Jennifer Giddings Essenmacher

The Flint Institute of Arts is the second largest art museum in the State of Michigan and one of the largest museum art schools in the nation. Each year, more than 160,000 people visit the FIA’s galleries (free of charge) and participate in FIA programs and services. For more than 85 years, the FIA has been responsible for acquiring, protecting and presenting a collection of art and artifacts spanning continents and 5,000 years. The world renowned collection, which now exceeds 8,000 objects, is significant for its depth of important European and American paintings and sculptures, 15th century to the present, and its extensive holdings of decorative and applied arts including important ethnographic study collections dating back five millennia. The FIA promotes the power of the visual arts by providing lifelong learning opportunities to engage and educate a diverse regional audience. The FIA is committed to making art available, approachable, and accessible to all through a broad range of interpretive programs that allow multiple ways of accessing information on the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. Films and videos shown in the FIA’s 330 seat Theater are selected to appeal to adults, college students, and senior citizens. Printed exhibition and collection catalogues, gallery guides, school brochures, audio guide entries, and online resources are produced to enhance educational opportunities. The FIA Art School runs at full capacity from 9a to 9p with an annual enrollment of more than 1,700 students. The Art School remains dedicated to the educational enlightenment of the public through formal studio instruction in drawing, painting, photography, mixed media, printmaking, ceramics, glass mosaic, fiber, and metal sculpture. The school also provides summer camps for youth, free family activities, and a pre‐college portfolio development program for gifted high school students.