for longer periods.

Summer is the optimal time to install and de-install art. We prioritize departments that reach out to gallery staff via email prior to April 15th and will make every effort to get the art installed before students return to campus in late August. We also make exceptions at other times of the year for offices or departments that are vacated or relocated.

We appreciate your understanding that the process may take as much as three months to fulfill requests. We have a rigorous schedule of gallery exhibitions and programs, and campus art loans are completed around other deadlines.

All campus loan artwork is inventoried by staff and student workers during the summer, and we will provide advance notice if we need permission to access your space. If your space is being painted or moved, please notify us immediately so that we can remove the art in advance and set a time to rehang the object after the project is completed.

We do not manage art that is not part of Tufts’ collection, and we cannot provide installation services or removal of these items. Services can be requested through Tufts’ Facilities workorder system and we are happy to advise on outside sources and vendors as needed.

We are happy to talk to you about the campus art program. Please contact us at this email with questions or to set up time to meet in person.

We adhere to the Guidelines for Art on Campus as set forth by the AAMD (Association of Art Museum Directors) to ensure best practices in the long-term care of the objects entrusted to us by donors.